Preparing for Kindergarten Transition, Phase 3: Pre-Registration Night

Last night, Sean and I went to pre-register him for Kindergarten. He was very exciting to get to go out with Mommy by himself, but a bit confused about where we were going at 5 pm. I had dressed him in shorts and a polo, and he generally only wears polo shirts to church, so he thought we were going to church (he holds his hands to receive communion as his sigh for church.) I told him, "No, not church, we are going to do some papers for school."

Well, he heard school and started crying, saying no! Apparently he didn't want to go to school twice in one day. I reassured him, "no, we are not going to your school. We are going to a new place."

The district set up the Pre-Registration for all the schools in the gym at the high school, which happens to be right next door to the YMCA. So then Sean starts getting excited and signing/saying "Mama! MAMA! Swim! SWIM!" Poor kid. "No, Sean, not swimming today. We will go swimming on Friday." More tears.

Finally we walked into the gym and he saw all the crowds of people lined up at tables, but what made him the most excited was that he saw his preschool classmate Fischer running around playing with other kids.

And Fischer saw him. He came running over to Sean & saying "Hi Sean! Hi Sean! Hi Sean!" Sean was so surprised to see him & gave him a hug and a "Hi Fischer!" (Fischer and Sean have been classmates for 2 years and Fischer is one of the few kids Sean calls by name.) Fischer brought his big brother over to meet Sean. Sean was interested in the brother's DS game. I chatted a bit to the boys as I tried to fill out forms. Fischer asked if Sean could play with them off to the side with other kids & I said sure.

I sat there, jotting down answers on the forms and frequently glancing up to check on the boys. Sean had the biggest smile on his face, just playing with the other soon-to-be-kindergartners the same silly games of chasing and spinning and pseudo cartwheels. One of the gang.

I moved from the table to stand in line to turn in my forms and the boys found their way back to me. Fischer's mom was done and they were about to leave. Fischer asked if Sean could come to his house for a playdate that night. I told him we had plans later but would like to try another time. His mom said she'd get our phone number and set something up because Fischer would really enjoy having Sean over.

An invitation! To his first playdate. On his own, not just as Aidan's sibling. Not as a babysitting arrangement. My heart swelled.

Next, Sean and I had to go other to the magnet school table and fill out a transfer request. His future teacher was manning the table and tried to talk to Sean, but he was more interested in trying to climb up the stacks of folded bleachers. We discussed the upcoming IEP meeting and she said she didn't know if she'd be there yet.

I called Sean over to say hi to the principal, whispering "shake Mr. P's hand and say hi, Sean" Sean marched up to him, hand extended then got distracted by Mr. P's silky tie so he reached out to touch and shake the tie instead of Mr. P's hand.

Mr. P didn't seem to mind having his tie petted and asked Sean his name. Sean ignored him and wandered off to play on a cart dolly, then came back to ask me if we could go up to the 2nd story balcony.

I said our goodbyes, see ya at the IEP and took Sean upstairs for a walk about then we headed home. This was definitely the least painful step of the transition process!