Mommy Needs a Mocha: Kindergarten!

Thatcher headed off to Kindergarten on 29 August. As usual, we had a flurry of activity surrounding this monumental event, so I was able to successfully make it through this transition without having a nervous breakdown. Years (okay, let's be honest...weeks) from now, I know I will not remember the anxiety I had about letting him ride the bus with older children. Would a fourth grade tartlet school him on sex the first day? Would some hardened fifth grader offer him a joint to celebrate finishing the first week of school? Would the bus driver inadvertently teach him the "F word?" In the end, transportation logistics--and his earnest desire to hang out with Lauren and Avery at the bus stop--won out, and I sent him off. Even the ever nonplussed Chad couldn't believe it.

Thankfully, kindergarten here is only a half-day program. By half day, I mean it is only THREE HOURS long. Thankfully, that bus ride--which tacks an extra 30 minutes onto each end of the school day--buys me a little extra time to take a shower or check my email; but it isn't much. He's off at 7:15 and back home at 11:25. He is really looking forward to having a full 90 minutes of Hadley-free time on the days she is at school. If I plan my day just right (which rarely happens), I have Harrison napping when Thatcher gets home, so he can get some undivided attention.

Some Kindergarten stats for Thatcher include:

School starts at 7:50 and ends at 10:50. I need a work day like that.
His backpack features Perry the Platypus from his favorite show, "Phineas and Ferb."
On his way to the bus on the first day, he told Hadley, "Hadley, I sure will miss you while I'm at school today."
The kindergartners do not eat lunch at school. They do, however, have a "milk break." For reasons unbeknownst to me, Thatcher usually chooses white milk, rather than chocolate or strawberry. The first day, he told me he did it because I told him to drink the milk (and he didn't realize that meant he could have CHOCOLATE milk). Now that he knows he can have whatever he wants, he still chooses the white. What is wrong with him?