Hellobee

Drake starts kindergarten this week, and it’s hard to believe five years flew by so quickly! I remember when he was born, thinking about the day I would see him climb up into a school bus, and now we are a couple days away from that moment. It’s a very bittersweet time, as I see how fast time can move, especially as I cradle his newborn sister Fiona in my arms while he’s swinging on our swing set with Juliet.

Drake, for his part, seems to be very excited about the prospect of kindergarten. We went to pick out a new backpack before Fiona was born, and this past week he got to visit the school and have a small evaluation session, which he very much enjoyed. Because he is so excited, I want to encourage this love of school and thought I would start getting ready by reading a school related book each day leading up to his first day.

These are the books I picked out for our line up:

George’s First Day of School – Drake loves Curious George so this was a natural choice.

Birdie’s First Day of School – We have a few of the Birdie books and Juliet’s nickname after birth was Birdie for a while, so I was even more tickled to share the stories with her, and Drake enjoys her antics as well.

Monkey Not Ready for Kindergarten – I flipped through this one and immediately liked it because Monkey asked a lot of questions Drake has voiced or I think will voice in the coming days. Will the other kids like me? What if I don’t like school? What if the teacher is mean? I think these are all worries kids have when starting school, so it’s nice to see a book showing kids it’s normal to feel this way, as well as how to deal with these feelings.

Kindergarten Here I Come – The reviews on this one are stellar, so I hope it turns out to be great!

The Berenstain Bears Go to School – I have been slowly introducing Drake to the Berenstain Bear stories since they were a personal favorite of my own as a child. I kept all my books at my parents’ house in hopes of sharing my love the of the Bear Family with future kids. It seems so long ago I had those thoughts, and now that day is here. I remember reading this one before my own first day of 1st grade.

Ally-Saurus and the First Day of School – Drake loves dinosaurs and often wants to be a Drake-saursus himself, so I think he would be thrilled to see how a dinosaur would approach their first day of school.

My First Day  – I saw this one at Barnes and Noble recently on a trip with Drake & Juliet and thought it would be perfect to share with Drake. This is going to be the last one I read to him before school starts.

.  .  .  .  .

I plan on taking a first day photo, and one of Drake getting on the school bus for the first time. I’d also love to do some kind of interview with him as well, similar to his yearly birthday questions. Something fun I read about was creating a time capsule filled with trinkets that are special to your kid currently or reflect their interests. You put it together and then open it before the next school year to look back on the things your child liked a year ago before refilling it. I think that idea sounds like a lot of fun and something Drake might love getting involved in to help.

Lastly Drake has been on an apple pie kick, specifically making an apple pie for some time now. Since apples are a symbol of school and teachers, I thought I would surprise him with an apple pie after his first day of school as a treat. There is a local market nearby that makes delicious baked goods and ciders since I was a child, and I would love to bring home something special for my little boy after his first day. I think apple pie and some cider might be the perfect tradition to start off our school days with — a sweet treat for a sweet year!