And just like that... Will has officially finished his first year of school. This year he attended the same school that Kenzie attended for 3-year-olds and VPK. He was enrolled in the 2-year-old class. He started school a year earlier than Kenzie but at almost the same age. His birthday is in October so he misses the cut off for the year and consequently ends up being one of the oldest kids in his class. This year he may have even been the oldest. As a boy, we don't mind that necessarily and we think it was definitely beneficial for him this year. (Side note: Kenzie is typically one of the youngest so it is the opposite with her and we definitely see the "typical" girls being younger and boys being older argument playing out.)
Will's end of the year picture sort of cracked me up. He looks so very sure of himself. This is such a change from the beginning of the year when he wasn't sure of what school would be like and although he knew he wanted to go, he was definitely not as confident as he is now. This year started off a bit rocky for him. Actually... no. It started fine. The first week was great and then in the second week, Will started getting super emotional when I would drop him off. A lot of tears. It was rough. Then he turned three and almost like a switch went off, he stopped crying and started going right into his class. After Christmas break, we had a bit of a setback for a couple of weeks but he has been great since. He actually really loves going to school. Even when he was crying at drop off, he would talk about going to school and how he liked it. Now he talks about how much he loves it. His teachers are both great! He loves seeing them on school days and talks about them all the time. He likes to tell Kenzie about them and things they teach him.
Will has grown so much this year. He has really started to come into his own. Part of the reason we started him in school this year was because we knew how attached he was/is to me and we wanted to give him some more opportunities to be without me and learn to function on his own without me as a crutch. He is doing so well. We see him maturing before our eyes. He is a bit more social now with new people (though he still has a strong "stranger danger" fear which we aren't opposed to). He is more willing to try new things including things that don't involve me. Like when he tried the kids firefighter challenge a couple of weeks ago. That was something he never would have done even six months ago. We do know that he is more likely to do something if Kenzie is around, but we even see him do some things without her that he wouldn't have done previously. Because it is no secret how much I love comparison pictures.... The more I look at the two next to each other, the more I see how much he has grown and matured. He not only appears more baby-ish to me in the first day picture, but his confidence and maturity are apparent to me in the last day photo whereas the first day was all giddy excitement.
He has also learned a lot. He can identify almost every number by sight between 0 and 10. He can identify some letters and even write (sort of) his own name with minimal help. He knows the sounds of a few letters. He knows all of his colors (though he still sometimes confuses brown and black) and shapes. He can remember people's names with few issues and easily rattles off all the kids in his class. This still strikes us as interesting because this wasn't Kenzie's forte at this age so even if it is normal at this age, it isn't something we are used to. He can remember a new Bible verse within a day or two of hearing it and usually remembers them after the class has learned a new one the following month.
Will is excited for the summer and all the fun things we have planned, but he is definitely going to miss going to school every week. He has told me that he is going to miss his teachers and friends. Next year he will be going back to the same school and will be in the 3-year-olds class. He will have one of the same teachers that Kenzie had when she started attending there and is looking forward to it. Plus, he is looking forward to being able to see his teachers from this year when he goes into the school. He has already asked me if his friends will be in his class next year. I don't know who is returning, but he is well equipped to make new friends next year.
Will has seriously impressed us this year and we can't wait to see what he learns next and how he will progress in his education.
With that, we give you one of the future Class of 2033. =)
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