Caden Starts 4K

Today was Caden's first day of 4K! For the last few weeks I've been an emotional rollercoaster on how I felt about this. I was pretty teary last year when he started preschool - and at pretty much every important first year of school milestone. And that was only two hours a day, two days a week! With bus time, 4K is four hours a day, four times a week. I've been worried about him, but also looking forward to a daily break from taking care of two constantly bickering children at the same time. I think Caden gets really bored at home, which always causes him to act out negatively, and the time away each day will do all of us a world of good.

Despite a lot of earlier hesitations, I think we were all pretty excited when today arrived. Caden even initiated a big photo shoot! I usually have to beg him to cooperate for even one picture, but this morning he eagerly allowed me to take hundreds. Not an exaggeration. :) Our only hiccup is that he really wanted to wear a Mario shirt and I really wanted him to wear something nicer. Daddy finally convinced him to wear a button shirt and he can wear Mario tomorrow. :)

We had to take photos in every possible location around our apartment building.

Ah, these kids can be so funny sometimes. I can't stop laughing at this one!

As much as they fight, they do also get along really well. They're definitely each others best friends right now and I hope that can continue as they get older.

So funny, yet so sweet. :)

Caden thought it was pretty hilarious taking pictures in front of the handicap sign.

I like this one. :)

Okay, here he is a few hours later, actually waiting for the bus. When he first found out he was going to be riding a bus he was really nervous, but seemed pretty confident today.

I should really do photo shoots with my kids more often. They can come up with some pretty creative poses!

Handsome boy!

At this point Shepard decided he had to photo bomb every picture. Caden was just getting way too much attention!

He's so cute about it, though.

Came up with this one on their own too. Hilarious!

Trying to get a nice father son picture and Shepard plowed them over.

There we go.

Greg worked from home today so he could be here for us. I thought I'd be an emotional wreck sending Caden away on the bus, but his teacher suggested I meet him at school the first day and walk him in and felt a lot better with that new plan.

Finally getting on the bus! There are only three kids on the bus and Caden was the last stop, so it was a pretty quick trip to school! The ride home was a lot more traumatic because he had to stop at the elementary and middle schools, switch buses, and wait in each place for a really long time. It was pretty scary for him that first time. The bus was very late and he arrived home in tears and looking terrified. After talking about everything, though, he seemed much better and I think he'll do a lot better tomorrow now that he knows what to expect. Besides the bus stuff, though, he seemed to have a great time at school! I'm really proud of him and happy for a good start to this new year. My baby is definitely growing up!