Kindergarten Anticipation

In a week, A WEEK, my first born child will be entering Kindergarten and FULL DAY KINDERGARTEN at that!! I keep harping on that its full day Kindergarten, I know, but honestly, its crazy for me to think about that he's actually, officially in school!!

What happened to my little baby??

From this:

To this:

Yes, I know, the obvious answer, "He grew up, that's what children do." But honestly, it is crazy for me to think about even though I have a 2 year old and will have a newborn in October.

The past two weeks I have hit, literally, every end of the spectrum of emotions in the anticipation of Corin entering Kindergarten. Two weeks ago I was a crying mess about it. I kept thinking about "Will he have friends," and "will kids try to take his food." I know, strange thoughts, but they both have reasons behind them.

Will he have friends
Corin, even though it can be high energy is a very sweet, loveable child, however it seems to me that no one in his primary class really wants to be friends with him. We were at a Ward BBQ a few weeks ago (7/30) and 2 other boys from his primary class where there. They ran off together and Corin was left alone. However, this doesn't bother him, it bothers me more. He went off to find something else to do and was happy doing so and also he ran around with some of the older boys that do adore him (how grateful I am for the Dorny boys!) One of these boys will be in Corin's Kindergarten class, but I'm wondering if the exact thing will happen because there is another boy from his Preschool class that will also be in the same class (got information from his mom) Also, over this whole summer NO ONE has called to ask if we want to have a play date or meet at the park. I know, I should do some initiation of this as well, but I kept having the feeling of "I want to me wanted and I want my child to be wanted as well." It actually was really heartbreaking to me that no one wanted to play with us.

Will kids try and take his food
To go along with Corin's kind at heart personality, he is always willing and happy to share, however this has come at the expense of him getting basically none of his own snacks at church. Its been quite a few weeks ago (maybe more like a month or more) we have had a few incidences of this. A family was sitting behind us, one of there children, a little girl, in Corin's primary class. He was glad to share with them and didn't make any fuss when the snacks he had were gone and I don't think really even noticed that he, himself, didn't get much of them to eat. But, OH MY GOSH, the little girl and her brother that is just a class above them, were VULTURES!! They were CONSTANTLY ASKING for some and putting there hands over the back of the bench to get more!! I do like there mom, but she didn't say much to them and it seriously irritated the crap out of me!! Not a good feeling to have at church when you're trying to have the Spirit with you. Another week a little boy (the one who will be in Corin's Kindergarten class) and his family were sitting in front of us. Corin started to share again and he kept leaning over to PUT HIS OWN HAND in Corin's snack bag. I even, trying to be discreet, put Corin's bag in my lap and the kid STILL TRIED!!  Afterwards, we had a talk about it is good to be nice and share, but we aren't going to share at church. So, just a couple weeks ago the same family with the little girl were sitting behind us. Corin got out his snacks as he usually does after the sacrament has finished being passed (our own family rule) and she started talking to her dad about Corin. I couldn't hear much of it, but I got some of it. She was saying that Corin is my friend and then I hear "but he has food!" So, are we only friends because he has food!?!? Okay, I know a lot to read into a conversation from a 5 year old, but I do seriously think she wanted to be right behind Corin so she could get food from him. And just this past week they were 2 rows in front of us and she turns around and is totally eyeing Corin's snacks, watching him take one out the bag and put it in his mouth.
We've had some other good incidences of sharing we it is truly sharing and its been only a few of his and the other child will give a few of there snack to him. THE TRUE ACT OF SHARING!!

So, those were two of my MAJOR concerns. Will be he taken advantage of? Will he play with anyone and have someone to sit with at lunch? I seriously breaks my heart that he won't. My other concerns are the normal of  "Will be listen to the teacher and follow the rules," "Will he throw a tantrum if he has consquences for his actions" but for these I think about to him in Preschool and he fairly good and the teachers were great at dealing with him on an individual level. Only had a few incidences of complete tantrum break downs. I hope he's Kindergarten teacher is as great with him as his Preschool teachers were.

Last week was a REALLY hard week around our home. Total mayham and I was a ranting, yelling banchee!! It was bad and I'm not proud of it. So my thoughts about Kindergarten were "I'm SO glad he'll be starting school so I don't have to deal with him all day, he's driving me crazy!!" Now that I'm calm and rational I think my feelings are now in the middle. Last night Shane and I were talking about what we had going this week so he could put them in his scheduled and that school for Corin was starting in a week I told him I was going to drop Corin off at school the first day. And he said "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Meaning was I going to be an emotional wreck. I told him I think I'll handle it, or I actually need to do it so I can handle it better and then we just started talking about my two diametrically opposed feelings the last couple of weeks. I said that I think this will be good for both of us and that I honestly think with Corin and my frustrations I can have with him that the saying "Absence makes the heart grow founder" will really apply to us. That I will be able to be more calm and patient with him when he gets home even if he's dramatic and cranky from a full day of school because I wouldn't have seen him all day so I'll be excited to see him, spend time with him and I don't want to cranky with him after he hasn't seen me.