the last first

A milestone, that's for sure: today Sandpiper starts school. This makes him the last of my grandkids to enter the world of formal social and academic education. I want to emphasize "social," because at this age learning alongside others is totally important. More so, I would think than content-based learning. For the little guy, it all starts today.

The school he is attending has a minimum age of 16 months. (Sandpiper passed that marker this weekend). Sparrow started the same school when he turned 16. Snowdrop began here as well, but because her birthday falls on a January date, she could not start until she was 19 months plus a few days. Primrose and Juniper both began at 6 months and the transition for both was as smooth as ice cream pie. The Madison crew had me, and they had access to great babysitters at the UW and so they could wait until their chosen school's earliest start date.

Here's Snowdrop's first day, back in August, 2016.

She was upset because she did not want to carry the backpack. But otherwise, school for her has always been a joyous adventure.

Here's Sparrow's first day in 2019.

Yeah, that academic year that morphed into 2020. Pandemic 2020. He never could finish the year and though his relationship to school has been good, it certainly has had hiccups along the way.

Now comes Sandpiper. He's had full time babysitters at home and because I could not possibly give as much time to his care as the parents need, they have relied on the sitters coming to the house and thus he has never been dropped off anywhere alone. 

Today, his first day away from home was.... rough. Still, I have no doubt that within a few days, he'll charge in at full speed. This guy does not hold back!

(older brother, who is much calmer, watches...)

It's wonderful to learn from my kids new tricks and techniques, new ideas and strategies on child development. The world of kid rearing doesn't stand still. I get to sit back and take in this brave new world of family life. Parents all engaged in all aspects of it. Not easy, but so preferable to what we had before. 

Breakfast. Very late.

And a look at the beautiful asters that are now dominant in the fields. Planting them is always a chore. They grow tall, they often tumble, and they don't really begin to bloom until right about now, so for the entire summer, they look... undistinguished. But you sure do love them in October when they burst into a million purple miniature daisy faces!

In the afternoon, I pick up the oldest of the school kids and bring her to the farmette.

It's a cool day, but a nice one to be prancing around a bit. So we prance around before hunger brings her inside.

(she almost always takes the time for a tree climb...)

And at the end of the day, we gather at that school -- once Snowdrop's but now that of her brothers. Everyone is extremely excited to hear about the little guy's first day (it had its good moments!). 

I leave the girl with them all and head home. I think about how in our cultures, school is so monumentally important. We take it for granted -- the privilege of sending kids to these places where there is warmth and and friendship and learning. 

Except that I really don't. For all that these schools (teachers, staff, counselors) do, I am deeply grateful.

Lucky kids. Lucky parents. Happy grandma.