transition

when we got back from vacation, both kids had transitions at school. caroline stayed in the same classroom, but all but two of her friends and both teachers moved up into the fish room, leaving her with all new friends and all new teachers. the first few days were a little rough. i think she felt a little abandoned since everyone else was together in the fish room. but she's settled in and is once again ruling heron room, having adjusted to new (old) friends and teachers. quentin's transition has not been as smooth. this is the first time he's switched rooms since starting at school almost a year ago. and he missed the entire transition period which conflicted with our vacation. he skipped the next room up and went straight into the pre-k room to get ready for (theoretically) kindergarten next year. unfortunately, he's the youngest in the class, by far. some of the others in the class are already 5, having barely missed the cut-off for kindergarten this year. he's just not ready to sit and listen all day long. he also hasn't adjusted to his new teacher. she's a wonderfully sweet lady, but she just doesn't know quentin. he's a unique kid who takes some getting used to. she knows nothing about monster trucks (that'll change fast!) so she kinda glazes over when Q starts discussing the finer points of a particular truck's performance. sadly, i think he's getting to the point where he knows when people are just humoring him and not really trying to understand and it frustrates him. he knows a handful of the kids (thank god!) but he's never met 2/3 of the class as they've always been a class or two ahead of him. i think not having his close group of friends from frog room is impacting him too. it was just awful dropping him off there this morning. we take caroline to her room first so i can spend a little more time getting him settled, as he gets used to the new class. while i was unloading his bag into his cubbie, he disappeared. i heard the door to the bathroom within the classroom close and assumed he was going potty until i heard sobbing. i found him huddled on the floor in the corner of the bathroom with no light on, just crying. he was saying something about how kids aren't nice to him and not liking school anymore, but he was so worked up it was hard to really understand. it was heartbreaking. i sat with him a while and eventually got him calmed down and he eventually wandered over to one of the computers to play a game, but it really shook me up. this is my fear for the rest of his school career - that he is always a little behind and unhappy, and he gets labeled as the bad kid or the slow kid. i know a lot can change in a year and maybe by next summer i'll feel differently, but right now i really think holding him back a year is the right decision to give him a chance.