First Days of School... 4 years and counting
Scrolling through back-to-school photos from years past always hits me harder than I think it will. It’s wild how much a kid can change in a year! Rather than dedicate a single post to each year, I’ve opted to update this post each year, with a few notes on what life looked like with my favorite kid as he started each school year.
First Day of Third Grade - 2025
This eight-year-old is all energy, all the time. He loves performing, and our singer/dancer/actor was cast in his first main-stage production with Young Footliters just before school started. He loves playing baseball, drawing/sketching, and playing on his drum pad. His love of theatre got him to his first Broadway National Tour this summer — we saw Wicked in Indianapolis. He also loves Disney movie-musicals (like the Descendants and Zombies movies), Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, and building Lego sets with his dad — especially Minecraft sets. He bought an electric scooter with his saved-up allowance the day before school started, and loves riding that or his bike to school. He also funded a remodel of his playroom over the summer — it transformed from a little kids’ playroom to a big kids’ hangout, and he designed the entire thing, with lots of fun bright neon colors. He has a great sense of humor, though sometimes his sarcasm gets the best of him. His great comedic timing is often on full display in his shows. He makes us laugh constantly, and is also a fiercely loyal friend.
First Day of Second Grade
Brecken got to perform on “the big stage” for the first time this summer, and it lit a fire under him! It was so cool to see him find a place where he can channel his abundance of energy into something so exciting and meaningful for him. He continued baseball this summer, playing in Coralville’s Coaches Pitch league for the first time. He will continue with theatre classes this year with Young Footliters, and plans to participate in their “First Act” production, a pair of one act plays with a Halloween theme that will premiere at the end of September. His favorite show is Phineas and Ferb, and he has started to enjoy reading a lot more. He makes friends easily, but The Whiskers continue to be his second family. Despite his big, fun personality, his favorite color is black, and he would wear only black all the time if he could!
First Day of First Grade
After realizing he needed a place to channel his love for making people laugh, Brecken will start theatre classes for this first time this fall. He’s also continuing with swim lessons, and loves being in the water. He’s playing fall ball with the Iowa City Boys Baseball league this summer, which uses a pitching machine! He got a few big hits during practices in the last couple of weeks, and thinks the best part of his team name (Yankees) is that the real Yankees are rivals of every team in the AL. Brecken loves music and movies, and his Harry Potter obsession continues!
First Day of Kindergarten
It’s hard to believe this kid is finally starting kindergarten. He is over-the-moon excited, and this milestone feels like a really big Moment in our lives. I cried a lot on our last day at Love-a-Lot, his daycare/preschool for the last 3.5 years, but I didn’t cry watching him walk into his new school for the first time. I think it’s because this feels like an exciting start of something new, not a moment to grieve and say good-bye. Brecken got a pedal kit for his balance bike for his birthday, and learned to ride in about 5 minutes! He still loves swimming and takes swim lessons weekly. He loves cats, and he and his two best friends, Nora and Elliot, call themselves The Whiskers. He also continues his obsession with the Hawkeye Marching Band and Herky.
