August 2008
Nina was glancing out the window of her moms' car every two seconds as they were quickly approaching their destination, today was the day she had been waiting for the past two weeks straight. She had been so excited she had even practiced going to bed early and getting up earlier in the mornings. Today was going to be the start of something new because today was her first day of kindergarten.
Finally, Nina felt the car's wheels come to a stop even as she continued to sing. "wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round…"
"Nina, looks like we're here." Mama D said as both her moms smiled back at their daughter happily singing in the backseat.
"Yay!" Nina cheered happily and started unbuckling herself from her booster seat. She was a whole 5 years old and in kindergarten! She didn't need her moms' help getting out of her car seat!
She managed to escape her seatbelt just in time for Mama D to open her door. Nina grabbed her brand-new Barbie backpack she had picked out two weeks ago.
"Alright Nina, how ready are you for your first day of school?" Mama D asked her and held out her hand.
Nina latched onto her mom's hand and snatched Mama C's hand too when she made it to the other side of the car. This was what it was always like whenever she went somewhere new, safe, and connected to the two most important people in her life, her moms.
"I was born ready! I can't wait to be in kindergarten!" The trio began walking up to the school's front doors, joining the crowd of excited kids and parents arriving en masse as the school day was soon to begin." I'm going to make so many friends, and go to recess, and lunch, and PE, and music, and art…"
"Sounds like you have it all planned out, don't you Nina?" Mama C asked with laughter.
"Yeah, today is going to be the best day ever!" Nina cheered herself on.
"Alright, do you want us to go in with you?" Mama C asked.
"No." Nina decided, "I can do it because I'm a big girl! I'm five years old!" She said, and let go of Mama C's hand to hold up five fingers proudly.
"We know, and you remember where Mrs. Haaland's classroom is from Parent-Teacher Conferences?" Mama D checked.
"Yep. Go past the front office and it's the third door on the right. Room 105." Nina reported proudly.
"Good girl, we're so happy for you Nina, and we can't wait to hear all about your day this afternoon." Mama D let go of Nina's hand as well and both her moms bent their knees to surround Nina in a family hug.
"Have a great day at school. We love you Nina." Mama C whispered in her ear.
"I love you more!"
"And we love you the most." Mama D finished by whispering in Nina's other ear. "Have fun."
" I will, goodbye." Nina backed out of her hug, and after turning around one last time to wave goodbye at her moms before joining the crowd of kids herself to make her way into the school building.
"Woah." Nina couldn't believe her eyes after she walked through the doors. She didn't think she had ever, ever seen so many kids in one place in her entire life, and so many of them were bigger than her, and louder as many of them seemed to meet up with each other and share greetings and laughter.
Nina could feel herself shrinking back slightly. Could she do this all on her own? Her moms were still outside, right? But she shook her head and stared ahead of herself, not looking back. She had been counting down the days for today, and she knew she was ready. All she had to do was find her classroom and her kindergarten year of fun would begin.
As she continued walking forward, the crowd of kids gradually started to thin out and she did her best to silently repeat the directions to her classroom in her head. Room 105, third door on the right after she passes the main office.
But then she saw a familiar doorway covered with a big poster of the Cat-in-the-Hat, she remembered that from her conferences when she met her teacher.
She walked in happily to see the room already filled with kids, but it was still less chaotic than the hallway just outside the classroom.
"Hello there Nina!"
Nina turned her head to a happy sounding voice and she couldn't help herself from smiling in delight either. "Hi Mrs. Haaland!"
Mrs. Haaland stepped closer with a happy smile on her face and kneeled down to meet Nina at her level. "Happy first day of school, I'm so excited to see you again."
"I'm excited too!" Nina said and motioned to her backpack, "I brought all my stuff with me."
"I'm happy to see that. Do you remember where I showed you your desk last week?"
"Yep. It's right over there!" Nina pointed with certainty at what she knew was her desk without a doubt, but she was a bit surprised to see a boy already seated at the desk beside hers. "Who's that?"
"Who?" Mrs. Haaland glanced over and kept smiling. "Oh, that's one of your classmates. "Why don't you go over there and introduce yourself and empty your backpack? He can be your first new friend here."
"OK!" Nina nodded her head and walked over. "Hello, I'm Nina, what's your name?"
The boy looked up from his desk. It looked like he had been in the middle of emptying his backpack of school supplies to fill his desk too. "Oh hi, sorry what's your name?"
"It's Nina. Today's my first day of school!"
"Cool, it's my first day too, um Ni…ni!" He said a bit nervously.
"Nini? No, my name is Nina!" Nina said and shook her head.
"Um…Nin….ni?" the boy tried again.
"Nina." Nina said slowly, "Like um…what rhymes with Nina?"
"I don't know. Nini." The boy said, looking a bit embarrassed and glancing down at his desk, once again. "Sorry, I uh, I don't have all my letters completely down yet."
"That's ok." Nina started smiling again. "Honestly, I think Nini sounds better anyway."
"Really?" The boy met her eyes once again.
"Yeah, Nina doesn't really rhyme with things, but Nini does, like teeny, and beanie!" Nina said excitedly.
"Ok, so is it ok if I call you..." The boy paused for a moment and seemed to be trying to concentrate. "Niiiiin…i?"
"Yeah, it's ok if you call me that. What's your name?"
"My name is Richard. See?" Richard pointed proudly down at the nametag on his desk.
Nina glanced over at the nametag taped to his desk, but while she could recognize the individual letters, she couldn't quite put them together yet. The only part of her nametag she could read was Nina, and recognize her last name Salazar-Roberts when she saw it.
But she couldn't help giggling at him.
"What? What's so funny?"
"Your name is Richard? That sounds like an old grandpa's name." She couldn't stop her laughter as she felt tears gathering in her eyes.
"What? No, it's not." Richard said, doing his best to defend himself. "Actually yeah, it is my Grandpa's name, but he's the best Grandpa ever!. Richard is a great name!"
"Not for anyone under the age of sixty!" Nina pointed out. "You're not sixty are you?"
"No! I'm five, see! I'm this many!" Ricky shouted and held up five fingers in front of himself.
"OK, good. I was worried an old grandpa was in the classroom." Nina laughed again.
"OK, then, what do you think I should be named instead?"
"Hmm." Nina thought for a moment. "How about Ricky? I think that's kind of a short for Richard, right?"
"Hmm, I think so too. Ricky…" Richard repeated the name a few times and then smiled even brighter at Nina. "Ricky! I like it. You can call me Ricky if you want."
"Sure thing, and you can call me Nini if you want to Ricky."
"I think that sounds like a deal." Ricky smiled. "High-five?"
"Oh yeah!" Nina smiled brighter in response and gave Ricky a high-five back.
"This is so great!"
"What's so great?" Nina asked as she finally opened up her backpack to start putting all her new notebooks and folders and pencil case inside her desk.
"Making a new friend already," Ricky said smiling, I was kind of worried because me and my best friend in preschool last year are in different classes for kindergarten. I was super sad I was only going to see him at recess and I wouldn't know anyone in my class."
"Well, you know me now! What's your friend's name? I don't have my old best friend in my class either."
"He has a nickname too, I call him Red, because he has red hair, and his last name is Red- red something, I can never remember that name either. "He's in Mrs. Kruse's class instead."
"Ooh. My old best friend is named Kourtney. She got put in Mrs. Kruse's class too. Maybe they're meeting each other right now?"
"That would be so cool, and then we can all play with each other at recess?" Ricky asked.
"I think that sounds like a super fun idea. But since they aren't in Mrs. Haaland's class, can we be best friends?" Nina asked.
"Yes! I think that sounds like a great idea! You're already my bestest friend Nini! You even gave me a super cool nickname!"
"Right back at you, best friend!" Nina smiled back. "So, what do you like to play at recess?"
Ricky and Nina dove into their own little bubble as they asked each other about a million questions each until the bell finally rang and it was time for them to really get started on their first day of school.
One of the first things their teacher Mrs. Haaland did after leading them through what was going to be their morning routine every day was asking everyone to pair up for a few minutes and then everyone would introduce their new friend to the rest of the class.
Ricky and Nina were happy with this arrangement because it allowed them to keep talking to and getting to know each other better, but finally, it was time for them to introduce themselves.
Nina stood up first. "This is my new friend Ricky! His favorite activity is watching skateboarding, and he's hoping that his parents will let him get a skateboard soon. He wants to be as good a skateboarder as Tony Hawk someday! He's lived in Salt Lake City his whole life and his favorite food is chicken nuggets! He's most excited this year about making new friends, and he's super happy he's already met me!"
"Thank you, Nina, but I believe his name is Richard, right?" Mrs. Haaland asked.
"No! I like Ricky better! Nini and everyone else can call me Ricky." Ricky insisted.
"OK, then, Ricky, why don't you introduce your new friend?"
"OK. Everyone, this is Nini! Her favorite activity is singing songs and she wants to be a famous singer someday like Kelly Clarkson! She's also lived in Salt Lake City her whole life. She's most excited this year about music class and finally having concerts to perform in. Her favorite food is pizza! And we're already new best friends!"
"Thank you, Ricky, but I believe her name is Nina."
"No, I like Nini better, Ricky and everyone else can call me Nini!" Nini said happily.
"Alright then, thank you, Nini and Ricky." Mrs. Haaland said with a smile and wrote something down on her clipboard. "Let's give them three claps for sharing about each other."
All their classmates gave them 3 big claps and then they continued going around the room until everyone got a chance to introduce their new friends, but the whole time Ricky and Nini couldn't help stealing glances and giggling and whispering to each other throughout the morning, but never so much that they got in trouble with their teacher on the first day of school.
A few short hours later, it was time for one of Ricky's most anticipated moments of the day. Their first-ever recess.
Mrs. Haaland was trying to get all the kids organized in a line based on alphabetical order by last name, but combining the fact that she was working with very excited kindergarteners, who were just barely learning all their classmates' first names, it was a learning process.
"OK Ricky, come up here you're first in line." Mrs. Haaland called out to him.
"Yay, come on Nini!" Ricky cheered, and ran up to Mrs. Haaland, with Nini skipping along happily behind him.
"Hold on Nini. Remember I just said the line order is by your last name. Use the number on the nametag by your desk remember?"
"OK, so I'm in spot 14?" Nini asked.
"Yes, that's correct, so can you sit back down, while I get everyone else in order."
"Ok." Nini nodded and backed up a step.
"Wait, please can Nini stand by me? We already want to go to recess together so we can find our other best friends and all play together." Ricky spoke up.
"No, don't worry Ricky, you and Nini will be able to play together as much as you want at recess, but whenever we leave the room as a class, we need to be in a line, ok?"
"Ok, Nini! I promise I'll wait for you outside!"
"I'll come find you super-fast!" Nini said back, and this time she did return to her seat, but both she and Ricky kept glancing at each other until all the kids between them had stood up and it was finally Nini's turn to take her place in the 14th spot.
By this time the whole class was way fired up, and Ricky and Nini had to keep craning their heads every which way to keep seeing each other past everyone else moving around between them as the last few kids all got in line behind Nini.
The trek out to the playground was a relatively short one, but nearly every single kid was practically skipping along instead of walking until they finally reached the door and Mrs. Haaland let the stampede loose onto the playground.
But, true to his word, Ricky wasn't one of the stampeders, he had hung back and waited for Nini to stand side by side with him as both of them took in the slightly chaotic scene before them of about a hundred kids running around every which way as they played together.
"Woah, I don't even know where to begin. What's your friend's name again?" Ricky asked.
"Kourtney. And yours is Red, right?"
"Yep, that's him, but I have no idea where to find him," Ricky said. "He could be anywhere."
"I know, Kourtney could be anywhere too." Nini nodded in agreement, but her eyes soon caught on to a possible solution. "Hey Ricky, maybe if we go up to the top of the slide we'll be able to see them." Nini pointed to the largest slide on the playground a crowd of kids was already clamoring up the stairs for.
"That sounds like a good idea as any. Let's do it!"
Ricky and Nini ran over to the slide together, and then patiently waited their turn as the line steadily dwindled in front of them, but they didn't mind the wait, it just gave them even more time to get to know each other and laugh together, without any teachers sending them warning glances to be quiet.
When they finally made it to the top, they looked out over as much of the playground as they could see, and it was a great vantage point, they could see just about the whole playground, but the ground below was no less chaotic.
Nini scanned the space below, and then her smile lit up. She was 85% sure she had just found Kourtney, she was riding the merry-go-round in the distance.
"I found him! I found Red!" Ricky cheered beside her.
"Where?" Nini asked.
Ricky pointed across the playground to the swings. "I see him, I think he's waiting for a swing to be open."
Nini glanced over, but she couldn't tell for sure who Ricky was pointing at, there were a lot of kids wearing red. "I think I see Kourtney too, she's by the merry-go-round!" Nini pointed too.
"Ok, we should go get them right?"
"Of course, but what if we get separated again? And how much time do we have left?"
"I have no idea. I'm pretty sure Mrs. Haaland said morning recess is only 15 minutes… I have no idea what the time is though."
"Me neither. So how about we both hurry to get Red and Kourtney and try to meet up by the Spider Web?"
"You mean the jungle gym?" Ricky asked.
"Yeah, but it looks like a spider web, doesn't it?"
"I guess it does, but I hope there aren't any real spiders in there. But if the teacher does blow the whistle before we can find each other again, how about we tell Kourtney and Red to meet us there after lunch?"
"Yeah, I think that sounds like a great idea." Nini smiled enthusiastically. "Now we can go down the slide!"
"Yes, that sounds awesome! Want to go down together?"
"Well duh! Everything today has already been so much fun when we're together."
"Let's do it then."
So Ricky and Nini sat down in front of the slide, with Nini sitting in front and then they pushed off to ride down together with both of their arms waving in the air. "WHEEE!"
"Ok, I'll see you soon Ricky," Nini said and she started running to go find Kourtney.
"I'll be super fast!" Ricky promised as he ran off in the opposite direction.
Nini soon got the merry-go-round and tried to catch Kourtney's attention, and she had been right, it was Kourtney but she was spinning around so fast she never noticed Nini's waving hand.
So Nini stepped closer to the merry-go-round and waiting for the perfect moment, took a big leap to pull herself aboard and climbed her way over and between all the other kids until she was sitting behind Kourtney as they kept spinning around. She tapped her shoulder and Kourtney looked surprised for a moment before her face broke into a happy smile.
"Nina! I'm so happy I found you!"
"Found me? I think I found you. I looked all over the playground for you."
"I'm sorry, but I was having so much fun, and my class is awesome! I've made so many new friends already."
"I have too. I mean, I've made one new best friend so far, and he is awesome?"
"He? Nina, you can't be best friends with a boy. Boys are icky."
"No they're not, and Ricky is awesome Kourt."
"Really? How can he not be icky? It's in his name Ricky. Icky and Ricky rhyme."
"Because I gave him his name. His real name is some old grandpa name, so I gave him a better name, Ricky. And he's my new best friend."
"But I'm still your best friend right, Nina?" Kourtney asked, looking worried and a little bit hurt for a moment.
"Of course, you're still my girl best friend. Nini was quick to to reassure Kourtney, "I know, Ricky can be my boy best friend! Is that ok?"
"Of course it is, as long as I'm still your girl best friend." Kourtney nodded enthusiastically.
"Great, do you want to come meet him with me? Ricky's trying to find his other best friend too."
"OK," Kourtney and Nini carefully made their way to the edge of the merry-go-round and jumped off while also sticking their landing.
"Come on! We have to hurry! I don't know how much time we have left of recess." Nini shouted, pulling Kourtney along with her.
The two girls made it to the edge of the Spider Web as Nini had named it, and Nini looked around every which way for Ricky. She got worried for a few moments that they had lost each other, but when she turned around, suddenly Ricky was standing right in front of her with a small, red-headed boy standing beside him.
"Nini! I found you again. Nini, this is my best friend, Red, and Red, this is my new best friend Nini."
"Hello Red." Nini waved happily. "Ricky, Red, this is my girl best friend Kourtney, and Kourtney, this is my boy best friend, Ricky."
"Hello!" All four of them greeted each other happily.
"Wait, boy best friend?" Ricky asked.
"Yeah, because both you and Kourtney are my best friends."
"Cool, then that means you're my girl best friend right?"
"That sounds amazing!" Nini clapped happily. The new quartet spent most of their remaining recess time trying to get to know as much about each other as possible, and it turned out that both Kourtney and Red shared their teacher so they already knew a little bit about each other, and were happy to be making more friends along with having a familiar face around.
The last thing they had time to do was promise to meet up at the same spot during lunch recess and then it was already time for them to go back inside.
Back inside the classroom was more of the same for Ricky and Nini as their teacher was mostly focused on teaching her students the routines, rules, and expectations she would have for the upcoming year as well as starting to build a true classroom community since most of the kids had only met this morning.
Lunch was a highlight, as even though they were lined up away from each other, Ricky and Nini were able to sit right across the table from each other so they could keep talking about anything and everything they could think of, from more of their favorite foods to favorite games and TV shows. (for Ricky it was Candy Land and Go Diego Go) (For Nini, it was Checkers and Little Einsteins)
And just like they had planned, they spent all of the lunch recess with Kourtney and Red climbing up and down the spider web and just hanging out and having fun together.
Both would agree though, that perhaps the best moment of the day was by far their very first music class with their teacher Mr. Zidlicky.
While they had to line up in line order to walk down to the music classroom, Mr. Zidlicky let all the kids choose who they wanted to sit by for today, and his method of breaking the ice with his young musicians was to ask everyone to share their favorite song, and if he knew it, he'd play a verse on the piano so everyone who recognized the song could sing along.
While Ricky enjoyed singing, he mostly enjoyed it just as a reason to make noise, but with Nini sitting next to him, even among a cacophony of excited, often off-key voices, nearly every song their classmates chose, Nini knew the words to and to Ricky's ears, it was almost like she was the only one singing, or the very least, she was always the only one he was listening too. No matter if it was the H-A-P-P-Y or the Wheels on the Bus she always seemed to find the right pitch and sang like nothing he had ever heard before listening to the TV, radio, or his voice.
Nini was mostly oblivious to this though, she had always loved to sing, and her moms always encouraged her to sing whenever she wanted, but one thing she did notice was how wide Ricky was smiling at her, encouraging her to sing even more.
Even though she giggled at Ricky when it was finally his turn and he wanted to sing Bingo Was His Name-O for his song. Nini still did her best to make sure Ricky was smiling at her when they were both singing. And then it was at last her turn and she said her favorite song was Breaking Free from High School Musical.
Mr. Zidlicky seemed a bit surprised at her choice, but played the first few chords just like he did for everyone else, although this time, Nini, and one other kid, Nina was pretty sure his name was Carlos were singing along. "We're Soaring, flying, there's not a star in heaven that we can't reach, if we're trying. So we're breaking free..."
When Nina really started singing, Ricky just froze and looked at her, he had no idea what song she was singing but he couldn't help himself, it was just something in the way that Nini was singing even those few bars with all her heart into it that entranced him for a few moments until she finished her impromptu duet.
Nini glanced back behind her and smiled kindly at Carlos, and he smiled back, but her attention was taken up by Ricky.
"Woah, what is that song? I've never heard it before."
"It's from my favorite movie, well one of them at least. High School Musical is super duper amazing!"
"High School Musical? I've never heard of it."
"How can you not heard of it? Nini gasped at him. "My moms even told me they filmed it in Salt Lake City!"
"Really? They made a movie here? Like a real movie in a movie theater?"
"Well, my moms told me it was only a TV movie but I think it's good enough for a movie theater."
"Is it anything like Shrek? I really like that movie."
"Shrek? Hmm." Nini tried to think of High School Musical was anywhere close to Shrek, but before she could answer, Mr. Zidlicky started leading the class in another fun activity, interrupting their conversation, and pushing it out of their heads, or mostly at least. After this music class, Ricky knew he wanted to hear Nini sing again.
The rest of the day continued in the same pattern, and by the time the final bell rang, Ricky and Nini were pretty much inseparable. Something they didn't even realize was happening until they started packing up their backpacks and getting ready to go home.
"Ricky, what are you doing after school?"
"Um, going to daycare. Why, where are you going?"
"Mama C is going to pick me up and bring me back to my house. Normally it'll be Mama D dropping me off at school every day and then Mama C will pick me up."
"I still think it's so cool that you have two moms. I only have one."
"Yeah, but you have a dad, I bet he's pretty cool too."
"Of course he is, he's my dad," Ricky said proudly. "I almost wish the school day was longer so we could play some more. I think we could have a lot of fun playing with my stuffed animals after school."
"Or we could have fun playing with my stuffed animals after school," Nini suggested instead. "Ooh, or I know since school is so fun, someday you should come over to my house and we can play pretend school and be the teachers."
"Yeah! That does sound fun. But how do we do that if you're always going home after school and I have to go to daycare?"
"We can ask our parents silly. Oh, I know, do you have to get on the bus right away?"
"I don't think so. I remember last week Mrs. Haaland told me and my parents that bus 10, which is my bus will be in the second round of school busses."
"Good, then that should give us enough time to go find Mama C before your bus comes so she can meet you! Let's go!" Ricky and Nini grabbed each other's hands and pulled each other into the crowd of elementary students flooding outside the school.
When they made it outside the doors, Nini had to pause for a few moments and search for her mom's familiar blonde curly hair, thankfully she caught sight of her after just a few moments and pulled Ricky along with her.
"Mama C!" Nini let go of Ricky's hand to throw herself in a hug around her mom's legs.
"There you are, Nina!" Mama C bent down and smiled just as happily to wrap Nini up in a hug of her own.
"Mama C! School is so much fun! I even made a new best friend! This is Ricky!"
"Hi, uh Nini's mom." Ricky waved, slightly shy all of a sudden.
"Oh, nice to meet you dear. Her name is Nina. Right, sweetie?"
"No, I've decided I like Nini better, and I gave Ricky his new name too."
"Oh did you now?"
"Yeah, my real name is Richard, but I like Ricky better too, Nini's Mom."
"Alright then, Ricky it is. And you can call me Carol if you'd like Ricky."
"Mom, can Ricky come over to our house to play? Please?"
"No, I don't think so today. Not without Ricky's parents' permission." Carol shook her head but kept a kind smile on her face.
"OK, we knew that, but can you call his mom and dad tonight and ask them?"
"Yeah, please? I can give you our phone number!" Ricky offered.
"Ok, I suppose that would be fine, especially if the two of you are already new best friends. Carol dug in her purse for a few moments and pulled out a scrap of paper. Ricky, what is your phone number?"
"Oh, um it's… oh I can't remember." Ricky slid his backpack off his shoulders and looked inside his backpack for a moment, after a bit of frantic searching, he proudly presented a small plastic card to Carol. "My mom said this has all my information for emergencies."
Carol gently took the ID tag from Ricky and scribbled down the phone number, and his parents' names. "OK, I've got it." She handed the ID back to Ricky. "I'll call your parents tonight after we have dinner. Are either of your parents home by six?"
"Yeah, I think so." Ricky nodded his head.
"Alright then. Ricky, I'm sure we'd love to have you over as a guest sometime, but where are you headed off to now?"
"Oh, I need to get on my bus to daycare," Ricky said nonchalantly.
Carol look slightly worried at that statement and glanced down at her watch. "Ricky, you better get going. Don't worry, I promise I'll call your parents tonight. OK?"
"Yeah, OK. Bye Nini!"
"Wait!" Nini shouted and she ran to Ricky's side one more time to give him a hug goodbye. "I'll miss you until I see you at school tomorrow."
"I'm going to miss you too. And I promise I'll convince my parents to let me come to your house so we can play even longer tomorrow."
"Bye Ricky."
"Bye Nini." Ricky said back, and when they let go of each other, Ricky ran back inside the school as fast as his legs could carry him.
"Well, he seems nice, did you make any other friends sweetheart?"
"Yeah, I like all my classmates, but Ricky is definitely my favorite. He's my desk partner and spent all day together…" Nini began telling her mom all about her first day of school, and pretty much everything involved Ricky in some way. Nini was talking so much she didn't even have time to sing anything in the car.
Carol just smiled to herself, like any parents she and Dana had had a few sleepless nights worrying about how Nina was going to adjust to the first major change in her life, but thanks to Ricky, or maybe even thanks to Nina, or now Nini her first day of school had gone better than she ever imagined. Although her new name definitely warranted a conversation with Dana.
Although she hadn't expected playdate requests to come quite so soon, especially for anyone who wasn't Kourtney, Carol was hopeful she could help make her daughter and her new friend happy. She also couldn't wait to tell Dana all about this tonight and how adorable the two of them already looked together.