This morning, I waved good-bye to two kids on two school buses. Ian rode on his special ed mini van, and Jonah waited with the rest of the kids at the corner stop. The first day of school. The first full day of school for my youngest. For the past 7-1/2 years, I have had a kid glued to my hip for a good chunk of the day. We’ve always had babysitters and daycare, but only part time. Now, the house will be empty until 3:30 every day.
For the past week, I have been giddy about the prospect of freedom. I
can teach and write, while they are in school and not at the wee hours
of the night or on the weekend. I had six, consequtive hours today to
finish off my syllabi. How fantastic.
But. I no longer have a baby; they are two big boys.
And Steve and I are anxious about how the kids are faring at school
today. Is Ian able to talk to his teacher? Did he recover from his
tears this morning when we wouldn’t let him take 30 Thomas trains to
school? Is he scared? Is Jonah stressed out about being cool? Is he
trying too hard? Are the kids laughing at him or with him? Is he scared?
I am.
Apt. 11d 
My big girl went off to school today, her hair worn uncharacteristically down because it makes her look like Miley Cyrus. We live across the street from the school, so we walked over this bright sunny morning and ran into several of the other kids and their moms and dads, dropping them off. My daughter had confessed to her aunt (via IM) that she was scared because it’s a higher grade (3rd), but once she got to school, she seemed happy to see her friends. I have to teach until 6 today, so I won’t be able to pick her up and take her out for ice cream as I’ve done the past 2 years on the first day. We (and Eric) have a date at Friendly’s tomorrow night (my husband is will be out of town anyway).
My son is technically in kindergarten but at his old preschool. Our school district has half-day kindergarten, so private it is if you want something full-day. He went back last week and was welcomed right back into the fold. They think he’s really grown up. He’s certainly a few inches taller; like Sharon Olds’ Gabriel, “the boy is growing as fast as he can, lean meat showing between the shirt and belt.”
I’m more sad than scared–maybe next year when he goes to first grade.
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I love reading all the first-day posts. My daughter was kind of nervous about going back to school, too–I think third grade is a big step into big kid-dom. How did it go?
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They survived. I survived.
Jonah met a girl on the bus, a fourth grader, who wants to be in a band. He was very impressed. He said he teacher was “extremely” nice. Ian had some ups and downs at school. He told me that he threw the pieces of Shoots and Ladders around and that he screamed once. But he also chased the bus down the street when it dropped him off, because he wanted to go back. He’ll get the hang of school soon.
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I asked my daughter this evening if her teacher was nice. No, she ground out between gritted teeth. “She was really really really really really really really really really…”
(and let us pause here a moment to point out that at this point I was TOTALLY falling for the whole shtick though I KNOW better)
“…really really really really really really really really really nice.”
They’re doing the flag in social studies. I said, “you mean, the flags of all the countries?” No, she said. The American flag.
Maybe I have no imagination, but I can’t imagine what how much they could teach about the American flag.
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We had our first full day on Tuesday here too. So far so good. It is kind of a relief not to have to strategize about what happens in the middle of the day.
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Ah, it’s hard to let go.
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I think watching my kids march off to school the first time made me feel older than just about anything I’ve done in my life. (And that includes a root canal and doing my own will.)
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Just sent my oldest off to Kindergarten 3 weeks ago, and my baby started preschool this week. Silence has a whole new meaning, that’s for sure.
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I’m glad the first day went well. Onward and upward, right?
The house still seems Too Damn Quiet, though.
If only the kids didn’t melt down every afternoon as a corrective….
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“If only the kids didn’t melt down every afternoon as a corrective….”
Yours, too? Things were so bad yesterday that I called my mother to vent. Really bad idea. She was so sympathetic, but had to throw in “that’s because they had absolutely no structure this summer.” Translation – that’s because you let them play video games all August instead of playing educational games with them like you sister did with her kids.
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My son came back and told me he had the “worst day ever!”.
All his friends left over the summer which is hard enough. But now there are only girls in his class, five of them, and him — and none of them wanted to play Batman with him.
His first day was last Thursday, and today he came home skipping and told me that “another two girls played with me”. Things are looking up.
Now I get to transition: he’s got homework. In kindergarten! He needs to fill sheets with letters, and practice his Russian vocabulary.
Next comes calculus, I’m sure.
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We came home yesterday and decided that school just takes too much time. I don’t really know what the solution is. Do I have to give up work so I can spend the afternoon with them? As it is, we only get about 1 1/2 waking hours with the kids.
bj
PS: I guess on a bright note, I get to avoid the afternoon meltdowns 🙂
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We’re getting closer to the moment of grand transition, though it’s still a few years off. Megan leaves every morning for middle school at 7:45am, Caitlyn leaves for elementary school at 8:30am (both of them walk), and this year Alison begins pre-school twice a week. Soon it’ll just be Kristen at home, and then Melissa will be on her own, at which point she’ll have a midlife crisis, I suppose.
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