Yesterday was the first day of school for the kids and for myself. Back to a packed schedule and early morning hubbub. I’m ready for it. The kids are ready, too.
At 6:45, I was sitting on the sofa trying to head my head together
while watching the morning news. Jonah came down the stairs dressed and
fully accessorized. He was wearing a blue, sleeveless tie-dyed shirt –
he likes to show off his muscles. It was paired with army fatigue
shorts, his new sneakers with the bouncy heels, his favorite yellow
bracelet, a watch, and a red baseball cap. He was wearing his blue
backpack festooned with many key chains. I made him change his shirt,
and tried to explain what the word "clashing" meant.
Ian came down the stairs and hollered at everyone to go back to bed.
He was really nervous and cranky, but when the little yellow school bus
stopped in front of our house, he went running inside. He barely
paused, so I could take a picture of him.
Jonah and the other kids rode their scooters around in the street.
They were about half hour early for their buses. Steve stood in the
street answering e-mail on his blackberry. Jonah got on the bus
slightly nervous about meeting a strange, new teacher and socializing
with kids that he hasn’t seen all summer.
And I’m back to school, too. Black shirt dress and flats. I’m
teaching two classes: Public Policy and Political Theory. Both classes
that I’ve done before and really like teaching, but after three months
off, I seem to have forgotten everything.
How was your first day?
Apt. 11d 
Absolutely fantastic. Ours also got completely dressed by 6:15 AM when we woke up. She’s a girl, so she was well coordinated (although I let her clash if she wants to). A lot of planning had gone into her outfit, so she was well prepped. She also (less fortunately) woke up her 4 yo old brother and got him all ready too. She dressed him in all black, so combined with the tiredness, in the back to school photos, he looked like he’d become a sullen teenager 9 years early.
Daughter came home absolutely thrilled with school, and excited about her homework. She insisted on working on it (though it’s due on Sept. 30th, instead of watching her 15 minutes of video). I’m not under any delusions that this will continue throughout the rest of her academic career, but I have to believe the school is doing something right. She’s so excited about learning, and she said she thinks she is going to learn. Independently, to our evaluation is that she’s doing very well academically. So, really, we could ask for nothing more at this moment.
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We all got up around 7 am. My daughter always dresses before she leaves her room. My son stayed in his pjs for as long as possible. He takes after his mother. But then we all got our things together and left.
I got to the school and my daughter went off to her classroom and I went with my son to the cafeteria, where they have all the 1st graders go on the first day. We saw some of his kindergarten friends, but only one of them is in his class.
I had to bring all my son’s medical stuff (nebulizer, epi-pen, benedryl) and permission slips to the nurse’s office, but when I got there I found out that his immunization paperwork hadn’t been received. So I had to make a quick trip to the pediatrician’s office to get a new copy.
After school I picked them up and we went out for ice cream. I asked lots of questions, but my son was fairly uncommunicative. Never had any trouble getting my daughter to spill on every detail. *sigh* But it seems to have gone well.
My daughter loves her teacher. She said “She was so nice. When we had a problem about how to line up at the door for lunch, she let us figure out how to solve the problem.” I said, “Instead of just telling you the rules and what to do?” “Yes,” she said. She was *very* impressed with this.
So am I.
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Ian looks like you in that picture!
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