After a pretty laid back Labor Day weekend, today was the first day of school for both my kids--a second grader and the first day of preschool.
This year seemed a lot less anxious and stressful than other years when it came to preparing for the first day. After two years at our local public school, we had it down. My daughter knew at least half a dozen kids in her new class and was confident about starting. My son is social and outgoing; he had been talking about going to school all summer.
I had all the school supplies (see previous post) and a $5 check for copy paper and a check for school lunches in her backpack ready to go. Her cell phone was charged and in the backpack (this provides our family with great comfort and is not used for anything except calling me).
My preschooler's extra change of clothes were folded and in a Ziploc with his name on the bag in black Sharpie. His 72 hour kit which his preschool requires was packed in an old backpack and ready to go.
I had actually ironed the first day of school outfits and they were laid out for the morning. Both kids had baths and the second grader even let me blow dry her hair. We were set.
This morning, I was woken up about an hour before I expected to wake up with my daughter fully dressed for school and ready to go. The little one was not as eager to be woken up. Once up, he was a grump and insisted all morning that he was not going to preschool.
The rain scared us off from walking the 1/2 mile to school and we opted to drive. We even left early. Everyone else had the same idea and we had to park about 1/4 mile away and walked in the rain anyway to get to the elementary school. We were barely on time.
The 2nd grade teachers were great and let the parents come into the classroom, take pictures and hug and kiss our little ones to our hearts content. My glowing heart fell, however, when I saw all the other children sitting with the completed questionnaires the teachers handed out at the meet and greet. I had forgot. Completely.
Somehow, I forgot to bring in the entire packet they gave us and never read it. The packet was still in the stroller in our garage. Later I found out I not only forgot the questionairre, but I forgot to send in two favorite books and a snack. "I was the only one without a snack!" she cried that afternoon. "I was starrrrrvinggggg!!!!" Talk about mother guilt.
At noon, it was preschool drop off. By this time, he was excited to carry his backpack to preschool and said "I'm excited!" often. He saw two other kids walking in and ran ahead. This was going to be easy, I thought, smugly.
He ran to the door, opened it, then saw the classroom and buried his head inbetween my legs. What was I doing? Was he too young for this? Was this the wrong preschool for him? The teacher wasn't prepared for the kids and we weren't sure what to do. So, I sat and played with him for fifteen or so minutes. Everytime I moved away, he got scared and ran to me.
Finally, a teacher offered to read to him and he cried and cried. Knowing my son is pretty adaptable and easily distracted, I left. My heart was in my toes and tears rolled down my cheek. I peaked in the window and saw the teacher shooing me away. I left feeling rather sheepish.
When I picked him up, he ran to me and gave me the biggest hug. I had him show me all the toys he played with and asked him what he would play with tomorrow. He insisted on bringing home the backpack with the 72 hour kit which was pretty heavy from all those juice boxes.
All in all though, it was a good day. The 2nd grader lost her bracelet at the playground and was annoyed at me for being the forgetful mom, but other than that she seemed happy with her first day. The rain subsided and we walked home. The little one bounces back and forth between wanting to go back to school NOW and never going back.
With the wet weather today and the start of school it just really felt like fall came all of a sudden. Where did the summer go?