Whew! We made it through the first day of school today…and it was wonderful. How was it for you and your little ones?
Today was much better than yesterday when I was in a really funky mood that I just couldn’t shake. It was one of those days when little thing were annoying…like school supplies. I was annoyed that we hadn’t bought 36 sharpened pencils and that our electric pencil sharpener decided to break after I had just finished sharpening number 5. I was annoyed that I couldn’t find a box of “moist towelettes”. I was annoyed that there were 21 items on the “Second Grade Supplies” list. (You get the point…I was annoyed.)
After the kids were put down for the night, I had a bit of free time to think and journal. I realized that I was “on edge”, not because I was angry. Rather, it was because I was sad. I know that many moms count down the days to the start of school in eager expectation. I don’t. I enjoy having the kids at home. I like having them around…even when they are playing with Reggie while I’m working in the other room. I like the less structured days of summer when we can stay out as long as we like, because we can sleep late the next day. I ended last night thinking how much more I would like it if I could homeschool the kids. (It didn’t help that earlier this week I had spoken with a friend who was planning on homeschooling her son for pre-kindergarten this year. After she had left, I looked at Reggie. He already knew that I was going to say that I should homeschool Sean instead of sending him to the 2 1/2 hour/day pre-k program, so he just shook his head no.) It was time to accept the facts…I don’t have any more babies. Sniff.
Even after last night’s “epiphany”, I still woke up in a bad mood today. “It’s raining. What am I supposed to do…walk Sean back and forth in the rain four times…that’s an hour and 40 minutes of walking for him and 2 hours and 20 minutes of walking for me?!” (Homeschooling was looking even better.) Reggie – being the wise man that he is – didn’t even try to fix it. “Do whatever you think is best. Just know that if you use a stroller today, then he is going to expect it every day that it rains” he responded. “Easy for you to say,” I half-joked “you are getting in the car and driving to work. You’ll see when you take a day off and you have to do this double drop-off and pick-up.” At this point, he just kissed me and the kids, wished us all a great day and left. After reminding myself that Sean hasn’t used a stroller all summer and had gone hiking in the Adirondacks just last week, I realized that he would be just fine walking…and he was.
Even better, the sun came out on the way to school. My sunny mood seemed to return with it and the rest of the day was great. Sean has a really sweet, welcoming pre-k teacher and he had a fun first day. When I picked him up, the first thing that he said was, “I had a great first day of pre-k.” (Okay, so maybe it is good that I didn’t go the homeschooling route after all.) He also kept talking about the book The Kissing Hand. “My teacher said that when we’re shy or lonely, we just need to touch our cheek with the kissing hand and it’s just like your mommy is there with you. So, make sure to kiss my hand okay?” (He was telling Michael about it later and Michael remembered the book from kindergarten. It sounds like a winner if you have a little one that might be struggling with mild separation anxiety.)
First Day of Pre-K