Back to school was yesterday! Oh my, our 4 weeks off was fun-filled and now it's over.
I have a 6th grader and a 1st grader. And both of them went to new schools, as well.
If you remember, we moved a few months ago, so even though they were able to finish out the school year by me driving to and from school each day, since our address changed that meant a new elementary school for my son. My daughter would be going to middle school so that actually did not change. Whichever address we were at, it would have been the same school.
Last month I took my daughter to orientation at her middle school. She was very excited, but it was still next school year. She hadn't finished 5th grade yet, so the reality didn't exist. Then the day before school was to start, it was open house. This is where she would get her schedule, agenda, gym uniform and meet her teachers. It was mass chaos and that is when I realized she was super nervous. She made me walk her hallway at least a dozen times. We practiced from where the bus would drop her off, find the 6th grade hallway, went to each classroom, to the gym, to her elective class and to the cafeteria. She practiced with her lock and asked where her locker might be. She got to see a couple of friends, and saw who would be in her classes.
We got home and put all her supplies together and labeled everything. She tried on the gym uniform and picked out her outfit. We distracted her a little with some Sparklers leftover from the holiday weekend and then it was time for bed. She asked me if we could have coffee in the morning together before school. I was about to say, 'What?', when she clarified she meant could she have hot chocolate when I had coffee. Whew, lets not rush time anymore that we have to, you know! I told her she'd have to wake up at about six in the morning. She was OK with that, to which I snorted because this little lady would sleep all day if you let her. I didn't hold my breath, but everyone took showers and off to bed it was.
My alarm goes off at 6am, I hit the snooze one time. I walk into her room to see if she still wants to wake up this early, thinking she is just gonna roll over. Um, hello...she wasn't even in her room. Me, still being disoriented was so confused, I check her bathroom, nope not in there. I hear something downstairs. I go down there and the girl is dressed and making her breakfast. The Keurig is on and she is pulling out mugs. What??? If I wasn't so out of it I am sure I would have laughed. But there she was, all excited and ready to go. I told her that I had to go get cleaned up and I'd be right down.
We drank our drinks, her dad came downstairs to see her off before he went to work. My son came down just a little before she and I needed to head out the door for the new bus stop. Got him dressed and out the door we all went. Our bus stop is not down the block where we can walk to or see from our front door, I have to drive the kids down the main road of our development just about the 3/10ths of a mile allowed by transportation. Wouldn't you know it, we get there and she gets out of the car, finds a new friend to talk to and doesn't even look back. Its a good thing my son came with me or I'd have been lonely. The bus pulls up and I did get a little wave, so that was nice. Bye for now my little girl.
Next up is my little man. We get back to the house and I give him his breakfast and drink. We have a little more time to pass, I let him watch some TV, but he was excited to go and kept asking when we leave. Finally it was time to get his backpack on and drive back to the bus stop. This time we both got out of the car and talked with another parent and child that was already there. His bus comes, and now I have no kids for the rest of the day. Am I sad, or am I speeding home to have a mimosa??? Just kidding, I went to a friend's house and we took her little kids to the pool.
I get home in the afternoon in time to go with my father in law to the bus stop for my daughter. He needs to know where the stops are for the days that I work. Here she comes, whoo hoo, I am so excited to see her I give her a big hug and ask how her day was. Her response, 'Eh'. After all that, all I get is a measly 'eh, its OK'. I ask her if it was better than she thought, was she nervous for nothing? She just said the classes seem shorter than she thought, but it was kind of a blur because it was the first day. She did have a little homework though. She told me to ask her again in a couple of weeks. Oh, OK, sure. No big deal, I guess.
We decide that we can leave her home for the little bit that we will be at the bus stop for her brother, so we head out again to pick him up. I see his bus pulling up to the stop, so I get out to greet him. This is the first time he is on a bus by himself. He used to have his sister with him. So, there is all the kids from the neighborhood, but where is my son? I look questioningly at the bus driver and she looks in her rear view mirror. Then I notice him waving at me through the window and he gets up. As he is stepping down off he has a big smile on his face and he says, 'I forgot this was my stop!', he laughs and gives me a huge hug. That is my boy, in a nutshell. It takes him about 3 seconds to tell me about his day and as soon as we get home he asks his sister how her school day was.
Everything was going to be fine. She was going to adjust to middle school just fine, and he is going to do great in a school all by himself. At the end of the day if I can say that with confidence, that is all that matters. Our normal after-school chaos resumes and as I fill-out and sign all the paperwork they both brought home, I smile to myself and think we always worry for nothing, it seems.
I am proud to say the kids had an amazing track-out and were ready to go back to school. They had play dates galore, I spoiled my daughter for her birthday, she also went to an away camp so my son got some one on one time with his parents for the first time ever. We took them to the movies and out to eat a bunch of times. I think some happy memories were made this summer break 2015. We aim to get through first semester and do it all again during fall break in September...
No comments:
Post a Comment