Day One

I have been dreading this day since the Kindergarten round up in April.  Timmy has been counting down in excitement since then.  We’ve been getting things ready for him:  buying supplies, talking about following instructions, making sure that he knows how to open his fruit cup without help and without a mess.  He has been doing “homework” for months, practicing his letters, reading stories, playing with his flashcards.  He’s so smart, and I’m so excited for him to learn more, and he’s so eager to learn.  I hope that enthusiasm remains with the newness of school has worn off.

Today was hard.  One of the hardest days.  I knew that it would be hard to send him off to school, but it was so much harder than I thought it would be.  I should mention that my kids have never gone to a day care center.  If they weren’t in my care, they were in the care of close friends or family.  It was so hard to leave Timmy with someone that I really don’t know.  I didn’t let him see me cry, but I couldn’t hide my tears from Tanner.  In fact, Tanner probably made it all a little harder. 

We woke up early in the morning, dressed, ate some yummy oatmeal, packed lunches, and off we went.  I drove him to school today, but tomorrow he will take the bus.  We arrived at the school, walked to the cafeteria to meet up with his class, but his class had already left the cafeteria, so we had to navigate the crowded halls to Timmy’s classroom. Once there, we found his seat, snapped a few photos, and said goodbye for the day.

It was so hard to leave that room!  Timmy was nervous, and I was trying to keep the tears from falling in front of him, so I was as brief as I could be.  Tanner didn’t want to leave and began to cry as we left the room.  “I want to stay at Timmy’s school!”  “I miss my brother!”   “Mom, Timmy will miss us!”  Once we got outside the classroom, I couldn’t hold back the floodgates anymore.  Tanner buried his head in my shoulder and cried, “I miss Timmy!”

I felt the hallway closing in around me as I raced to get outside, tears falling …

Tanner and I sat on a bench outside the school for several minutes and just cried together.  I cried all the way to the car, and it took a few minutes in the car before I could clear away the tears enough to drive.

Tanner and I had a wonderful day together.  We really tried to hype up a “Special Day” for Tanner since Timmy was getting so much attention.  I’ll tell you all about that in a separate post.

Timmy came home on the school bus today.  The bus was late, and after all the other kids got off the bus, Timmy still hadn’t gotten off.  I was panicked, but I asked the bus driver if my son was still on the bus.  They called for Timmy, but he didn’t respond.  I stepped into the bus.  He was sitting in the second row, and he saw me, smiled and said “Hi mom.”  Crisis averted.

When I asked him what he did at school, he said, “I can’t remember.  It was a big day Mom.”  Silly kid. :)  After a popsicle, he remembered fun things, like sitting “crisscross applesauce” during PE.  That was his favorite.  That, and the “giant spider web on the playground that you can climb on or hide under, and when you are under it, it’s a force field.”  No joke.  That’s some big stuff for a big day.

I hope I can do it again tomorrow.  Wish me luck!