Thursday, August 19, 2010

First Day of School

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Today was the day I've been waiting on all summer long!  Today was the first day of school.  It was bitter sweet for me.  Shelby started 2nd grade this morning.  We really like her teacher.  She is a young teacher, full of energy and new ideas.  She is very well organized (which I LOVE!).  Shelby said, "She seems really nice.  Not the kind of nice that is just nice when the parents are there, but really nice...even to the kids."
We were lucky enough for Tyler to get a teacher that we know and she's a great person so we were all very excited about that.  She is also young and enthusiastic and have high hopes that she will be a great fit for Tyler.
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This morning, Shelby woke up with excitement and ready to see her old friends and very thrilled that she is in the same class room as her cousin (my sister's daughter) Katie!  She was up and dressed in no time flat.  We had her back pack full of all of that first day of school paperwork that you have to fill out.  She had a drink and snack and was ready for the day!
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Tyler, on the other hand was not as enthusiastic about starting Kindergarten.  He got up, but not as thrilled as his 2nd grade sister.  He knows no one in his class.  Sure, there are kids in the school that he knows from daycare but as far as in his classroom, there is not one familiar face.
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Since there are two different driveways, naturally my children have to wait in separate places.  They line up according to which side of the building their classroom is located.  We parked in the big driveway where Tyler will wait on the sidewalk out front for the morning bell.  We walked Shelby through the school to her driveway.  Since she's an old pro at this, we left her in good hands waiting with my sister and her daughter since they are in the same class.  She was very excited and not a bit nervous!
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Tyler was nervous and you could see the fear in his eyes.  The poor guy was terrified.  As he waited in line and all of the parents surrounded their children snapping photos, Tyler stood in the sea of Kindergartners with a lost puppy dog look on his face.  As the line began to move and the kids headed to the classroom, Tyler looked back at us one last time and then headed that way.  He wasn't crying and seemed okay, so I turned and walked away.  I was teary eyed and afraid that if he saw me crying that he would get upset.  Brien asked if we were going to go in and I told him I didn't think it was a good idea.
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So, we headed out and I was of course an emotional wreck.  Yes, all summer I have prayed to get those kids in school and find some peace and sanity, but as I left my baby boy in Kindergarten all I really wanted to do was go in and grab him up and hug him, take him home and tell him that he can't grow anymore!!!

As I got ready to leave, my sister called me to tell me that she got Katie and Shelby in class okay and that they were doing fine when she left.  She poked her head in to check on Tyler on her way out and that he was crying.  She assumed that we knew he was upset and that I was upset as well.  I had no idea he was upset.  When we left, he was fine.  Of course the mothering instinct kicked in and I wanted to go comfort him.  I got out and started walking in and half way through I stopped and thought to myself that it could be a bad idea to go in there...

What's a mom to do?!  Do I go in and risk the possibility of him getting REALLY upset when he sees me and wants to go with him or do I just leave and let him cry thinking his mother has abandoned him?  Well, of course I couldn't just leave.  When I approached the classroom I felt my knees get weak and I just told myself to be strong and not get upset with him!  When I saw his little face and how upset it was, it broke my heart!  He was red faced and gasping for air because he was crying so hard he could not catch his breath.  I went in the class and walked over to him and immediately he latched on to me and held on for dear life pleading with me to take him home and let him miss "just one day of school".  I tried reasoning with him that he had to stay at school.  It's not like daycare where you can go when you want.  He was so upset by this time that there was no reasoning with him.

His teacher was so gracious, she went on about classroom procedures telling the children to empty their back packs and lay the papers on their desk and such.  Tyler was the only child crying so she was trying not to make a spectacle out of him.  In the same token, there was a man in there with a camera.  I'm assuming that he's from the local paper.  He kept snapping photos of me comforting Tyler and I wanted to go shove that camera where the sun don't shine.  But, I kept my class about me. Can't you see the headlines?  CrAzY Working Mom sends photographer with his most prized possession lodged in...well you get the picture!  Can't have that on my resume.  So, anyhow he pleaded with me for a little bit but obviously we were getting nowhere fast and he was only getting more upset.

He spotted his daddy waiting by the door and I assume that he realized that he was not going to melt my cold as ice heart into letting him leave, so he wanted to work on his dad.  He asked me if his daddy could come give him a hug before we left.  I told him if he would make me a promise that he would stop crying he could.  He straightened his back, loosened his grip of me and wiped his eyes.  I thought to myself that I might have gotten through to him and he was going to be okay.

WRONG!  When his daddy got over there he started the same song and dance with him.  Finally, we told him goodbye and just left him to cry.  The poor little guy was so upset.  Of course, I was right there with him once I got out of the classroom, hating to leave him so frazzled.  Fortunately he has a great teacher, and she gave me her phone number and told me to text her after while and she'd report back.

I am happy to say that she texted me and told me that he was doing fine.  Of course I knew he would, but it was the initial leaving him that was so hard knowing how scared he was!

I am anxious to find out how their day has gone.  Mine has been okay.  I've had lots of traffic in and out of the office, so not much peace and quiet as I had hoped for, but none the less I'm managing.

What kind of back to school horror stories do you have?!  Do you have a "Tyler-like" story?  Let me know in the comments!  I'd love to hear them.

8 comments, add yours here:

Patti said...

It was a long time ago, but I remember I was much more upset than either one of our kiddos.

They were ready for kindergarten! No horror stories.

P.S. I love how Emily posed at the door with Shelby and Tyler. Was she with you all day?

bcmomtoo said...

I remember my son's first day of kindergarten. He didn't know any of the kids, but he had met his teacher a few days before at the Open House. So, when we got there, he saw her and was happy as can be. He turned to me and said, "you can go now, mom." He didn't even want me waiting on the sidewalk with him until it was time to go in!

Not as heart-breaking as Tyler's first day, but it was hard to realize that he didn't need me. It didn't bother him one bit that I was leaving him at school.

This year, we'll be leaving him at college. :(
Luckily, he'll only be 15 miles from home, and he'll be coming home at least some of the weekends. But still, move-in day (8/30) will be hard.

bcmomtoo said...

Oh, and Miss Shelby was looking so stylish for her first day of 2nd grade!

Crazy Working Mom said...

Patti, Emily had to be in the pictures. When I would try to pull her back she got so upset I figured that I might as well just let her stay there!

Shelby stayed at Kindergarten and I know she was scared...I could tell but she went in and stayed with no worries. Poor Tyler...

Crazy Working Mom said...

Anna,

I know time will fly...pretty soon I'll be putting my last baby in Kindergarten. It was a tough morning, but hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Shelby is always styling, girl! She won't go to the back yard to play without making sure everything matches perfectly! She drives me insane!!!

Mom Knows Everything said...

The kids don't start back to school here until Sept.7th. Aurora is going into grade 11 and Aidan into Kindergarten. John is so worried about Aidan that he's freaking me out. I'll let you know how Aidan makes out and how me and John make out.

Crazy Working Mom said...

Tammy,

Adrian will probably do better than you and John! *LOL*

Shelby did great when she went. Of course she was my baby girl...this was before Emily was born, of course...it was much harder
on me than it was on her. But, yesterday when Tyler was so scared that was REALLY tough. So, either way it's hard on the parents,
but of course when they go in and tell you goodbye and they don't need you there that's really hard too! We just can't win either way! :)

Good luck. Can't wait to hear how it went!

Ali said...

Ugh! Now I am crying! I don't have a little one in school yet, or in daycare as I stay at home, but I just dread the day our firstborn goes to school! I am going to be a total wreck! These last 2 days have been rough seeing all my friends' posts on facebook and reading blog posts about the first day of school. I hope my little guy doesn't cry, you poor momma! Glad today went sort of better? Hang in there! =)

PS - Just be glad you knew where he was, a friend of mine posted on fb that her son said he got off the bus at the wrong school (we live in a small town where all grades ride together) and walked to the primary school! Not too far from the jr. high, but still! She said she hopes he was making things up, that the bus driver should have noticed his bus pass and that he was so little, the smallest on the bus! Yikes!