First day of school

Oh, how I'd love to share pictures of my kiddos on the first day of school. Alas, my slow-as-molassas computer forbids me from doing so. I am in the processes of editing the pictures but because of said slow computer it'll probably be a couple of days before I can actually share photos. So in the meantime, I'll just bore you with the details.

Tess: First day of Kindergarten today. She did great and met some new friends that she played with this morning while I was observing in the classroom. Being the first day the parents had to stick around to do some things and help the kiddos feel a bit more at ease. The little girl Tess was playing with kept telling her mom that she could go home now. Tess was content just having me watch. Until it was time for me to go when she broke down in big sobs and said she didn't want me to leave. Poor thing, she stayed in the line to go to recess just holding a friends hand and tears were streaming down her face. Ugh. Very hard to be the Mommy and have to stay strong when you really just want to scoop her up and take her home and snuggle. She went out to recess where she continued to cry even harder when she saw her teacher from last year. I think the familiarity of her just set her off. Then she even saw Elliott and Selah and was STILL sobbing. Poor thing. At some point she finally did settle down and enjoyed the rest of the day enough to announce this afternoon that today was, "The best day EVER!"

Selah: She had a lot of fun today. She loves her new teacher and I'm a lot happier with her teacher assignment this year than I was last year. I've heard several parents say that this teacher isn't very good but I'm pleased with her disposition and am just crossing my fingers that she'll be a good fit with Selah this year. I'm so happy that Selah is also branching out of her shell a bit and isn't as shy as she has been in the past. She's open to making new friends and came home this afternoon telling me about the new friends she made today.

Elliott: He's pleased as pie with his class full of rowdy boys. Apparently his teacher is one that can reign them in and more power to her. When I saw the list of names for his class I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. I'm not sure what the ratio of boys to girls is but every single boy in there is a handfull I think! Elliott is a terrific student but loves to entertain so friends encouraging that behavior isn't always good. From what I hear though this teacher is able to be strict and discipline the children but they also all really like her. When Elliott came home after school I asked him about his day and he said, "My teacher is really strict". I asked if he liked her even though she was strict and he was pretty hesitant before saying yes. I imagine that she's starting the year off letting them know who's boss and before long he'll be telling me how much he likes her.

Marleigh: Bless her heart. She had a bit of a rough first day of 7th grade. First she set her alarm wrong and woke up late. I would have gotten her up but I was out on my run and so was Hubby. By the time we got home she only had about 30 minutes to get ready. Apparently not enough for a 12-going-on-18 year old. Then I got a call from Hubby at 10:15 informing me that Marleigh started her period. Poor thing! It's been so inconsistent and she just doesn't really know when to expect it. Of course she didn't have anything with her and she bled all through her brand new shorts she bought last night for the first day of school. She was miserable and embarassed thinking that other people saw the back of her pants and then was terrified that I'd be made that she'd messed up her new shorts. Poor thing. I brought her home to change and get cleaned up and before too long she was much better. I'm sure this will be one of those things she looks back and laughs about in 10 years but today it was far from funny!

It was an emotional day for me. Sending Tess off to Kindergarten, the first real official year to be in school. Elliott went to his last first day at elementary school. And Marleigh went to her last first day in middle school. Next year I'll have two in elementary school, one in middle school, and one in junior high. Heaven help me! And while You're at it, make these kids slow down and not grow up so fast!