first day of school

you know those kids who cling to mom, sometimes even crying, begging her to stay, terrified at the separation?  Yeah, not my kids.

you know the moms who sit in the car and cry after dropping their precious baby off at the first day of school? I thought that might be me.  But no.

(...There might be something wrong with us.)

The first day of school was fantastic.  It actually started two days ago when Butterfly and I went to Parent-Teacher Conference.  The genius of this plan is that she gets to meet her teacher for a one-on-one interview, at the school, before the official first day chaos.  We dropped Ladybug off at dance class and went to her school.  Walking to the school, I reached out to hold her hand and she shied away.  Almost apologetically she told me no.  ??!!!  That was the saddest moment of the week.  But I respect her independence.  We met her teacher and she acted like a perfect little lady.  She sat properly in her chair, quietly listening and gracefully retrieving forms from her backpack when asked for them and then delicately folding her hands in her lap again.  Eventually I confessed that this was all rather deceptive and she would soon be her talkative, super friendly, full of life and energetic self.

This morning I cuddled my two big girls for a few minutes as we all descended into wakefulness.  Then I bounced on the bed, playing and shouting "first day of school! first day of school!"  My plan worked perfectly and they were instantly excited, hurrying through showers, dressing and breakfast.  We stopped for a quick photo shoot on the front step and loaded into the car.

Butterfly will be attending three days a week, Ladybug will be attending one day a week at a two year old program (since she doesn't turn three until next week).  I suspect hers will be more of a structured playgroup than an academic experience but it will be good for her.  Their school starts at the same time and both happened to have their first full day today.  So we took Ladybug to school first, all of us piling out of the car, arriving 10 minutes early and having to wait around outside for a few minutes.  While we waited, Butterfly and Ladybug nosily bounced around, peeking the windows and enthusiastically greeting her classmates (all of which promptly hid behind their moms).  We were welcomed into the school, had a brief little flurry of "here's what you do" instructions, picture with new teacher, hang up backpacks and Ladybug ran off to play.  She didn't even give me a second look, let alone a hug or a goodbye.

So we raced over to Butterfly's school where parents had been invited to stay for the first half hour.  Daddy met us there and she was thrilled to see him.  We were greeted by her teacher, did a similar "hang up your stuff" routine and then watched as the kids played a few games with their new teacher and classmates.  Butterfly was quieter than usual and surprised me when she shied away from a boy that excitedly declared he knew her.  What a reverse from the usual!  After the games, the kids lined behind teacher and chugged away on their train, waving goodbye and cheering and chugging.  I got a quick picture of her with her new teacher and then the school's head teacher welcomed us and ran through the orientation info.

And then we were done!  No lingering hugs, sad goodbyes or anything.  So me and Lovely headed out for our errands, loving the one-on-one time (and the ease of running errands with only one mischievous, curious, rambunctious munchkin!)  We took the car for a safety inspection, renewed the registration and renewed my driver's license (which expired on my birthday two weeks ago, a fact that was recently pointed out to me by the officer when he pulled me over for failure to come to a complete stop at a stop sign with no one near it!...except for the officer parked in a parking lot half a block away.  But I dutifully accept the consequence of my mistake--which was an interesting conversation with my kids sitting in the back seat.  I had to explain to them what I did wrong and that it was a consequence of my naughty choice.  Butterfly tried to comfort me by pointing out he only gave me a paper but I didn't have to go on time out.  I wish kid. anyway.  happy birthday to me.)

We picked up Ladybug from school who was full of excitement and indiscernible chatter.  Her teacher spoke to us for a few minutes to offer her observations of the day, commenting that she was very friendly and helpful...in fact a little too helpful and we needed to help by reminding her to take care of herself and let others do the same.  Apparently she was quite mothering to the other kids.  Eager to help and yet, smothering.  But she had a great time and was eager to show me the picture she drew.

A friend from the daycare picked up Butterfly from school since I was in a required GroupKick rehearsal.  On her way to the daycare, Butterfly passed by the window, spotting me and excitedly shouted things I couldn't hear and blew me happy kisses.  Fortunately, I got to see her shortly after and she has rambled about the picture she drew, her new friends at school (who have some seriously odd names.  I think this state wins for tried-too-hard-to-be-unique award.  as well as the wanted-them-to-be-unique-but-really-I-just-can't-spell award.), her new teacher and all the activities they did.

They both had a great day and were thrilled to see each other again.  They played, we had lunch and then slept soundly through long naps, thoroughly worn out from what must have been a very busy, wonderful first day of school.