Hellobee

Well the big day came — I officially have two kids in school.

First Day of School 2016!

After six years of part-time programs and half days, this is Drake’s first year in full-time school and Juliet starts her first year in part pre-school. I now have a small three-hour window in the morning where I only have one child at home.

Drake has been nervous the weeks leading up to this day. He was worried about the day it was since he knew he was going to be in school “full time,” but didn’t really have any idea what that meant time wise and was worried he would miss me too much. I think he also had general anxiety just about being in a brand new school with new teachers and not knowing where to go. We were lucky as Drake had a former classmate as well as two boys from his bus last year who ended up being in his class, which I think helped reassure him a little. Juliet, on the other hand, was a ball of excitement and had been talking about riding the bus for days ahead of time. She attended a six-week summer program at the school in July and August and had a wonderful time and was ready to go back to it all, especially the bus part. She did very well transitioning into the summer program — no tears — so I knew when September rolled around we wouldn’t have any issues.

The morning was a bit chaotic as we all were adjusting to new time tables and trying to make sure we had everything to go. I had spent the previous weeks with the supply lists trying to buy everything on the list (it wasn’t easy finding the specific types and colors of certain items). The end result meant their backpacks were jammed packed when we walked to Drake’s bus stop. His bus driver was clearly new as he took a convoluted path through the neighborhood that let me wave goodbye to Drake four additional times after sending him on his way. And then it was back home for a short bit before the bus showed up at our door to get Juliet.

The house was suddenly so quiet with just Fiona. I tried to figure out what to do with this new glorious time I had been gifted and had a list of small errands to run locally. I didn’t want to stray too far in the first few days in case bus times were widely off for some reason.

A little after noon Juliet came bounding off the bus and the day seemed so much happier in some way. Juliet and I chatted about her day as I made her and Fiona lunch. We played outside afterward while Fiona went down for a nap, and later they switched places as I put Juliet down and got Fiona ready to walk to the bus stop to see Drake home from his first day.

Drake’s return home seemed much better than the send him off. He was excited he got a gummy bear for staying on the green circle for behavior and talked about seeing his old friends as well as making some new ones. We had been worried about him getting distracted at lunch time and not eating, but he surprised me by finishing his whole lunch and he read the note I left in there for him out loud to me when I came home.

Overall it seemed like both my darlings had as good of a day as I could have hoped for. The real test comes as the days after the excitement wears off. Still, I have high hopes for both of them. Drake had an incredible kindergarten experience and I hope we can have a repeat of that this year, and Juliet has taken to school so nicely I couldn’t be more pleased. I hope in the coming weeks I find a way to better plan and schedule my time with Fiona so I can get some things done, as well as spend some quality time bonding with my one little one left at home.

How did your first day go?