Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Kindergarten - Day One


Today was the day I have been dreading for the last six years – Eli’s first day of kindergarten. I really thought I would be fine, but all last night, the only thing I could think of was the day he was born. And now he is six years old and going to school.

Even then, I thought I would be fine . . . until we dropped him off at school this morning. When we walked in, there was another mom walking out, sobbing. Dude! I about lost it right then. As if that weren’t bad enough, there were PTA members in the kindergarten room, offering you Kleenex and saying things like, “Are you okay? I know it’s hard. I’ve been through it, too.” Okay, that just about broke me. I would have been fine if everyone would have just left me alone!!!

After we finally dropped Eli off and got home, we made it in the door before Eric broke down in tears. Dammit! Everyone was determined to make me cry this morning.

After an emotional start to the day, I thought we recovered pretty well. Until the school called around 10:30. That freaked me out. Eli had only been there 2 hours, what could he have possibly done in that amount of time?! It turns out that it was the school nurse calling, and Eli had a lot of mosquito bites on his neck and arms. They wanted to make sure it was okay to give him calamine lotion. Then, she asked if he had the mosquito bites when he came to school. Well, I certainly didn’t notice them. She said, “Well, if he got them here, I would think there would be other kids who also got mosquito bites.” So on day one, I am already concerned that the school thinks I am neglecting my child.

Then when it was time to pick him up, we walked to the side of the school where they let out the kids. I watched all the kindergarten classes come out, and Eli was not there. I really began to freak out. They lost my kid on the first day of school?! I tracked down a teacher who told me that the “walkers” were brought to a different door of the building. Okay, no one told me that before. So we walked around the building, and sure enough, there was Eli.

Then, the kids stopped to play on the swings, and we were quickly approached by a teacher who informed us that kids couldn’t play on the equipment until after 4:00. They had to make sure all of the kids were off school property first. Eric couldn’t believe that we got chastised.

All in all, I think everything went well. As far as I could tell anyway. Eli was gone for seven hours (the most time I think he has ever been away from me), and when I asked him what he did today at school, he said, “Oh. Nothing.”

6 comments:

Ladybug Crossing said...

LOL! Get used to that answer!

You need very specific questions to ask:
Who did you play with at recess?
Who did you sit with at lunch?
Did Miss X read a story today? Which one?

Once he starts talking, you won't be able to shut him up!
YMMV
xo
LBC

Anonymous said...

Oh nothing? OMG, I would have thought he would be running at the mouth with all the cool things he was able to do...Maybe tonight...

Hugs to you, Mom...

Desert Songbird said...

I think the first day of school is always more exciting for the parents than it is the kids. At least that's the way it seemed in my house. My kids just sailed through and then wanted to know what the big deal was. Sheesh!

RM said...

Tell my brother that he will be chastised for playing on the plaground during the CHAOS known as kindergarten pick-up. That's been my special duty way too many years and it's all fun and games unless your the one keeping track of everyone. You can go play after 4 and I'll go drink adult beverages!

Crazy Working Mom said...

Well, I'm glad you both made it through. :)

I can't say that I wasn't an emotional wreck over mine...but I'm using the pregnancy as my excuse.
Yes, it's just hormones...no, REALLY!!!

Jennifer said...

My daughter started Kindergarten this year too, but since she is my second, I was like Woohooo: It's about time. I even let her ride the bus to school (with her big sister, so not so scary).

When she got home, I asked her about her day and all she wanted to talk about was what she ate for lunch. That was the most exciting part apparently.