The First Week of School (ie, my least favorite week of the year)

I'm happy to report that once again we survived the first week of school. This was probably the easiest first week we've ever had, but that's not saying too much given what I've gone through the past couple of years. Allison is now a big second grader and has come such a long way from kindergarten! As you may recall, she had major issues walking into school and to her classroom by herself as a kindergartner. I think a big part of the problem was that she was so small and just felt the kids were going to run her over. She always wanted a buddy to walk in with. There were many days we sent her in crying, which just broke my heart (and Jeff's too). Last year was very smooth - it just so happened that her classroom was right inside the door to the school which made things so much easier for us. This year, however, her classroom is pretty much the farthest from the front door that it can possibly be. She has to walk in and walk down a big hallway past all the first grade and kindergarten classrooms. Then she has to go back outside, around the PE court and into her classroom in a separate building. I wasn't sure how this was going to go over given what we've had to deal with in the past but boy did she surprise me! She even said she was excited to be able to walk that far to her classroom- WHAT? Where was this child two years ago?? Yes, she has matured quite a lot and I think the biggest thing is seeing her friend's siblings, and some of her younger friends starting kindergarten - it makes her feel like one of the older kids which has given her a huge amount of confidence. In fact, she even helped walk the kindergartners to their classrooms and made sure they were all set before she went on her merry way. So needless to say, I'm quite proud of the progress she has made and am also happy that many of her friends are in her class this year. I've even been able to enjoy biking with her to school in the morning while she rides on her scooter. She's almost ready to ride her bike but we need to practice a little more to make sure she can start and stop without issue.

So without having to worry about Allison at school, I can focus on Daniel. Last year was not easy for him. Every morning for almost 4 months he cried when I dropped him at school. I really had no idea how he would react to returning to school. I know he enjoys school, but he had been home with me all summer. The first day for him was a little nutty. We thought he was going to be with one specific teacher but then it turned out we brought him to the wrong classroom so we had to go in and get him and take him to the correct classroom. It's really a long story but basically the director of the school was trying to keep him with all the kids he was with the previous year so that he would feel comfortable. The problem is that all of those kids are in the all-day program because most of their parents work. Daniel is only in school for 3 hours a day and this year there are enough kids to have a separate class for morning only kids (Whereas last year there wasn't). So on the first day after we had dropped him off in the first class and left he was fine. When we went back in to get him a couple minutes later (when we found out he was in the wrong class) to move him to the other class (the one with all the kids form last year) I noticed he had been crying. We explained to him that he was going to a different classroom and he seemed okay with it. So we brought him into the new classroom and all was well ( I guess because he recognized a lot of he kids). The second day at drop-off he did well - no tears but the third day was a completely different story - he cried and grabbed onto me as I tried to leave the classroom. It broke my heart but I knew I had to let him deal with it. Luckily his school has cameras in the classrooms and after I left I could log-in in see how he was doing. When I checked the cameras about fifteen minutes later he seemed fine. The last two days of the week he also did fine. This coming week, however, he will be moving into another classroom again since the class he is currently in is meant for full-day kids. They were just waiting until they had enough half day kids so they could start a new class. (They found out they only need 5 kids to start a new class - they originally thought they needed ten). So his class will be very small at first - only 6 or 7 kids which is great for him and he has had a week to get to know some of the other kids already (one of which is his good friend Ali who was in his class last year). So while it may sound like he's getting shoved around form classroom to classroom, they are just trying to do what's best for him we should be all settled starting this week. I'm comfortable with everything that has happened and the school has been wonderful in dealing with my sensitive child. Hopefully the transition this week will go smoothly, as will the rest of the year. Hopefully...