The First Day of School

We've moved a lot.  Matthew is in 4th grade and this is his 5th elementary school.  We've started at new schools a lot, but for some reason this move has been particularly stressful for me.  And school has been a significant source of that stress.  Anna and Grant are going to the neighborhood school (about 3 miles as the crow flies and a 10 minute drive from our house).  And Matthew is going to another elementary school across town for a special program there.  That school is about five miles/10 minute drive away in the other direction.  And of course they start and get out at almost the same time.  The pick up drop off routine is something that's been keeping me up at night for a while.  I knew it would be difficult picking them up but I didn't want to pass on Matthew participating in this program just because it would be hard on me.  Not sure if that was the right call.  But today was the day to make our first attempt at this madness that will become our daily life: the school pick up/drop off routine.  

Anna and Grant are supposed to wear a uniform to school.  Grant wasn't happy about it. 

This morning the drop offs didn't go that well.  Because of a pretty severe traffic jam (that may or may not be first day of school related) it took me 25 minutes to get to Matthew's school instead of 10, which threw my perfectly planned routine completely out of whack.  We got Matthew to school on time with a few minutes to spare and hopped on the freeway to head to the other school.  On the freeway it only took about 15 minutes to get there.  Parking was crazy, of course.  We parked as close as we could and the four remaining kids and I ran (I carried Emma and pushed John in the stroller) to the school.  We were late, but since it was the first day everyone was still standing around in their lines waiting to go into class.  In the future I can drop Grant and Anna off at the drop off area, once Grant is comfortable walking in, so that should keep them from being late.  That and leaving earlier to take Matthew.  Lessons learned.

We dropped off Anna at her line first.  She was happy that she wasn't too late and seemed comfortable there.  We haven't met her teacher yet and didn't get a chance to meet her today (Anna met her, of course).  Anna was distressed because not all the kids at school were wearing uniforms.  That's something I will have to worry about later (no time to worry about it now).

And Grant.  We got him to his kindergarten line.  He was the last in line since we were late.  

He seemed happy and confident about school but once we got there he looked a little worried.  The teachers told us to step away from them at the line once the last bell rings, but Grant came and asked if I would stand by him again.  

He doesn't act like he needs me very much, so I was surprised, but we stood by him and gave him more hugs/high fives/company before he headed into kindergarten.  Here he is talking to Emma.  I met his teacher last night and she seemed nice, so I hope he has a good time in school.  

There he is, in his hoodie, bringing up the rear.

And my two littlest ones - at home with mom.  We said our final goodbyes and headed back to our car.  Back home.  The whole drop off process took about an hour and 20 minutes.  I think it will be faster in the future.  I hope.

I think John was hoping he would get to go to school this year.  Anna made him all kinds of promises about what John and I would do at home all day (untrue campaign promises that I can't uphold).  So John is already disappointed that he doesn't get to play computer games at home all day as promised by Anna.  Anna is always writing checks that mommy can't/won't cash.  

The after school pick ups were also crazy.  I drove to get Matthew and that went fine.  And Anna and Grant were supposed to take the bus home.  After waiting at the bus stop by our house for 45 minutes one of the moms called the transportation office.  Turns out because of the construction by our street the bus couldn't turn into our development so they continued on their route and brought our kids back at the end of the route, over an hour and a half after their scheduled time.  They are supposed to be the first stop.  They told us when to come back and meet the bus and when we got there the bus was waiting.  Grant cried when I wasn't there (at first) because he thought he would have to go back to the school.  He got home two hours after he got out of school.  Poor Grant and Anna.  We don't know how this will work out going forward but I'm trying to get the school district to lobby the city to change the current construction traffic pattern.  Even if they left a little opening with a "buses only" sign or something that would work.  They are putting a roundabout in at the turn in to our street - scheduled to be complete in November.  :(

So it was nearly 5pm by the time we were all home from school.  I had been running around all day and was feeling pretty stressed (I hadn't even gotten started on that first day of school paperwork yet).  So we went out to dinner at Five Guys.  The kids told us about their first days over dinner.  

Grant reported that some kids in his class weren't following the rules in class and talking when they weren't supposed to.  It's just funny having our wild man Grant report something like that.  Apparently he's well behaved at school.  Who knew.  

Anna made friends with another girl who is new at the school and also short (Anna is short for her age and has endured a little bit of teasing in the past) so they bonded over that.  

Matthew went into a class where most of the kids know each other already and were in a class together last year.  Matthew is new, of course, but he still had a good time and played Clue with another kid at lunch.  And he likes his teacher/class/school so far.

John felt his first day of "mommy school" was grossly inadequate and told me about it.  A lot.  I guess, I didn't pay enough attention to him since I was running around so much (in my defense we did learning time together for about an hour) and he was mad he didn't get to play a certain video game that Anna promised.  So I've got my work cut out for me there.

Emma was just happy to go with us wherever we went.  She had a great day.

After dinner we got dessert at Yogurtland.  I remember Yogurtland from Japan.  Good times.  Grant and I shared a cup.  I don't like sharing with him.  I usually share with John.  John is more pliable in his yogurt and topping choices since he's younger.  

Matthew and Anna shared without fighting.  Awesome!   And in other good news of the day, we actually got a landscaper to come to our house for an estimate today.  Most landscapers here won't even return our calls.  And we had an appointment with one for last week who just didn't show and then referred us to someone else.  Lots of new houses are currently being completed so landscapers are busy, busy, busy right now.  But one finally came (albeit several hours later than scheduled) and is working on our estimate.  So I'm happy about that, and happy we survived day one of school.  Now on to day two.