Thoughts about the First Day(s) of School

Well, we've done it. We've survived the first full week of school. I used the word "survived" on purpose. It is full on exhaustion here. The gang is definitely working on stretching their stamina and getting back into the swing of things. But ...we officially have a 3rd grader, 2nd grader, and kindergartner. Which means, wait for it, for the first time in years, everyone is at the same spot, on the same schedule, and we have one pick up and drop off location!! It's even more amazing than it sounds.

Declan missed the first day of school because he was still not feeling well. It was such a disappointment for him, made a bit better because he felt so miserable. It also helped that sweet Jack, our original Ms. A's teenage son, stopped by with a bag of sports equipment to help brighten his little buddy's day. The bus stop gang was so sweet and happily recreated a "first day" picture with him on day 2. And only one day of school in his first week was probably what his still healing body needed. It's a lot of work to transition from preschool to kinder!

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Fiona

There was great anxiety heading into third grade. Would it be hard? Would she make enemies (honest to goodness, this was a fear)? Would there be mountains of homework every day? Would having a male teacher be the worst? I'm happy to say that after seven days, I have not heard of enemies, there are no mountainous piles of homework, and she loves her teacher.

Nonetheless, we have had a few bumps. Fiona is, to her great angst, yet again the smallest person in her grade. And the gap in physical ability between her and her peers is widening - at an age when being different is really really hard. They got their PE summaries on how they've done each year on their fitness tests. Her test scores aren't great and it was embarrassing to her. I told her that those scores probably had less to do with spina bifida and more to do with inheriting my athletic ability instead of her dad's. Then we talked about my old test scores and had a good laugh.

Her teacher is awesome, but is going through some rather big things in his personal life and will be gone a lot. It is difficult for the class to get into the routine and F is struggling with that. But she knows why he is gone and that it is for very important reasons. They will settle in. And we are all excited to see how she enjoys the year with Mr. W.

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Quinn

Quinn also has a male teacher. She walked in on Meet the Teacher day. He asked who she had in first grade. She told him and he said "so you were tug of war champions?" Q said yes. Mr. P said "Good. I'll keep you. We need to start focusing on winning this spring." Q looked at him like that was the most obvious thing ever and was like "uh, yeah." Mr. P looked at me and said, "we are going to get along just fine." Yes. Yes they are.

She told me that second grade math is too easy so she's teaching herself multiplication. Her favorite thing in the first week of school was learning to count by 4s. Auntie told her that Gpa J has waited so long for someone like her to join our family. She's also burning through some books that I've been trying to get her to read because Mr. P says to read at home every night. So do I ... but whatever. She's actually doing it with a great attitude. So I'll take it.

In addition to school, Q is now in intermediate gymnastics - which means 90 minutes every Monday night. And she's started playing hockey already because she is doing the Little Wild program to sharpen her skills before the city league season. Let's just say that 90 minutes of gymnastics and an hour of hockey in the first two days of the week mean a tired Q on Wednesdays!

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Declan

D hit the jackpot of kindergarten teachers (really, all the kids did). He loves her and is very much enjoying kinder. He has tried a couple of times to tell me that he's done with it and ready to go back to Ms. A's. But I think that is just him trying to adjust to his new normal. Making it easy is the fact that his friends E and J from preschool are also at the same elementary. I typically find him playing with both of them in the after school program.

Monday night at gymnastics, Dec told me that one of the boys from Q's class had teased him that day in after care ... because Dec has painted fingernails (he has sisters and has always wanted his nails painted too. We leave it up to him). I asked him what he thought of that and he said it was really mean. I asked him if he wanted me to take his nail polish off. He did not. He likes it. He just didn't like that the boy was mean. I mentioned it to Fiona. She got all big sister-y and hugged D. Then later she told me not to worry because she had informed Quinn and Q would take care of it. So now, let's all pray that Q doesn't get suspended for beating up the boy (also, way to delegate, F).

On Tuesday, Dec informed me that he made a new friend. I asked him how. He said, "We were in the gym and kept following each other around. That made us laugh. Then he asked me if I wanted to be friends and I said 'yes.'"