Monday, August 20, 2012

First Day Of School

Beep, beep, beep.

What the hell was that?

Beep, beep, beep.

Seriously now, what was that racket? It was too early for—oh. Wait. School.

SCHOOL!

Freedom!

Still. Much too early.

I reached over and shut off my alarm. Why couldn’t I be a morning person? It would make things so much easier.

Still. The kids were going to school. It meant I could go to the library without reminding a little person that they had to whisper.

I got dressed and walked out into the hall—where I collided with Natalie.

“I’m already up!” she said joyfully. “I’m ready for Kindergarten!” Actually, she wasn’t. Yet. She was clad in her Tangled underwear.

I popped my head into Tommy’s room. He was dressed and ready to go. He’s always been a morning person.

“Tommy!” Natalie shouted when he raced for the stairs. “Let me go first! Ladies first!”

Tommy sighed but he let her pass. Sometimes it’s easier that way.

“What do you want for breakfast?” I asked. I’m not one of those parents who make a special meal on the first day. It’s cereal or microwave oatmeal.

“Frosted mini wheats!” Tommy said.

“Trix cereal! Silly rabbit! Trix are for kids!” Natalie giggled.

In the middle of preparing the cereal I forgot what I was doing. This happens because morning are evil. I stood in the kitchen for a couple minutes and was like, “What was I just doing?” Then it occurred to me that I needed the milk. Oh.

“Mommy!” Natalie said. Milk dribbled down her chin. Thank goodness I didn’t dress her before she ate. “I can’t wait to go. Will I make lots of friends?”

I rubbed my eyes. “I imagine you will.”

“Mommy!” Natalie continued, her mouth full of colored puffed corn. “What will I have for lunch?”

Didn’t she want to eat in silence? It wasn’t even 8 AM yet!

“A sandwich, chips, and pineapple,” I reminded her. Even though she had picked everything out yesterday.

“Mommy!”

Oh God. Why didn’t I like coffee? Why?

“Yes, sweetie?”

“If I need help opening something at lunch, I just ask, right?” Natalie wanted to know. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and gulped some water down.

“Yes. You just ask.”

“And if I need to pee?”

“You ask the teacher.”

“What if she says no?” Natalie asked, concerned.

“Then tell her she can clean up your pee,” I replied.

Tommy, by the way, was eating his cereal in silence. This was because he was on my iPod Touch.

After Natalie was done eating, I helped get her dressed. She’s not picky about what she wears most of the time. I’m glad. There are so many adorable outfits out for little girls.

“How do you want your hair?” I asked.

“Down. No. I mean, braids. No. I mean, piggies. No….down. No, I—”

“Braids it is,” I interrupted.

I got pictures of the kids:





Natalie was like, “I can even pose for you!”

It was too early for posing. I just wanted a picture for the memory book and then I was willing to move on.

I got Tommy to come out:





He’s all ready for fifth grade.

Trying to get a good picture of the two of them is tough:



“Is it almost time to go?” Natalie asked when pictures were over. She bounced from one foot to the other. “I’m ready to make friends. What do I say to them?”

I got down to her level and was like, “When in doubt, do the Bullwinkle.”




Please tell me other people have seen Full House? When Michelle started Kindergarten Joey told her to do the Bullwinkle and kids would like her. But wait? Didn’t kids call her strange when she did this? Crap. I might have given Natalie bad advice. Darn those Olsen twins!

Anyway.

It was finally time to go. Tommy left five minutes before us. He was not interested in walking with a five-year-old or his mother.

“I’m just thinking I’m going to get tired of walking,” Natalie sighed when we started out. The school is FIVE MINUTES AWAY by foot.

“Walking is good exercise,” I explained. I bit my tongue to keep from added, “In my day I had to walk a mile to school. Barefoot.”

“Would you carry me?” Natalie asked hopefully.

“No. You’re big enough to walk.”

“Ohh,” Natalie pouted.

She perked up when she saw other kids walking.

“Look! They’re going to school like I am. Hello! Hello people!” she said, waving.

Not surprisingly, she had no issues going into her classroom. I held her hand down the hall. I was all set to squat down to her level and give her a beautiful speech on growing up and how much I’d miss her. But as I prepared to lower myself, she walked right in the classroom.

Uh?

What about my speech?!

I had to follow her in and get a hug.

“Teacher! Look at my princess backpack!” Natalie was saying, showing it off. “Boy sitting at the table! Look at my princess backpack!”

She was done with me.

I had raised her for five years, and she was done.

She didn’t need me to stick around or give her a speech.

“Have a good day, Natalie,” I said and hugged her.

“I will. Goodbye!” Natalie waved firmly, her polite dismissal.

A lump formed in my throat as I walked out of the classroom. My little girl was in Kindergarten. My son was in fifth grade. I had no children at home. A part of me felt like crying—like the lady against the wall with a red face. Thank goodness I’m not the only ugly crier out there. The other part—wanted to click her heels and dance off into the sunset. Or rather, sunrise. Or really, sun already in the sky but still early.

Here’s to an awesome new school year.



28 comments:

  1. Haha this post is awesome! Natalie sounds like she will be just fine. They are so cute! What are you going to do today with all that freedom? ;) I'm stopping by from SITS, have a great Monday!

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  2. Natalie looks precious as ever and Tommy looks handsome on his first day! I am a tad bit jealous that you get kid free time. ;) Enjoy the freedom!!

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  3. For someone who claims to have been ½ asleep when they took the photos they came out great!

    Sounds like Natalie is going to do great! And Tommy is looking very handsome!

    Enjoy your freedom!

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  4. Cute pictures - they are so cute. I don't have kids, but I love when they go back to school. Then everyone is where they should be. :)

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  5. cute pictures! and I'm totally going to teach my girls the Bullwinkle :)

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  6. I share your disdain for the evil mornings.

    I'm impressed with the pics you got. I don't even try to get my two to smile for their first day of pics anymore. I just snap one quick with my iPhone.. smirks, frowns and all.

    I get the feeling Natalie is going to give you tons of blog fodder now that she's in school. Can't wait to hear it!

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  7. My daughter starts school on Wednesday. I can imagine she'll be the one that just walks on into the classroom without giving me another glance...I'm not sure which would be worse, her not wanting to stay or her not telling me bye. Guess I'll find out on Wednesday.

    She's excited though, and that makes me happy.

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  8. Ha! Natalie sounds like a little celebrity in the making.

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  9. And you didn't have to bounce off the wall to get her to smile! Growing up

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  10. enjoy some alone time! it is a little bittersweet.

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  11. I know you already know, but that first day is the hardest. I am both eagerly awaiting and dreading the first day of school. Two more weeks to go!

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  12. your kindergartner sounds a lot like mine! he asks a million questions, always starting with "mommy?" He started today too. I still have another at home though. I love natalie's gymboree outfit!

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  13. Yay school!! I love her enthusiasm!

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  14. Oh, they both look so adorable! And they are both happy to go to school...that is a very good thing. Enjoy your freedom, and enjoy the kids when they arrive home!

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  15. Oh, I loved this post. I got a little choked up just thinking about my baby one day going to kindergarten.

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  16. So how did they do on their first day? And how did you do?!

    We started our second week today - and I am still enjoying the silence during the day. I am not enjoying the sounds of my teen at 5:30 in the morning as she slams her drawers shut. Or when I am woken again at 6:15 as she leaves the house. I do love that I have nothing to do with their morning routines :-)

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  17. Wonderful - I bet they both had a wonderful day!

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  18. Natalie sounds like mine. We dropped him off this weekend and he did NOT want us to hang around at all. Broke my heart....especially since I've raised him for almost 18 years now! Darn kids.

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  19. I love your writing. This post made me giggle a few times. It definitely sounds like Natalie is good and ready for kindergarten.

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  20. Wow! First day of Kindie, how cool is that for Natalie! You have obviously raised a very well adjusted young lady, you'll both be great. My kids were pretty much done with me too by the time kindergarten came around. I'm still not sure how I feel about that...

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  21. They look off the charts adorable! So impressed you got pics! Enjoy your personal time with your ipod touch!!

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  22. I remember that episode!! Great post I needed a laugh today on my break!

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  23. Natalie cracks me up her energy! I just dropped my only child off at college and it was so tough seems like I just did the kindergarten thing yesterday!

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  24. I selected this post to be featured on the SITS Saturday Sharefest today.

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  25. I loved this!! I'm so glad that JDaniel4's mom selected it for SITS!

    I laughed out loud when you told her to tell the teacher she could clean up her pee. LOL!! What a confident little lady! You should be proud, mama!:)

    I'd love to see you link up at #BTSBash! Basically, you link up any post related to BTS and enter to win fabulous stuff from 12 sponsors. Yes, please.
    http://www.themommymess.com/btsbash

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  26. I love how you took us through the morning! You really do need to like coffee. I don't know how people get by without it. Funny thing is, I just wrote about being a morning person this morning. I am not a morning person AT ALL, but I want to kind of become one.

    My daughter is starting preK next week and I am so excited for her! But I think when it's actually kindergarten I might flip a lid. You have darling children and Natalie looks like she's gonna just light that classroom up!

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