The day of firsts...
Charlotte - First day of School
Robbie - First day in Sr. Preschool
Mae - First day at daycare
Mike - First day at his new job
The Question? Can Cordele hold it together?
Words of Wisdom... when a big day is coming get a good nights sleep, but not too good. It probably isn't much of a stretch that either Mae or I are the first ones up on a day. Well Mae was exhausted from our busy weekend at White Point, and so was I not to mention I had a crazy cold coming on and had medicated myself quite well inorder to get some sleep. So when I woke and it was nearly 7am I bolted out of bed. Way to much going on to be able to sleep in until 7am. Yes 7am is sleeping in, by about 1 and half hours!!! I got everyone up, and thanked my lucky stars that I did not have to work today. Mike however was grumbling that he was going to be late on his first day, and was running around like a lunatic. After breakfast I noticed Charlotte was getting grumpy, frustrated and mad. Yep the fear of school was creeping in. She wasn't scared leading up to the day, and I wish she would have. It would have given us a chance to talk things through but now, with so much to do, all I needed her to do was cooperate. I eventually got all 3 kids out the door. Robbie was acting up, as he has been really resisting daycare and I'm pretty sure that he thought he could win me over (since Mike normally does the mornings), but I wasn't budging he was going to daycare. Mae was running like crazy and Charlotte was frozen in place not wanting to even blink. In midst of all the craziness this morning brought it dawned on me that I hadn't seen my wallet since we left White Point. I was a bit frazzled when we left, as any mother who has to jump into the deep end and pull her son out of the water would be (details in the other post), and I had the scary thought of someone racking up my visa bill at White Point. But that would have to wait, as we were about to miss the school bus on the first day! My goal was for Charlotte to walk over to the bus stop with her new daycare teachers, and I would just happily take photos. The daycare was just leaving and I barely got Charlotte in line, but we got her there. They walked over to the stop and Charlotte was terrified. I got the other two out of the car. This wasn't my plan, which was to bring the car to the bus stop and keep the other two in their seats, but I had to change my plan because of our tardiness. Once at the stop I realized Charlotte was going to need a lot of coaxing to get her on the bus, but I had two other kids running around on the side of a road. Not good! So I had to once again improvise, and I locked them in the tennis courts. I know, not exactly the best thing to do, but it beats getting run over by a school bus. Mae thought it was great, Robbie was now on a mission to break out. The bus arrives and I am trying so hard to lift Charlotte's spirits. But I have been to enough dance lessons, swim lessons, etc to know when it is pointless to talk to her. So I gave her a hug and opted for force. However at that exact moment I realized that all the other kids had these lovely tags on their back pack. These tags were given to each parent with the statement "the most important thing" and my kid didn't have hers. In my mental search for my wallet, I left the tags at home on the bed. CRAP!!!! These tags identify the child, the morning bus route, the school, and most importantly the afternoon bus route. How is she supposed to get put in the right class and the right bus without this thing. PANIC hit me! I was about to cry, when of course Robbie succeeded and broke out of the tennis court. "GET BACK IN THERE" I bellow. Yep, child services may be calling me. Back to the bus tags, and my brain trying to figure out what to do. There is no way I can get two kids back to the car, in their seats to the house and to the school in time. There is not was I can even get in front of the bus as we are the last stop before the school. So I asked another parent who was following the bus to make sure she gets into the school and I'll be there as fast as I can. I then force Charlotte onto the second step of the bus, watch as the teachers put her in her seat and then tuck Robbie and Mae under my arm and run down the road to the car. I get to the school and there is no where to park so I .... um.... um.... parked on the grass. Yep I'll deal with the school custodian after I deal with the school principal and community services. I carry Mae and drag Robbie across the front of the school and get there just in time to see Charlotte walk into school. I snap a few photos (because I'm me) and barge into the school, repeating "I forgot to Label my child". I promptly get stopped because parents are not allowed in the school on the first day. I then see poor, terrified Charlotte along a wall, sort of like the unclaimed luggage in an airport. I explain what happened and they take Charlotte to her class. But I am lucky I got to give her one more kiss. They did ask that I bring the tags before the end of the day. Sure I can do that.
Next stop Robbie into Sr. Preschool and Mae to her class. Robbie wasn't too bad, he tried to act up but I was going to have none of it. I was still to upset about my mistake. Mae was the best she looked at me, waved bye and gave me a kiss. Wow! Next stop was to locate my wallet or at least try to get Mike's credit card to buy groceries. He loved that call on his first day at work.
Once I returned from the store, I realized I was getting short on time to get the tags to the school. So I hoped back in the car, and went on my merry way. Now I do not speed, but I tend to roll stop signs, especially ones that I am super familiar with, and when I'm in a rush. In the 8 years we have lived here I have never seen a traffic cop in our area. But sure enough I roll a stop sign and... DOUBLE BLEEPIN CRAP!!! I get pulled over. Now what is the first thing a cop is going to ask for? Yep your license. And where do people keep there license? Yep in their wallet. And my bloody wallet was not with me!!!!! If I was feeling left out on all the first (which I wasn't). I now had my first breakdown infront of a traffic cop. Oh yes the emotions of the day all combined and forced their way out in the form of tears. I cried, and waved the tags areound. I sobbed about how I was just trying to get the tags to the school, about the first day of school, about the wallet, how my husband is never going let me forget this... I could have gone on, and on. And I wasn't trying to get out of my ticket, infact I was expecting two, one for the stop sign, one for not having my licence. But the cop took pity, and let me go on my way. Thankfully, that seemed to be the climax of the day, and the remainder when relatively smooth. Everyone had wonderful first days, and that is all a mother can ask for.
Day one and he has his lunch packed.
Trying her backpack on for size. A bit heavy wiht all her things in it LOL
Finally, she's on her way home, here comes the bus!!! I sure hope she's on it, Yikes!
I had Friday off this week. So we walked Charlotte to the bus stop. It was really nice, and made it feel a bit more real that she is going to school. Well so is the grumbling that they sit too much, and recess is too short...ahh the sounds of a kid in school. Anyway this is Olivia, and doesn't go to the after school program because her mom walks her to the stop everyday. But these two girls are in the same class the and sit on the bus together.
