Off To School

Today was the first day of school for my kidlings. Mean mom that I am, I insisted that I take Boo to school – to walk him to his new classroom, check out where he hangs his backpack and stores his book bag – since it will be a rare occasion that he lets me do it again.

He did NOT want me to do this, mostly because if the Hubs drops him off at Breakfast Club, he cannot be late. Since I’m not actually working, this just seemed sad, his ~~robbing me of my motherly rights~~ going to class by himself, so I stood my ground.

I needed him as leverage, you see, to get Pea out the door on time.

Which was a good idea, as although she woke up early and on her own, the simple act of choosing what polo/pinafore/knee socks vs tights decision proved to be overwhelming.

I’m proud of myself, though. There was no minimal ~~yelling~~ loud vocalizations on my part.

There WAS a lot of counting to ten. And I only swore once. Ok, twice, but the second time was in my head.

In the end, first day of school photos were taken

(hey, if I had to endure the annual “round up the neighborhood kids line them up by height and film them going to school” brouhaha, they can stand still and fake smile for a few ~~dozen~~ photos) and then I herded them into the car.

I was so proud of Pea and the fact that at 8:45ish we were pulling into the car park in front of the school that I didn’t notice the anxious look on Boo’s face. “Are you nervous, Boo?”

“YESSSSS!!!!!!” he said, with obvious irritation. “SHE gets to go into the same classroom, everything is the same!”

“I don’t”, he continued, with a hint of panic.

Poor Boo. He is so like me, cautious in new situations. It doesn’t help that all his classmates are a bit in awe/petrified by one of their teachers (who is quite lovely actually, she has no interest in discouraging the reputation she’s earned.)

As we enter the schoolyard, he turns to me and says “no kisses”.

Another kick in the gut – who is this tall boy and where did my baby go?

*******

At the end of the day, all is well. Over dinner both kidlings took turns recounting their day.

Boo noted: “It’s actually a good thing that we don’t have third play in Year 3. We have 15 extra minutes now to learn more stuff.”

My geeky heart swelled with pride, I tell you. He does take after me.