First Day of School!

Today went really well as far as N's first day of school goes, but it wasn't without the typical quirks. N is very excited to get started with First Grade, so he went right to be bed without leaving his room last night....Or so I thought...I later found out he stayed awake in his room drawing "art work" (his term) on his legs with ink pen. He was up bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning excited for the big day. His first order of business was getting himself dressed before he left his room. I set clothes out for him to wear, but he didn't see them so he chose his own. He wanted to wear long pants (to cover the afore mentioned "art work"), so he pulled a pair of jeans off the "too small" shelf of his dresser to wear. He insisted on wearing them until I reminded him of a Berenstien Bear's story where Papa Bear wore pants that were too small. Papa Bear attempted to bend over to pick something off the ground and split the seat right out of his pants. N remembered that story and quickly changed into a bigger pair on one condition, that L and I would not watch him change.. Okay, maybe he's getting modest, that's okay.. I'll oblige.Nope, modesty wasn't the reason...Ink pen art on his thighs was..But, I didn't see it 'cause I wasn't watching him change his clothes. At the time I didn't know his thigh were covered in swirls of ink pen, so I didn't understand why he fought so hard to keep on his original choice of pants on and why he didn't want L and I to see him change..Now it's later in the day and I saw his decorated legs and have put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Anywho. All of this and we hadn't even walked downstairs to eat the pancake and sausage breakfast that N claimed was burnt and yucky. I ate it and thought it was fine. 

N was so excited to get to school he was ready to leave a half hour early. This actually worked in our favor because it gave us ample time to take pictures and meandor into the school building without being rushed. N said hello to several kids as we walked into the school that he remembered from Kindergarten. He also said Hello to a few kids he thought he knew but apparently had the wrong names and got a few funny looks. Oops, no biggie. We made it into the gym where the kids sit before the bell rings. N found the row of first graders with ease and sat behind a former classmate. L and I sat in the stands and took pictures of N and waved at him several times. When it was time for the first grade to head to their classrooms I went onto the gym floor (with all the other parents) to get a few more snapshots and give N a fist bump before he headed off.

This year I'm happy to see N get back to school. A part of me is sad summer is already over because we did have lots of fun, but a big part of me is happy to see him get back into the routine of school and all the fun things they do at school. It's good for him. I gotta say I'm pretty proud of my Big Guy for being confident in himself for knowing his way around the school and knowing the routine. I just hope his confindance doesn't get away from him.  I didn't get choked up when I watched him walk out of the gym towards his classroom like I did last year because he's a  big kid and I know he's gonna be just fine...And his complaints of "burnt" pancakes and yucky sausage for breakfast at home made it a little easier to wave him on...wink, wink. ;)

L and I headed to a "Boo-hoo Yahoo" breakfast playdate after we took N to school. This time last year I was on the "Booh-hoo" side of the fence because I had taken N to his first day of Kindergarten. This year I was leaning a little more to the "Ya-hoo" side of things. It's so funny how much difference a year can make because so many of the Moms in the moms group with kids going into first grade felt the same way. L and I had fun seeing friends at the park. Lots of people brought breakfast items to share, so there were plenty of snack to eat. The park has a great playground, pavilllion and picnic tables. The kids played and the Moms visited. It was a really nice time. We stayed for about an hour and a half then we had to run through Wal Mart for a few things before we picked N up from the bus stop. N was happy to tell us about his day while we ate lunch. Not only was today the first day of school, but one of his classmates brought goody bags to celebrate his Birthday! The goody bag had lots of little trinkets in it along with one sheet of about thirty small tattoos. I didn't see the sheet of tattoos until about fifteen of them were already on N's arms and stomach....N had gotten ahold of a wet towel and had tattooed himself while I was cleaning up our lunch mess. I should've known something was up when the living room was so quiet! So, not only does N have thighs covered in ink pen art, but he has arms full of small tattoos. Great! We're making a great first impression on his new teacher! 

Today was a half day. Tomorrow is a full day. N is excited to eat his first lunch as a first grader....mainly because he says the first graders get to eat before the kindergartners. If today is any indication of what this year is going to be like, this could be an interesting year!