First Day At A New School

The boys LOVE there new schools. Nathan has a teacher that is the most outgoing I have seen in a long time. He reminds me of Michael's 1st grade teacher. His name is Mr. Tischler and Nathan loves him. We took a tour of the school the week before he was going to start and we met his teacher then. After that, Nathan was so excited to start school, partly because he was bored and partly because he liked his teacher so much. When the first day of school came, we drove him. He was very excited but a little bit nervous. He was very chatty on the way there. It is only a 5-10 minute drive to his school. When it came time for him to get out of the car, it was a different story. He said that he didn't want to go to school. We knew that he was scared and nervous, but we also knew that he would have to get out of the car and do this very scary thing. Eventually he did get out of the car (after a good bit of coaxing by dad) and walked ever so slowly to the cross walk. I have never seen a child walk that slow before. He was dragging his feet and looking back at us every few steps with this look on his face that was so sad. His blue eyes were so big and round that I wanted to jump out of the car and walk him to the door. But him being in 6th grade, that would have made him look a little foolish. We knew that he would come home smiling, happy and having a great day, but those first few minutes of not knowing what to expect looked like it might kill him. Eventually he made it across the street and into the 6th grade line and then in the doors and up to his classroom. We had to leave when he finally got across the street because we had to get Michael to his school. It was only a few minutes away, but to Michael, the drive seemed to take hours. You see, he too was excited to start his first day of school. Like Nathan, we took a tour of his school the week before but he did not get to meet his teacher that day. She was not at school, so he did not know what to expect. When we got to his school, he too had the jitters and didn't want to go in. But like Nathan, a little bit of time and a lot of coaxing made it possible for him to get out of the car. We took him in to his classroom so that we could meet the teacher and get a feeling for her room. Once he was able to put his new school supplies in a desk and look at the locker that he would share with another boy, he was feeling better (and so was mom) about his new school. He was excited about his first day again and was looking forward to riding the bus home that afternoon. Fast forward to after school. Barry went to pick up Nathan after school. In all the rush to get him out of the car in the morning, we forgot to tell him where we were going to pick him up at. He walked out of the school with his new cell phone in hand, ready to call dad if he didn't see him waiting. But as luck would have it, he saw Barry right away and was disappointed that he didn't get to use the cell phone. Meanwhile, I was waiting for Michael's bus to drop him off. The bus stop is right across the street from our house. I can stand at my front window and wait for the bus. What luck!! As I waited and worried that he wouldn't know where to get off, the dog had to go out. Again, what luck! Now I had an excuse to wait outside where he could see me and know where to get off. I didn't need to worry. As I was watching for the bus, he was watching out the window and saw the house (and me waiting outside) just fine. There was no need for me to worry - but what else is a mom supposed to do.