First Day of School

The first day of school had been hanging over my head since the day the kids were born. It scared me to death. They had become such a huge part of me; the most important appendages of myself, and to even think of them getting all big and going off to school, would get me nauseous in an instant. The fact that it was already here was beyond my comprehension.

I tried my best not to think about it too much and instead focused on making sure they had all their school supplies and uniforms ready. I would quickly shift my thoughts to hippos pooping if I felt myself lingering on the pain of them growing up for too long. It's one of my super mature coping mechanisms.

Anyway, Callie was pretty excited and Wyatt looked like a deer caught in headlights. They had no idea what to expect, and to be honest, we really didn't either. We had never been on the parenting side of the fence with school. After taking an obscene amount of pictures, we loaded the kids up and I shakily started driving them to school. I was so nervous that I was having trouble swallowing and got so flustered about finding a parking space that I backed up into a concrete water pole and screwed up the bumper on my car.

We unloaded the kids and walked through the front doors to be greeted by the principal (who shot us the look of death) and informed us that we were almost an hour late. Two minutes into the school year and we were already in trouble. Lovely. I mistakenly thought school started at 9:00. Mom of the year.

Wyatt walked slowly.  He was scared to death and was in a full blown panic by the time we reached the classroom.  It was probably good that we were late because we hurriedly pushed them through the door and the teacher swooped them away.  We walked out of there alone.  It felt very surreal.

We literally didn't know what to do with ourselves until 11:00, so pathetically, we pretty much just drove around in circles and stalked the playground from the parking lot.

When we were finally able to pick them up, I psychotically hugged them and spun them around as if I were checking them for any signs of physical harm.  I started berating them with questions that might help me detect for any emotional damage that may have been done to them too.  There was nothing.  They were super excited, chatty, and seemed to have really loved it.  Both asked if they could go back the next day.

Two months deep, they are still loving it.  They even get annoyed with the weekends, anxiously waiting for Mondays to come again so they can go back to school.  While I miss them terribly, it's the best response a mom could have hoped for.  In the beginning, I was lost without them.  But now, I am loving having that time in the morning to clean up and run errands.  And, let's get real... sometimes, I just laze around in the peace and quiet.

Here are a few questions my nuggets answered as they entered Pre-K:

What's your favorite color?
Wyatt: red
Callie:  purple

Who's your best friend?
Wyatt: Vinny
Callie: Ari

What's your favorite food?
Wyatt: Cheeseburgers
Callie: Soft Tacos

What's your favorite dessert?
Wyatt: Ice cream cookies with M&Ms
Callie:  Yogurt Parfait

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Wyatt: An astronaut
Callie: A princess

What's your favorite TV show?
Wyatt: SpongeBob SquarePants
Callie:  SpongeBob SquarePants

What's your favorite movie?
Wyatt:  Megamind
Callie: Tangled

What your favorite toy?
Wyatt: Daddy Hippo
Callie:  Mindy and FooFoo

What's your favorite thing to play by yourself?
Wyatt:  Ride my bike
Callie:  Organize jewels

What's your favorite thing to do with family?
Wyatt:  Play with Oma
Callie:  Have a picnic on the May River