“Paolo, did you make any new friends today?”
“No.”
“You didn’t make any new friends?”
“Not on the first day of school!”
“Well, when?”
“July 22nd.”
Paolo wasn’t excited or nervous for his first day of ‘real’ school. He approached it like it was any other day of school. He did catch a little of the First Day Fever as we were walking up to the school with the hundreds of other kids. As a long time nerd, I wanted him to be as excited about going to school as I was. I quickly saw that wasn’t going to happen. His new teacher put his name tag on him and the excitement blew over. As a mother, I wanted an emotional goodbye hug and kiss before entering the school. That didn’t happen either. He coolly followed the line into school without looking back. With a catch in my throat and an empty hand I headed over to my friend’s house to dissect our first drop-off.
I spent the day wondering how he liked his classroom, if he was making new friends, if he was able to open his lunch all right and a million other things. I wanted details. And I wanted A LOT of them. I wanted to email the teacher. I wanted to peek in the windows. I wanted to be a fly on the wall. I wanted to BE THERE.
My husband picked him up at 3:00. I waited for a call or even a text. Nothing. At 4:30 I finally texted asking how his day went. The response, “He had a good day.” ARGH!
I walked in the door after work, left my stuff on the floor and dropped onto the chair next to Paolo, “Tell me about your day!” He did volunteer some information, the rest I had to dig for. Here’s what I was able to find out:
- He had Spanish class and they learned ‘Mano arriba, mano abajo.’
- He ate all his lunch, he only needed a little help from the student teacher to get things open and ‘Oh by the way, I got milk…chocolate milk, Mom.’ The little sneak. He bought it on credit and I packed him a lunch with a rare Capri Sun.
- Tomorrow he would like school lunch.
- He sat next to Elliott and Ethan at lunch.
- He played with Elliott and Ethan at recess.
- He didn’t make any new friends.
- There are THREE recess times.
- Elliott helped him open his locker.
- He did not have to use the bathroom all day (how is that possible?).
- Frogs and toads start next week.
- He was able to find Dad right away after school.
Hahahahah Terra me encanta leer tu Blog, muero de risa y me imagino la situación. Paolo ya es un niño grande, ya se les extraña. Y mi única duda es porque empiezan sus clases un jueves? Saludos.
Hugo, me da alegria que disfrutas mi blog. No se exactamente por que empiezan un jueves pero puede ser por que es el primer dia del mes, no? Y no. Palo no nos extrana…ni un poco.
Sorry for late answer, but nothing notify to me your reply… and i mean we miss you! haha
It doesn’t necessarily get any better. Cassie (5th grade) “doesn’t remember” anything that happens at school during the day. Somehow it all gets erased on the ride home.
On the other hand…we have a tradition that started with my grandma and mom. After dropping children at school that first day, mom and grandma do breakfast. That is my favorite part of the beginning of the school year.
A friend of mine and I got together after drop off as well. I think we may have to make that a tradition, too 🙂
Thanks for sharing your experience, Terra. I felt like I was a fly on your mama wall! It helps to know what to expect, even if it’s a couple years down the road for me. I hope you get more info today!!!
I’ll definitely get more info tomorrow. I plan on grilling him all the way up north!
Paolo is so cool and collected.
A little too cool and collected for this mom’s tastes 😉