First Day of School

Yesterday was the first day of school. The kids have been looking forward to this for a couple of weeks now. They were getting bored of summer, it is so stinkin' hot here you can't play outside so they tend to go stir crazy after a while. Not to mention that they have been fighting like crazy the last week they really need a break from each other!!

Evan is starting third grade this year and Hannah begins Kindergarten and is so excited. We went to meet their teachers the night before. Hannah is in Miss Miller's class. That is the same teacher Evan had. Hannah is such an independent social little girl that she will do fine no matter where she is. Evan is in Mrs. Tattersall's class. I requested her for him because she is supposed to be good with wiggly boys. Evan is a great kid but can be wiggly for sure, especially when he gets bored. Mrs. Tattersall has five sons of her own and knows about wiggly boys. She is also supposed to be great at helping kids that need extra things to keep them busy. Evan is a very smart boy and gets bored after he quickly masters a concept. With all of that she also expects a lot out of them and doesn't accept sloppiness ( also a great thing for Evan). We are hoping it will be a great year for him. At the same time she is fun, fun, fun. He came home from the first day so excited because he said Mrs. Tattersall is so funny and she is his favorite teacher ever. Hannah came home so excited because she played with some new friends and could she please invite them over to play. I am glad the day ended so good for both of them because it sure started out a little hairy.

I have to post about the rough morning we had so I can look back and laugh even though at the time it was very frustrating. So here it goes.

The kids were up at 6:30 (this is early for my kids) dressed, shoes on and ready to eat. This should have been plenty of time to be on time to school. At meet the teacher the night before they were each given a little assignment to bring on the first day. Hannah did hers quickly and had it all packed in the backpack ready to go. Evan did the writing part but was supposed to draw a picture of his family to go with it. I asked Evan to do his picture while I was getting breakfast and packing lunches. He whined about how he isn't good at drawing and could I please help him. I wasn't sure how to help with this and not actually do it for him. I tried to tell him to do his best and not worry about it. Ya well nothing worked. They had breakfast hair got done, teeth were brushed, and morning chore was done. Hannah was ready to go with plenty of time to spare. Evan was still whining about the picture. At this point he was just refusing to do it. It was now time to go and he is in tears over this silly picture. I couldn't calm him down or make him happy ( Evan gets really angry when he is frustrated with something). So now I tell him we have to go right now or we will be late. Now he is throwing a big fit. I don't want Hannah to be late so I tell him he has two choices come with me right now with it not finished or stay home finish the picture and I will come back and get him later (I didn't know what else to do). He wouldn't choose so I started leaving. He chases us down the street crying and screaming. I gave him the two choices again. He didn't answer so I left. He ran back home crying. I got Hannah to school but had to walk her to class as she was a little late and her class was already in. She was such a trooper, went right in with a smile on her face and never once complained about Evan making her late. I didn't even have time to get sad with all the commotion I knew I was going back home to. Her first day of school picture shows her excited little face with not an ounce of being nervous.

I get back home and Evan is sitting on the stairs with the mad face on. I asked if he was ready to go and he said "no I didn't even do my picture". Now I am just mad so I went outside to cool off (well mentally anyway, it was like 95 already). Then I thought I needed a picture to document this, so I went in and took a picture, that made him more mad and I got a crayon thrown at me. It really is best to leave him alone when angry and I decided to let the crayon throwing slide this time. He finally finished so I told him to get in the car and I would drive him to school. I load the two little kids and he climbs in much more composed but upset because he isn't happy with his picture. I told him everyone has different things they are good at and not to worry about it. Then he starts in asking what I am going to write on the tardy slip as to why he is late (he is about 25min late). I said "I don't know, mental breakdown" That didn't help either, he said "no don't you dare write that" I said "then what would you call it." He wouldn't answer. Lucky for him being the first day of school we didn't have to fill in a tardy slip. I walk him to class told him I loved him and to have a great day. His class wasn't there so then we had to find them. They ended up being in the library. He finally made it to class and I took the two little ones home and gave a big sigh of relief.

The best part is when he got home he said when Mrs. Tattersall was showing the class the pictures and reading the poems they had written. She said that she is a terrible artist and can only draw stick figures. That made him feel better.

Happy first day of School!!