First Day of School 2011

Last Thursday Celo had his first day of 4 yr old Preschool. He’s in the VPK program this year and goes everyday from 9am to 12pm. (Last year he went MWF from 9:15 to 12:15.) His teacher is Ms. Tracey and the teacher’s assistant is Ms. Dee and there are 15 kids in his class. Celo missed the first day of school because he was getting over a bug, so I was worried that Thursday was going to be hard. But he woke up soooo excited and I didn’t even have to fight him to brush his teeth, get dressed, or any of the usual morning battles. He couldn’t wait to go to school.

He picked out this backpack, even though he has never seen anything Spiderman related. He also picked out this outfit for the first day of school. An old, hand me down faded t-shirt.

While he was at school, Diego (who wasn’t starting school for another couple of days) and I made him a brownie with a one on to to make that first day extra special. Diego got to eat it too because I made it with egg whites. (I wrote a post a couple months ago all about the fact that Diego is no longer allergic to egg whites but blogger ate it and I haven’t re-written in yet. Gotta do that soon.) Celo loved the surprise and had a great first day!

Diego had his first day of Kindergarten today. He had been nervous about it for a couple of weeks, which was making it extra hard for me. When we went to the teacher meet and greet last Friday, he clung to me the whole time and refused to try to talk to his classmates. I could tell by how hard he was squeezing my hand that he was very scared and nervous about the whole thing. I kept talking it up and saying what a big kid he is, but he’d just look at himself and say, “No I’m not! Look at my size. I’m not big yet.” Last night, as I packed his lunch and got ready for today, I kept tearing up thinking, “How is he already a Kindergartener? He’s my little baby! How is he going to handle being at ‘big school’ all day? What if someone is mean to him? What if he accidentally eats something he can’t eat?” I was a mess.

When I was packing Celo’s snack and Diego’s lunch, Marcelo was like, “Let me do the napkins!” He wanted to do it just like his mom used to do. When the boys came home I asked them what they thought about their napkins. Celo thought it was funny that he had a heart with a face on it. Diego said, “I could only see part of it because my ice pack got it all wet and made a hole in it.” Whoops.

This was me right before bed, dreading the following morning. Yes, I am aware of how tired I look. That’s kind of a permanent thing.

Diego came into my room at 6:15 this morning and whispered, “Is it time to get up?” I told him no and assured him that I would get him in a little while. By 6:30, he was sitting in front of the tv, tired of waiting for me. It really wasn’t hard to wake up because I had first day jitters just as much as he did. He loves getting his picture taken, so once he was all ready, he asked me “When are you taking my picture” for like 15 minutes. Even though we got an early start, the morning was still quite the scramble. Hopefully I’ll get the hang of it soon, but I see a lot of frazzled mornings in our future.

Here is my big kindergartener! Tears. (Mine, not his.) Instead of doing a shirt this year, I wanted something more subtle, so I got him a button. He loved it because of the stop sign. When I met his teacher, I felt confident that she’s going to be on top of his allergies, so I doubt that I’ll have him wear the pin tomorrow. I’ll leave it up to him.

Diego picked out a plain backpack. At first he wanted puppies. I said no. Puppies on a lavender background. Nope. I’m sure he’ll thank me one day.

Celo and I made him this big giant chocolate chip cookie using this recipe (modified for his alleriges….only smart balance instead of butter, egg whites instead of whole eggs, and ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips).  Yum. I’ve already eaten way too much of it.

Cracks me up the way he poses for pictures.

Even though today wasn’t Celo’s first day of school, I made the boys take a pic with signs. I’d like to make it a tradition for as long as they let me.

(We really need to start working on the outside of the house. Paint, landscaping, etc.)

See Celo wearing a striped shirt again. The kid only wants to wear stripes to school. I even had to separate his striped shirts in his drawer so he can find them easily. It cracks me up because Diego kind of hates striped shirts.

(* Third day of school for Celo.)

It took 30 minutes of sitting in the car loop to finally pick Diego up today. I’m tempted to just get to the school later so I don’t have to wait as long, but then poor Diego would have to sit out in the heat for longer. And if I get their really early so I can be one of the first to pick him up or to have a shorter waiting time, that would mean I’d have to wake Eliana up even earlier from her nap. I had to wake her up after just an hour and a half today, and it is now 5:40pm and she’s a major crankerina. She usually takes 3 hour naps, so the poor girl is exhausted. Slowly we’ll figure out this schedule.

When Diego got in the car he told me he loved it and that he had a lot of fun and a great day. His one disappointment was that they didn’t get to play on the playground during their outside time today. I’m thinking that was because there was about to be a torrential downpour.

It’s hard not to see this as the beginning of them growing up.   I still get Celo for most of the day this year, but it’s sooooo sad for Diego’s time at home with me to be over. Diego’s teacher tortured us with a letter she handed out as we were leaving the classroom. This is what it said:

The First Day

I gave you a little wink and smile
As you entered my room today.
For I know how hard it is to leave
And know your child must stay.
You’ve been with them for five years now
And have been a loving guide,
But now, alas, the time has come
To leave them at my side.
Just know that as you drive away
And tears down your cheeks may flow
I’ll love them as I would my own
And help them learn and grow.
For as a parent, I too know
How quickly the years do pass
So please put your mind at ease
And cry those tears no more
For I will love them and take them in
When you leave them at my door.
Love,
Ms. Wilkinson

What the heck?? If I wasn’t already going to cry, this definitely pushed me over the edge. Thanks, lady! I read the first 3 lines and teared up and decided it wasn’t a good idea to read it just yet. I went to the Boo Hoo breakfast and pulled it together because Celo was with me and I didn’t want to cry in front of him. After I dropped him off at school, I read the whole thing and cried in my car. My own sad-mommy-fighting-change feelings aside, I am so so proud of my boys for how great they did! I’m excited for the new adventures they’ll have and hope that our time apart will make our moments together that much more special! I love these boys oh so very much.