So, last week was B's first week of school. First grade, which was quite an accomplishment given that his Kindergarten teacher told us mid-year that he probably wouldn't be "graduating" from K... He's not gonna be our straight A, spelling bee champion child. Not that he's stupid by any means- he's extremely bright, has a huge vocabulary and he knows how to use it, he just has better things to do than sit around learning to read and write.... BORING!
We were hoping for a great start to the year- I made up a schedule for maximum efficiency, had the new school clothes all lined up in the closet ready to be mixed & matched (pretty easy when they have a semi uniform dress-code), early bedtime eased into, lunch menu planned out, homework and reading time scheduled, etc. I was so confident that this was going to be a stellar year and the beginning of a stellar school career for B.
Well, the week was going pretty well until we got to school. The first day. We parked in the only teeny tiny spot left in the parking lot so our happy little family could walk in together and experience the bittersweet goodbyes. B, in all his excitement to get his backpack out of the car, swung the door open a bit too far and oops! Door ding in the car next to us. Only he kinda didn't mention it to us. So we said goodbye, got a sweet hug and kiss in front of the whole class and went on our happy way oblivious to destruction we had left behind. Until I got a call from the police about an "incident" in the parking lot. Holy cow, I was wracking my brain trying to remember if I had run over someone in my quest to get to school on time! The kind officer explained that a parent was claiming we had dinged the door on her (of COURSE!) brand new truck with our rear passenger door. B admitted that "Maybe the door banged when I was getting my backpack out" so I called the other mom who turned out to be super nice (like the kind of person I could actually be friends with if my son hadn't dinged her door) and arranged to take care of it. We're still awaiting the estimate so we can figure out how many years of allowance B owes us. And he's hopefully learned a few lessons about being careful and telling us when he damages someone's property, even if it is an accident.
Days 2 and 3 went without incidents. The report each day was something like this:
- The teacher is mean and yells a lot (if you knew the teacher you would laugh at this).
- Recess happens at least 5 or 6 times a day (?)
- His new favorite pastime is chasing girls.
- He's made lots of friends but he doesn't know any of their names.
- He hasn't learned anything. Nothing. See my note above about him almost flunking Kindergarten.....
- That's about it.
Day 4 began with a meltdown before school. B can tie his own shoes but he likes me to do it because I can get them super tight. And you know shoes need to be tied super tight for maximum speed when chasing girls. We were running a bit late so I told him he needed to tie his own shoes. That turned out to be the wrong thing to say because he then proved to me that he had indeed learned something recently. I'm not sure if it was at school or from someone who lives in this house whose name I will not mention (but it rhymes with BADDY). Yes, he learned a four letter word. A bad one. Probably the worst one. And he used it correctly as in "YOU KNOW I CAN'T TIE MY F-ING SHOES TIGHT ENOUGH!" Ok, I guess that's not really a 4 letter word but you get the point.
I was hoping that day 5 would be an uneventful ending to the week but no, I got a call from the school nurse. On one of the 5 or 6 daily recesses, B and another boy crashed into eachother while chasing girls and B ended up with a big ole shiner. He was OK- no concussion thank goodness, but now he thinks part of his "eyebrow bone" is missing. Too bad we can't have the other mom pay to fix the ding in his head!
It's gonna be a loooooong year.
We were hoping for a great start to the year- I made up a schedule for maximum efficiency, had the new school clothes all lined up in the closet ready to be mixed & matched (pretty easy when they have a semi uniform dress-code), early bedtime eased into, lunch menu planned out, homework and reading time scheduled, etc. I was so confident that this was going to be a stellar year and the beginning of a stellar school career for B.
Well, the week was going pretty well until we got to school. The first day. We parked in the only teeny tiny spot left in the parking lot so our happy little family could walk in together and experience the bittersweet goodbyes. B, in all his excitement to get his backpack out of the car, swung the door open a bit too far and oops! Door ding in the car next to us. Only he kinda didn't mention it to us. So we said goodbye, got a sweet hug and kiss in front of the whole class and went on our happy way oblivious to destruction we had left behind. Until I got a call from the police about an "incident" in the parking lot. Holy cow, I was wracking my brain trying to remember if I had run over someone in my quest to get to school on time! The kind officer explained that a parent was claiming we had dinged the door on her (of COURSE!) brand new truck with our rear passenger door. B admitted that "Maybe the door banged when I was getting my backpack out" so I called the other mom who turned out to be super nice (like the kind of person I could actually be friends with if my son hadn't dinged her door) and arranged to take care of it. We're still awaiting the estimate so we can figure out how many years of allowance B owes us. And he's hopefully learned a few lessons about being careful and telling us when he damages someone's property, even if it is an accident.
Days 2 and 3 went without incidents. The report each day was something like this:
- The teacher is mean and yells a lot (if you knew the teacher you would laugh at this).
- Recess happens at least 5 or 6 times a day (?)
- His new favorite pastime is chasing girls.
- He's made lots of friends but he doesn't know any of their names.
- He hasn't learned anything. Nothing. See my note above about him almost flunking Kindergarten.....
- That's about it.
Day 4 began with a meltdown before school. B can tie his own shoes but he likes me to do it because I can get them super tight. And you know shoes need to be tied super tight for maximum speed when chasing girls. We were running a bit late so I told him he needed to tie his own shoes. That turned out to be the wrong thing to say because he then proved to me that he had indeed learned something recently. I'm not sure if it was at school or from someone who lives in this house whose name I will not mention (but it rhymes with BADDY). Yes, he learned a four letter word. A bad one. Probably the worst one. And he used it correctly as in "YOU KNOW I CAN'T TIE MY F-ING SHOES TIGHT ENOUGH!" Ok, I guess that's not really a 4 letter word but you get the point.
I was hoping that day 5 would be an uneventful ending to the week but no, I got a call from the school nurse. On one of the 5 or 6 daily recesses, B and another boy crashed into eachother while chasing girls and B ended up with a big ole shiner. He was OK- no concussion thank goodness, but now he thinks part of his "eyebrow bone" is missing. Too bad we can't have the other mom pay to fix the ding in his head!
It's gonna be a loooooong year.
