Here is the first day of school from Sylvie's perspective:
She picked out her clothes the night before, of course going to her closet where all of the "fancy dresses" live. It was a tough decision, but in the end, she determined the black dress with butterflies and a hot pink ribbon was the fanciest.
Normally, when she wakes up, she hangs out in my bed and begs for "just one more show". That morning, she really, REALLY wanted to get dressed immediately. She was VERY concerned about what socks and what shoes she should wear, and although she was not happy with me for vetoing the initial selection of sparkly play shoes, she eventually was happy to wear her flower-girl shoes to school.
She was super excited and a tiny bit nervous and very happily went off with her teacher, hand in hand, when we arrived at school. When I picked her up, she was all smiles and talked about the picture she made by coloring in her handprint and adding a sparkly heart. She told me she played with Maya and Alyssa, she led the pledge of allegiance, and she sang songs at Chapel. During lunch, she threw a huge fit because she wanted to color on the floor instead of eating lunch at the table with her sister. Remember that stuff I said about "the last nap". I take it all back! I sent her up for nap after lunch and she was fast asleep before I left the room. 4 yr old pre-school is wonderful and exhausting!
Here is the first day of school from my perspective (I'm still cringing as I write this). We survived the earthquake and the hurricane, but I swear, we barely made it through day 1 of four-year-old pre-school:
I changed J's diaper and clothes while Sylvia got dressed. Somewhere in the middle of that, Sylvia came in and we had a big discussion about which shoes would be appropriate / matched / etc. Honestly, it has been raining for days (weeks?) and she probably should have worn rain boots, but we agreed on her pretty flower shoes.
As I was getting Stella ready that morning, she was freaking out over each step because she is wanting Daddy to do everything lately, and he was still there getting ready for work. I hear this phrase 124 times a day "NO, NOT YOU!!!! DADDY DO IT!!!!!!!!!", even when John is at work. There is not a creature on earth more stubborn or determined as a 2 year old child. Anyways, somewhere during that or after that, John was in Jeremy's room and found baby poo on the changing table. Awesome. Disgusting, I know. The lesson is, do not discuss shoes with the 4 yr old while changing the baby.
As the girls were eating breakfast (waffles), I started packing Sylvia's snack. For some reason, I have been very concerned with her snack. I let her pick out some special apple sauce at the grocery store that she might want. I made sure we had 10,000 cheese sticks on hand. I made sure she was ok with the yogurt selection. This child would be fine if I grabbed a handful of any random cereal for snack if need be, but I was a little obsessed. I asked her what special snack she wanted for day, and the choice was yogurt. I put the spoon and ice block in the bag, but decided I would wait a little to add the yogurt because we still had 45 minutes left before we left. That was my first mistake, or second, or 35th.
As I was racing around making sure everyone had juice, went potty, bags packed, etc. I checked on the frog we were baby-sitting for a neighbor. The last few years we babysat their 2 frogs. Now there is only one. I have been concerned the entire time Kermit was here that he would die of loneliness or that his time was up because the other one's time was up or something. I looked in the box and oh my goodness the thing was floating on top and not moving. The F-R-O-G was D-E-A-D. I was so freaked out. I felt like I was a psychic of horrible things.
I continued to race around getting everyone ready. In the back of my mind I knew I had wanted to take a "back to school" photo, but we were running late as it was. I told Sylvie I'd catch her picture after school. Just after I dropped Sylvia off I realized I never put a snack in her little backpack. Worst. Mother. Ever. I went back home and grabbed a yoplait (I had intended to let Sylvie pick the flavor) and went back to school to drop it off. Stella then cried for 5 minutes because she didn't understand why we went back to school without picking up Sylvia "I want Dahvieeeeeee!!".
From the bank, I called John and told him Sylvie did great, but the F-R-O-G was D-E-A-D. ugh. We then went grocery shopping, where I realized I forgot my list and ultimately forgot at least one key ingredient for each dinner I had planned. As we were leaving the school parking lot, I realized I couldn't see the stroller in the back and thought for a moment about pulling over to make sure it was in there. "Nah, there's no way I forgot; not worth pulling over to check." Um, wrong again.
I loved hearing Sylvie's thoughts on her first day, but everything went down hill - way down hill - when we got home. She was sooooo tired. The only photo I got that day was of her napping :) On a brighter note, I tapped the frog's container and as he leaped and swam all around I realized he was still alive! Hallelujah!! On a sadder note, he passed on that night and is no longer with us.
Oh my goodness, please let tomorrow go a little bit smoother.
Lots of love,
Keri
