...And So It Begins...

First Day of School: 2014

And now... I have an 8 year old 3rd grader...  And a teeny one that wishes she could take part in the First Day of School hoopla.

I have known about the First Day of School since the day they posted the new calendar online. 

I knew it was coming...

It was on the calendar, my planner, my phone, my work calendar, my work computer and the calendar in the kids room...  SO... I knew... we ALL knew.. my frikkin coworkers knew...

Then WHY was it...Saturday afternoon... I realized that my child had all the same old socks (now dirty and small as well as just plain "old") and I should probably take care of that posthaste... 

We BRAVED the Wal-Mart and it's mad rushes of humans with baskets on wheels toting around pencils, backpacks (or book bags if you so choose) lunch boxes, etc...et al... 

I wanted to get ALL of those things but here's the thing about Thing 1's school.  They hand out a list on the First Day of School and all you have to do is make sure you have those things.  I was GROSSLY over prepared for her first day of school in Kindergarten and have yet to make the same mistake twice, I thank you...

Needless to say, we were able to stay away from the Supplies aisle and happily I might add.

Straight to clothing we went and I let her pick out her own socks.  Imagine my chagrin when she picked out the most NEON and ostentatious pairs of socks... Fine, it's what the kids are wearing these days.  And we couldn't get Thing 1 something without getting Thing 2 something...and since it IS summer, and it IS warm, and she IS walking more and wearing shoes more... she got thin ankle socks that, too, could be seen from space.  Fine.. .great...

We got home, I threw the new socks in the washer with a load of laundry and something came over me that... Oh God... We're not going to be There anymore... we were already HERE... and we were unpacking and fixin to stay... we are in the land of the 8 year old 3rd graders... and ours is on her way to be the fully independent type.  With her matchy matchy outfit she picked out herself and hair clips that she (almost) put in her own hair that she brushed all on her own that morning without my asking (but I went behind her and Brush-ninja'd her hair anyways just in case).  Put her dishes from her breakfast in the sink and had poured her own chocolate milk...  I never thought that I would look at a spot on my table where there "should" be dishes from a kid...and have there NOT be dishes because she takes them to the sink herself now and rinses them herself...  That's weird to me now... The me NOW thinks it's out of the ordinary... the me in two weeks probably won't care.

The First Day was a Mommy Daddy Take You To School Day type of morning...  and we both were there to pick her up from the after school program that her awesome school provides free of charge to those who apply...which am US :)  They love her there, she loves it there, she didn't go last year because it didn't make sense with Daddy home and grandpa gone...so last year she had her time with Daddy and baby... now she is ready to jump back in to full time socializing and crafting and free-from-baby-trying-to-crawl-up-her-butt-all-the-time.  She has Daddy to thank for that and all his brilliantness and thoughts of projects and things to do...  he's going to be busy and getting balls rolling for himself.. Yay!

I asked her how the First Day went...

"Fine"

"Really?  That's it?"

"yeah, Mom.  It's Fine.  I like my teacher, kids are nice, program was nice... it was.. Fine"

Wow... that's it huh? 

"Homework?"

"Not for me, but YOU have some."

She takes THE manila folder out of her bag.  The one I've come to know so well with pages upon pages of "I agree to do this and make this pledge and make this promise and my kid's gonna keep their hands to themselves and they're going to be the best citizen they can while they're on you're turf" and I signed and I initialed and I was done while Thing 2 napped (time out, nap, whatever). 

Yesterday, I picked her up and there was nothing.. Just more FINE...  Is it possible that we have already gotten to the point in the road where I am more excited about school starting than the kids? 

She was enthusiastic, and glad that school started. But not EXCITED.. so I guess I was a little alone in my excitement...  We get home and I go through the spiel from last spring of "Lunch box emptied out on the table, book bag in your room, homework on the table."

"I did my homework.  My program teacher checked it. It's done."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Really?"

"Yeah!"

"And you know what's going to happen to you if you aren't telling me the truth right? You KNOW it will reflect badly on you and this new teacher you said you really like will have to tell you something that will make you feel bad that you aren't doing well in school because you didn't do your homework right? and then she'll call or email me or daddy and you'll be in BIG trouble."

"Yeah. I know...and then no more Kindle right?"

"Right."

"Yeah... I know.  It's done."

"Ok, I'll trust you. Do you know I mean by that? Do you know what Trust means?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, well so you don't have anything else to say to me?  You are DONE with your homework"

"Yeah."

...and I left it at that... so now I have a 3rd grader and I am going to trust her.  I am going to trust her that she did her homework.

Tonight when I pick her up, I will ask the program director if she is in fact doing her work there and if she isn't, I don't know if I should let her skate and see what her teacher says or if I should get involved now and nip it in the bud?  I don't know that she's not doing her work.  I want to see how this unfolds.  Is it too soon to trust her to do what she knows she needs to do for school?  I mean, I have a hard enough time reminding her to brush her teeth and pick her clothes up off the floor.  But that's home, and that's Mom talking...kids brains are magical dryers where word socks get stuck and lost and never found again... so I don't expect her to absorb such a notion...but she has never really LIED to me on PURPOSE... and she didn't do anything that was terribly exciting last night to make her feel a lie was needed to get out of doing homework... so I'm going to let it go... I might as well test it now. I mean, it's 3rd grade and school just started... how much damage can she do in the first few weeks of school?  I'm going to trust her, I decided.  And I screwed myself REALLY good last night.  She put her backpack in her room last night just like she was supposed to, so I couldn't even sneak in there and check it at night because I would have woken up the baby for sure.  We'll see what happens... but it's a trip man... I'm already TRUSTING...  I know it's not life or death, but it's a first step and it's crazy...  CRAZY!!

Not as crazy though as some of the parents that were there to drop off their kids too...
Spandex is NOT back...don't try to bring it back!!