Kindergarten Blues

Prologue
Well, I have gone back and forth about whether I should write about Carter's first day of school or not, because it's only going to lead to a lot of whining and complaining on my part. However, Rachel specifically asked for it, so you can all blame her for this somewhat negative post. The picture I got is not so great because Carter is super sensitive to sunlight, but I am happy to have captured how he thinks he has to tie his backpack in the front (so cute!). I was planning to take a picture of Randall and Carter together because it was actually both of their first days of school, but I never ended up getting it. Randall just started going to school to be a physical therapist assistant, so 20 months from now I'm going to be a very happy woman.

Justification
I've pretty much been dreading Carter going to school for about the last 3 weeks. I know I'm weird, but I just don't want to miss ANYTHING in his life. I want to be there to cuddle him when he's sad, and I want to hear every single funny thing that he ever says. It's also just a huge reminder that we're all heading into a new phase of life where my babies are all grown up and going to school, and they're never going to be my little babies that stay home with me all day again. I really hate change, so this has been extremely overwhelming for me. I need to work on loving the moment I'm in, instead of reminiscing about the past all the time. We also were just coming home from an amazing 4 day vacation at Fish Lake the day before Carter's first day and I had an intense bout of "morning sickness" (I puked into a Lay's Stacks container). Once we made it home, I slept for about 4 hours, woke up for forty five minutes to help Randall get some stuff together for his first day of school, then went to bed. The next day I was still not feeling so good...

August 25, 2008
Why is it that they just assume Mom's that have never sent their kids to school know all the Registration dates, open houses, and weird schedules? I heard about pre-registration the day after it occurred from one of my neighbors, and was fortunate enough to find out about the open house enough in advance that I could actually attend. I even felt priviliged to know that Monday is Early Out Day so that I would be sure to pick Carter up at 2:30 instead of 3:30 on the first day of school. However, no one informed me that Monday is early IN and OUT day. Therefore, I roll into Eagle Valley Elementary in plenty of time to take a few snapshots and give a tearful goodbye to my child as he walks into the classroom only to discover a locked door and a couple of aids tearing down some posters. Apparently we were fifteen minutes late. It was probably good for me because instead of bawling my eyes out, I just snuck Carter into the room, apologized to his teacher, and bailed.

Wednesday
Wednesday was my first attempt to do anything other than get Carter to and from school. I had an appointment to get some new attachments for Lydia's braces in the morning, so I dropped Carter and Meleah off at my Mother-in-law's and headed into town. As most of you know, I live in the boonies, so it takes me 35 minutes to get pretty much anywhere. We arrive, and he begins to work on her braces. 20 minutes later, he informs me that one of the brackets broke while he was attaching it, and he doesn't have another one. I go back to my Mother-in-laws, feed the kids lunch, then attempt to load Carter and Lydia into the car. I say attempt because Carter, who was wearing his shoes 5 minutes earlier, no longer knew where they were. I go up and down the stairs 2o times checking every room and finally give up. I run to my house and get his shoes from last year that no longer fit if he's wearing socks, and throw them on. He is now late for the second time in three days, and his door is of course locked. I have to walk him around to the main entrance then all the way down to the end of his wing. This wasn't such a big deal the first day, but this day, I was carrying my forty-five pound child and her awkward metal walker. After I walked him to class I continue to walk across the playground to Lydia's portable (she has physical and occupational therapy on Wednesdays) and drop her off LATE on her first day of school. I leave her crying in the portable, suffer from another bout of nausea, then leave the school crying myself. My poor Mother-in-Law had found the shoes while I was gone in the bathtub of all places (why hadn't I thought to look there?) I sobbed out my feelings of failure to her, then went home to dwell in my ineptitude until my husband got home at 9:00.

Thursday
Thursday actually turned out a bit better because I didn't have to get all of us up and going so early. I scheduled the appointment during Carter's school since Lydia doesn't have therapy that day. The only problem I ran into was that it took over an hour to assemble Lydia's braces, and I had to stop at the store to buy a couple of things for a famiy barbecue the next day. I got in and out of the store in 16 minutes (pretty good when you consider that I had to buckle in 2 toddlers). I was able to pick up Carter on time, but I got to the school later than I like to. I like to get there early enough that I can back into a spot that's visible from his door, so that I can just go get him when he comes out, and not back into any kids that are running around. Why have I never heard anyone complaining about how big of a pain in the butt it is to pick up their kids from school? I still have not figured out a perfect solution. I tried walking one day, and was so afraid that Carter was going to get hit by a car when we crossed the roads. Plus, it was hot and I got a blister. Ü But driving is just so chaotic. If anyone has any tips, please let me know.

Light at the End of the Tunnel
To conclude this incredibly lenghthy and somewhat depressing post, I'm going to go ahead and say that I'm doing much better this week. I know this is going to be a hard year, but I am going to get through it. Everyone really likes school, including Randall, which somehow seems to make it all worth it. I miss Randall a lot, but I'm so excited for him to have a regular 9-5 job, and also that he's gaining so much knowledge that he can use to help Lydia. I've now vented all of my frustrations out to you guys, and plan to move on with a more positive attitude. Thanks for listening!