First Days of School

We were so tired on Monday after our first day of school that I'm writing this on Tuesday,

after our second day. I had a little panic moment the night before when I realized that no one had a"first day of school" outfit, but then realized that Grace and Nick wear uniforms, and Amelia doesn't really care as long as she is wearing a dress. One very difficult step in the morning routine completely illiminated! We had been to registration on Sunday morning, so the kids had already met their teachers and seen their classsrooms. Amazing how that eased the stress. (Having Mommy just around the corner helps too, I think.) We'd been working on going to bed earlier, but the kids were so exctied on Sunday night, they had a hard time sleeping. Even I had the same dream I have every year before the first day of school--not having the right, if any, clothes on, forgetting all my plans, losing children on the playground. You name it, it happened in that dream.

Grace woke up first, at 5:00 in the morning. She came in to

our room and asked if she could get up because she couldn't sleep. I told her to try to close her eyes for just a little longer and I would come get her in a while. Half and hour later, she was raring to go again, so I just got up with her. She had a great day at school. She loved the bus ride, loved her teacher, loved that she knew some of the kids in her class. Most of all, she loved that she had a locker. All the classes in elementary school have lockers outside their classrooms, mostly because the classsrooms don't have closets or really any place for kids to put their backpacks. Regardless, it made Grace happy and feeling very grown-up.

Believe it or not, Nick was ready to give up the endless days of non-stop Wii, Nintendo DS, and

movies for school! That's right, he was actually getting bored of being pent up in the house in front of the television. All kidding aside, Nick was ready for school, too. He woke up a little later than Grace and was ready in about 20 minutes. He was thrilled to make a lot of friends, get two recesses and, yes, swim in the pool during school. It can't get much better than being able to swim during school. He really liked his teacher and loved that he could sit with anyone he wanted to at lunch. On Monday evening, we were talking about which language he wanted to take for his World Languages class. He said that he wanted to take French. Danny was surprised and said, "French?" Nick, with his quick, silly wit responded, "Bonjour!" (Might have been a joke where you had to be there, but it was still funny.) So, we're two for two in the liking of school!

Amelia, not to be outdone by her brother and sister, completely embraced the concept of being excited about going to school. I really do think she was happy and not just following along with her brother and sister, but I was surprised that she wasn't freaked out about riding the bus in the afternoon by herself. Her school day ends at 12:30, so she rides the bus home with other preschoolers, not her brother and sister. As is usual for the first day of school, the buses were late leaving and, thus, late arriving at our house. Our poor nanny called both Danny and me around 1:15 wondering where Amelia was and then she showed up at 1:30, fast asleep on the bus. When we asked her how her day was, Amelia, smiling from ear to ear in her sweet way, said, "I really did make a lot of friends!" Over the past couple of weeks Grace and Nick had met quite a few other embassy and TAISM teacher kids, but there haven't been many Amelia's age. Even though we continued to assure her that she would meet lots of friends once she got to preschool, she was a bit fatalistic about the whole prospect. Well, thank goodness we were actually right. There were plenty of friends to be made. Phew. Three for three.

I won't bore you with many details about my first day with kids, nor will I post a picture :-) My day was pretty good. It's been 12 years since I taught in a classroom by myself and, although it was extremely different not to have Markell there in the classroom with me, I did okay. My roster has 15 students on it, and three were not there. If I didn't have a good day, it would be my own darn fault. I have students from Denmark, Russia, Turkey, Australia, Indonesia, Canada, U.S., and Oman. Truly, though, my first day with them wasn't much different than any of my other first days of school. Kids are kids and they seem to like to learn and have fun with their friends. I guess if I keep that in mind, everything will be just fine.

Thanks for sticking with me on this epic tale of the first day of school. We'll keep you posted as Grace finds more things to love about school, Nick learns a little more French, and Amelia makes some more friends. We love and miss everyone in the States and look forward to hearing from all of you.