Back to School

Thursday was Meet The Teacher at Andy's school. They post the class lists at 4:00 p.m. and then Meet The Teacher is from 6:00-7:30 p.m. I really don't understand why people rush up to the school to check the list at 4:00 p.m., only to come back at 6:00 p.m., but lots of people do it. It's funny, I don't think the kids realize what a big deal the first day of school is to their parents. Just like the kids want to be in class with their friends, the moms want their kids to be in class with their friend's kids. Sometimes it can seem kind of clicky, but you hope the parents are beyond that. You hope.

So, there was a picnic put on by the PTA from 4:00-6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Free hot dogs, chips, drinks and ice pops so that you will come out, fill out all your PTA paperwork, and pay them your money. I'm always looking for someone else to cook dinner, so I took the kids up around 5:00 p.m. We would have gotten there sooner but Sarah was having trouble following the directions of "put on your socks". I would have waited for her forever, but I didn't think it was fair to Andy that he miss or be late for his Meet The Teacher because his little sister refused to put her socks on. Oh, the joy!

When we parked the car, the first thing I asked Andy was "Do you want to check the list now or wait until 6:00 p.m.?". He said he wanted to wait. I love that about him. When Amanda was born and he didn't know if she was a boy or a girl, I asked him over the phone if he wanted to know or if he wanted to wait until he got to the hospital and he said wait that time too. I think it's cool that even though he really wants to know something he would rather find out in the moment than ahead of time. So we skipped checking the list and went to the playground and the picnic. I saw two moms from his first grade class and the first thing they said, after not seeing me for three months, was "Who'd he get?". I told them I didn't know and that we weren't in any rush to find out. I can't remember exactly what I said, it was four days ago I can barely remember what I had for breakfast, but they seemed pretty turned off by my answer. I guess I wasn't excited enought about finding out. I'm not sure why they asked anyway, because they seemed to know and were perfectly happy to tell me. Oh well, in the end I needed to put his teacher's name on the PTA forms, so someone had to look it up and verify that those two moms were correct. Man, I wish I had the brain power to remember my kid's teacher and all his friends' teachers but I definitely do not. The only reason I can remember his teacher's name is because it's Mrs. Presley and there once was a very famous singer with that name. Last year Andy's teacher's name was Mrs. Hall, but she was out on maternity leave for the first nine weeks and had a sub, Mrs. Ball. It took me months to remember what his teacher's name was after she came back. I could never remember if she was Mrs. Hall or Mrs. Ball. Maybe if I had been getting more sleep it would have been easier, but I think it was just a mean trick the school was playing on me.

We met Mrs. Presley and she seems really nice. That's all I can say. I talked to her for five minutes. However, our neighbor across the street had her last year and said she is super sweet to the kids and she is a great communicator with the parents. Sounds good to me. Best of all, Andy's buddy, Mark, is in his class this year. They both went to the Spanish Schoolhouse for Kindergarten but were in different classes last year. They are the only two kids from the Kindergarten class to go to this school, the others are spread throughout the district. So it was great that they are together, and nice that Mark's mom, Larisa, and I will see each other more than we already do.

Today was his first day of school. I got up around 7:20 a.m. so I could take a first day of school picture before he left. As I came down the stairs he was waiting on the bottom step, backpack on his back, lunch already packed, 20 minutes before it was time to go. I guess he was ready! Charlie had made his sandwich the night before and Andy had packed everything in the morning. I guess Charlie had also included a first day of school note in his lunch, because after they left I found a post-it note on the counter that said, "Dear Daddy, Can you please not write those notes? - Andy". Apparently he didn't know it was only a first day of school note, not an everyday in your lunch note, and found it embarrassing. Good thing he found it when he was packing his own lunch because his lazy parents weren't downstairs in time to do it for him.

When I picked him up from school this afternoon it was like nothing had changed.

Me: How was your first day of school?

Andy: Fine.

Me: Do you like your teacher?

Andy: Yes.

No wonder Charlie changed the rules in the house that if you can't remember what you did that day you don't get dessert. It's kind of frustrating trying to get the kids to talk.

Overall, it was a good day. He wants to go back tomorrow, so it couldn't have been all that bad. He even enjoyed his Spanish class with Senora Keith. All is right with the world.