Aaron's First Day

Well, there he went again. I will admit, while his first day of 1st grade was less traumatic for me than last year's first day, it was still hard to leave my little guy this morning. It's ALL day, FIVE days a week! Just seems excessive. Plus, I don't appreciate the morning schedule. Laying around in our PJ's and fixing breakfast in a leisurely fashion suits my style a bit better than the typical requirements of a school morning. But, this post was intended to be about Aaron...

After some nervousness about all that would be new, and a concern about leaving William and home all day, he did finally decide that he was actually "excited" about school. When he woke up this morning, he said he was more nervous than excited. He was worried about such details as "How will I know where to put my lunch and backpack?", "What if I can't find my name on a table to know where to sit?", "I know I'm going to be sooo hungry!" He thought if he could just make it till recess and lunch that he'd do ok.

He seemed to settle into his classroom just fine. It was clearly obvious where to put his lunch, there were hooks on the back wall to put his backpack, and he spotted his name on the first table right off! As soon as he took his seat, he didn't look at me again and got right to work.

He was absolutely exhausted when I picked him up! The first thing he said was "My day was good but my stomach really hurt all day, I'm so hungry!" He came home and crashed on the couch after eating a huge snack. It took him over an hour to perk up enough for him to talk about his day. I didn't get near enough detail from him, but he seemed satisfied with how the day went (other than the hunger...) and thinks he'll like 1st grade just fine.

William and I did ok today too. We kept busy, which helped us both deal with Aaron's absence. The first thing we did after dropping Aaron off was drive around the block to the donut shop. Hopefully it doesn't become our daily routine, but William knows he could probably easily talk me into it. William said a few times that he missed Aaron but that he wasn't too sad. He's like that, not as easy for him to admit/express emotion. However, this evening, he sobbed for ten minutes over a broken flower outside, so maybe that was his release of feelings about Aaron going back to school. I'm so glad I have a few more weeks of quiet days with William before he starts preschool.


All in all, a successful first day!