Aaron's 1st day of School

Monday, August 24, 2009

What a momentous day! Not one but both of our children started their life long quest of education beyond the home today.

Aaron was accepted in to a pathology speech program due to his "inability" to produce certain sounds of speech. (Specifically his frontal sounds; "d", "t", "s", and other sounds that are formed at the front of one's mouth.) I was very pleased that he was able to get in to the program as there's only a few in the entire Las Vegas valley. He will attend Mondays and Wednesdays for 2 1/2 hrs a day, just like kinder. Because we live 5+ miles from the school where the speech pathologist works he was qualified for bussing. I took him last Thursday to meet his teacher, Mrs. Powers. She went to shake his hand, he took it politely and then with shy eyes looked at me and said, "She's like Grandma Susie."

Monday morning was CRAZY! Aaron was to be picked up by the bus at 7:55. At 7:40 Aaron started yelling, "she's here! She's here! The bus is here!" We didn't believe him. I told him, "No, it's okay Aaron, we still have time." We still had to brush his hair, pack his bag and brush his teeth. "No Mom. I see the bus!" I looked outside and sure enough, the big yellow slug was outside pulled up to our driveway. I ran outside and jokingly told the driver she was early which she agreed to and told us not to worry. Bill quickly did Aaron's hair, I packed his bag(complete with snacks for the ride home and a change of clothes in case an accident), skipped the teeth brushing, took some pictures and my baby was off to school. I will admit, I cried. Not for any other reason than I felt guilty for making my son ride the bus on the first day of school. Bill said, as we were waving to him on the bus, "Whatever you do, don't let him see you cry." Words to live by I'm sure. (I didn't even get a picture with him with any of us!)

We loved this shirt. Bill picked it out for him. Perfect.

Was all smiles until the nerves started to kick in.

After all was said and done, this is Aaron being dropped off at home.

He told me about his first day and the 3 other kids in his class, one of whose name he couldn't remember, but had the most to say about the bus. He told me that Ms. Webb, his morning driver, didn't know where his school was. I was puzzled at that. Then he explained that she passed his school that was by the Bonds' house! (The Bonds are friends of our who live next to the school he went to last year for 1/2 and hour 2 days/week.) I felt bad and wondered how long he stressed about the confusion. When I reminded him that I had taken him to his new school to meet his new teacher he said, with palm pressed to his forehead, "Oh yeah! I forgot." (I later talked to Ms. Webb and she conveyed that he was jabbering up a storm but she couldn't figure out what was wrong. Poor little guy. So misunderstood.) When Aaron told me about his ride home on the bus with Ms. Kelly, he said, "I told her a million times, 'take me home!'." He is the first to be picked up and the last to be dropped off. I asked him if he liked the busses and he said yes, but didn't care to ride them again. We have compromised. I will drive him in the morning and he'll ride the bus home.

So today, Wednesday, I took him to school and got the "1st day of school photo" with his teacher, who in his mind, looks like Grandma Susie.

It's the whole hair thing. And the tenderness he feels from her. It's a good thing.