First Day of School

Where did the summer (and my little girl's baby-hood) go?!  I can't believe it's already time for school.  We need to start planning summer vacations.  The sameness of our summer days makes it seem to fly by all the faster, I think!

Sophie has been very nervous about going to "all day school" and eating lunch there.  She was not looking forward to today -even though she got Caleb's 1st grade teacher, who we adore!  She got a little teary when we were getting dressed but said she wanted to try hard not to cry at school so no kids would tease her. :(

Daddy went to work a little late so he could see us off this morning.  He made pancakes and eggs for breakfast, too!

Sophie was excited to get her new lunch box as a "starting school" gift.

All ready to go!

 Caleb's first day of 3rd grade!  He wasn't nervous at all.  He was assigned to a class that had no teacher hired when they released class placement lists six days before school started!!  We met the new teacher on supply drop off night 2 days ago.  And when I say "new" I mean it literally - I think she may be 12!!  Supposedly she has taught for 2 years already in Boulder Valley though.  Brand new, really young teachers can be really great - all that energy and creativity, thinking outside the box; or a nightmare - not comfortable in their own skin and not confident enough to individualize things rather than stick to the 'prescribed' plan, disorganized, unstructured.  I was going to be one of "those" parents and see about switching classes but Caleb already has decided he loves her, though, and I'm not surprised - she is pretty cute and is sweet with the kids.  We shall see how this unfolds.

 Sophie had a last-minute wardrobe decision change!  She decided to go with a more "fancy" outfit for her first day.

 She looks like such a big girl with her back pack on!

My gorgeous girl!

Sophie did great walking into the school.  She was nervous but before we left the car she asked for "kissing hands" - our tradition since preschool to help her not be scared and miss me so much - and even gave ME kissing hands to help when I miss her during the day.  Love that girl!

 Finding her desk.

 She didn't cry at all once we got to the school!  Her mama might have a little bit (or a lot...) though!


Unfortunately, after school was another story.  She ran to me in tears saying, "Mama, my day was just horrible!"  Apparently, she was overwhelmed by the lunch room and couldn't find a friend to sit by.  When she finally found an open spot to sit, some rotten vile little boy from another class (also 1st grade) told her, "You can't sit here" then SPAT on her face!  If you know Sophia at all you know that she is a complete worry-wort and is afraid of just about everything these days, so not only was she sad and upset about being slighted like that but was also terrified she got "germs" from his spit! She was afraid she would get in trouble for "telling" so she found another spot and was "sad all day".  My poor girl!  Her exact words (vocabulary by Fancy Nancy) were, "I was just heartbroken because you weren't there when I was so sad."  Ugh!

Luckily, I had thought to bring a special treat for the end of the day figuring she'd be tired.  A hug and a Popsicle made it all better!

Per our family tradition, we went out for dinner to celebrate the new school year but in a huge break from tradition Caleb got Sophie to agree to go to Walnut Brewery instead of our usual trip to The Med!! (Again, if you know them you know how huge this is!  So often do they choose The Med that it's become a bit of a running joke!)  Caleb has been obsessed with the firecracker shrimp (tempura fried shrimp with spicy thai chili sauce) that we had at WB when my aunt and uncle visited last month and has been begging to go there ever since.  We get there, start looking at the menu and - NO FIRECRACKER SHRIMP!!!!  They took them off the menu "a while ago" due to cross-contamination concerns re: the fry oil and shellfish allergies.  Seriously?!  You have got to be kidding me!  Caleb melted and we almost left but after scouring the menu we found calamari (his fave from the med) with the same dipping sauce as the firecracker shrimp (why the waitress didn't point this out when he was melting after she told him about the shrimp, I will never know!).   Crisis averted, he was happy, yummy dinner for all!

The plan for day 2 - I'll walk her in and help her talk to the teacher about what happened.  We already talked to a kindergarten friend after school today about trying to find each other at lunch so she has someone to sit with.  Crossing fingers for a better day!