Writer's cramp

Last night, we went to the meet-the-teacher festivities at our school.  I see the teachers all the time, but it was nice to spend a minute or two saying hello.

Nolan is in sixth grade this year.  I'm a little hyper about it, because next year, he'll be in junior high, and we all know how quickly time will pass once he's there.  As we entered the room, I saw these two striking young ladies talking to his teacher, and then she said "come back and tell me all about jr high" as they left.  NO way.  These girls were just adorable, so mature looking, I looked at the teacher and said it out loud:  "You're kidding me, right?"  She replied "No.  They really were in my class last year.  You won't recognize half the kids in here by the end of the year.  Especially the girls."  Oh, that's reassuring.  I'm throwing him into the lion's den now, aren't I?  I was worried about the size of the class (27 students) when I should have been really worried about the size of the class (it appears the hormone train will just line up right outside the door and start dumping it on in.)  It's so hard with the oldest, as I remind him often, every time we experience something new with him, it's the first time.  And it's like we are new parents with a squirmy baby again, all inexperienced.

So in Ben's classroom, things looked just fine.  I was back in familiar territory, and I really like his teacher.  She is excited, she told us, because she has Ben, and two other younger brothers of two boys that were in her class with Nolan before.  The second set, she said.  I know everything will be fine.  Ben is Ben, my social butterfly, I don't really worry about him in the same way I do about Nolan, who is mr reserved most of the time.

And as for Ryan, he is also my little social boy.  But he's the baby (boy) and I was a little pained that we didn't get the teacher I'd requested.  I'm not too concerned, she seems very nice, but I don't know her that well, so the jury is still out on this one.  He's gonna be gone all day, a big boy now, and so I'll have to adjust.  (lol)

We were walking around, and I'd promised Ben's old kindergarten teacher I'd stop by with Audrey (she has a granddaughter the same age).  Mr W, Audrey, and I were talking to her outside her classroom when the boys came around the corner.  "Look at Ben,"  I said to her.  "Wow, he's so big now,"  she said, as she moved in to give him a hug.

And that's when it happened.  All this time, I've been wrestling with my feelings about tweendom, and feeling the pang of Ryan becoming a big boy, and not worrying about Ben.  I saw him standing there, next to his kindie teacher, and suddenly remembered how hard it was to leave that little five year old with her on his first day, a few years ago.  I had a mental image of his five-ness superimpose over him as he stood next to her.  Where did this lump in my throat come from, I thought, swallowing hard and taking a deep breath.  My big fourth grader.  Breathe, girl, breathe.

I'm such a baby.

Once we got home, it was a flurry of backpacks, supplies, "It's mine", showers and bedtime.  This morning was a frenzy too, and I'm proud to say that I got them there in time.  Oh, sure, it'll probably be the last time they are on time....but I'll take it anyway.

I was laying in bed with Audrey before Mr W woke all the boys up, and I asked her "What will we do all day, while the boys are gone at school?"

"Umm, you can paint my toes."

It appears some things will remain the same around here.  When we went to pick up the boys this afternoon, Audrey was sporting some lovely pink nail polish on her toes.

One other thing that was definately the same was the mountain of paperwork the kids brought home.  "We have homework,"  Nolan announced as he got into the car, "for you."  I just spent about 40 minutes filling out forms, reading all the missives that got sent home, and getting writer's cramp.  

The good news is I  finished  in time to write this entry at a relatively decent hour.

The bad news is I still have one more kid to go!  (Ryan didn't bring it all home yet~)