27 January 2010

The first day of school: tears and tantrums

Nat was up early and in his uniform.  He explained clearly and slowly to Joseph what school was all about, and then told his baby brother that he would have to wait for five years before his big day came, and that he, Nat would be doing it all FIRST.

The whole family went off to school and met Mrs Watson.  We saw Nat put his bag on his hook, give the teacher half his school supplies and put the rest in his blue drawer.  We watched as he found something to play with and kids to chat to.

Then we said goodbye and the remaining four de Elbas went to the car.  That was when it all fell apart.

When she realised we were going home, Anna-Lucia wailed.  "I wanna go at gool!" she cried all the way home.  "I wanna go at gool! - I wanna go at gool! - I wanna go at gool!" she repeated.

Once we got home, she found her wrap, sucked it and sobbed for a little bit.  We did some gardening, she played in an empty box, and now she's watching Shrek the Third.

Funny - as I was leaving the classroom, the Teacher Aide said to me, "Now you go home and don't worry!"  I had no idea what she was talking about.

Now I get it.

12 comments:

CraftyMummy said...

At least only one of them cried! It could have been 2, or three... or five of you! Glad he settled so well. Just sent you an email re the art smock;-)

Alison said...

Poor little Anna-Lucia, not wanting to be left behind! Glad Nat was excited, though.

Swift Jan said...

Anna-Lucia is a little "me too" likr Ella was lol

Nat looks totally cute in his uniform!

Scurrette said...

Add Liam to that *me tooooooo!* club.

Tracy P. said...

That is EXACTLY what happened when Ben started preschool. The director came running, thinking she had a child with separation anxiety to deal with, only the child with separation anxiety was the one not yet enrolled. Bethany only embraced our "girl time" begrudgingly that year. I loved it. I hope you and A-L and Joseph will too.

Allegro ma non troppo said...

We have the opposite here. Little sister yells, "You go to SCHOOL!" in the mornings, then starts taking all his stuff and sitting in his seats.

Emily Sue said...

I absolutely LOVE that kids are now allowed to wear comfortable clothes and shoes, instead of stiff, tucked in shirts (for boys) and box-pleat tunics (for girls). And tight, inflexible Bata Scouts on the feet. Ugh.

Marcia @ Pretty Things said...

Oh he sounds so brave .... and your excused, you're allowed to fall apart ... thats what those five years at home with him were preparing you for.

Glad it went as well as it could. I'll be the mean mum and say I couldn't wait for my Princess to start school ... I needed my coffee time in peace.

:) Marcia

CynthiaK said...

Alright, is that really what kids get to wear to school down there? That is so adorable! I'm sure that's not the term Nat would care to hear (maybe more like "dude, that hat is rockin'!").

I'd give anything to have uniforms at my kids' school. That would solve a lot of problems for me.

Glad to hear the drop off went well for Nat and that Anna-Lucia was able to finally recover. Poor thing!

veiledturnip said...

Did you hear they had a hotline for parents to call? I cried just watching the farewells on the news!!
Have you mastered "the walk" yet???

Unknown said...

aww Nat is sooooo cute in his uniform!!!!! :) :) glad he was excited!!! :) :)

Givinya De Elba said...

Hey veiledturnip - I heard about the Hotline! I was wondering if they'd have any tips for younger siblings having tantrums? Nah. Maybe I'll just look into some Day Cares instead.

OH! The Walk! You mean walking to and from school? I am busting to do it! So far we've had Day 1 loaded down with kilos of school books, and Day 2, so hot that watering my plants for 5 minutes made the skin on my feet burn.

I am terribly phobic of sunburn on ANY skin, let alone the sweet fresh skin of my babies, so the school walk will wait until a cooler day.

Our rehearsal walks have been in the early morning and late afternoon. Much better!