First Day of School

Today was Tomas' first day of school. What a huge moment! Starting today, he will go to school every school day for the next 14 years (at least...the next 18-22 years, more probably). Needless to say, I was a bit emotional! We woke up Tomas at 6:30 this morning. I picked him up to hold him in my lap (equally for some cuddle time as for a little motion to get him going), and he promptly wormed his way back into bed and under his blanket. He should be an AWESOME teenager!!!

Waffles and yogurt were on the menu for breakfast, and a bit of Nick Jr, too. Both Gabriella and Tomas had a nice relaxed time and also quite a bit of silly time. Overall, it was a good start to the day.

Soon, it was time to get in the car and head to school. Well, this is when all bets were off. Tomas insisted that he was not going to school, refused to wear his backpack, and definitely did not want to take any pictures! Gabriella, on the other hand, donned her backpack like a champ and headed out the door with a smile (fully unaware that she was not actually going to school today). Enticed by the lure of playing the letter game in the car, we were finally able to leave the house. The letter game essentially involves Tomas picking 2 random letters that are sometimes a blend and us talking about words that have those letters in them.

The drive to school was quick and painless (stupid oversized lawnmowers aside), but when we arrived at school, the hesitance resumed. Poor Tomas just didn't want to go up to the front door. It didn't matter how many cool Iron Man and Tinkerbell backpacks we pointed out; he didn't even want to step onto the sidewalk from the parking lot. Eventually, we pointed out that he couldn't just stand there in the parking lot, so he made the first steps, and, clinging to my hand, approached the door.

We had to wait for his teacher to come to the door, so we talked to a few people and attempted some more memorable pictures of his first day. They are definitely memorable, but smiles were not to be seen. Gabriella was walking around to each person, especially those with Tinkerbell backpacks, and talking up a storm. Tomas picked a spot on the sidewalk away from everyone else, sat down, and refused to talk. When Mrs. Carter came to the door to collect her class, it wasn't too much of a battle to get Tomas to the door (note Pete's idea to tell Tomas he was going to give his backpack to another kid if he didn't want to go..............). Tomas held my hand heading there and then one of the school staff took over to help out. Pete snuck into the building to take a few pictures of a silently tearful, pouty Tomas.

What happened while he was at school will remain a mystery. Each child has to be signed out individually when picked up, and when I signed Tomas out, he ran over and gave me a giant and wonderful hug! However, whenever Pete or I tried to ask him about his day, silence or "I don't remember" were pretty much the only answers we got. My attempt to give Tomas 2 snacks (6 bunny crackers and 6 grapes) failed I think because I put them in 2 separate containers. Oops, I cheated. Next time, I guess the grapes and crackers go in the same container and we'll see what feedback I get.

Tomorrow is another day. Pete will be dropping off Tomas because I have a doctor's appointment, so I will be hearing all about it, I hope.