Still Settling

We are still settling into school routines. Tuesday was another bad drop-off for Natalie (only if you count it as "bad" when you have to pry each tiny finger off your purse strap one at a time from the death grip that the tiny hand has formed...only to find the other hand has found the other strap...and vice versa...about 6 times until the teacher finally comes to pry one hand while I pry the other...). The teachers smiled the entire time (how do they do that??) and cheerfully told me that "it's always hard after a weekend". Well, considering that she only goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I guess that means that I can expect 50% of my drop-offs to be horrible? On the plus side, when I picked her up, the teacher told me quite confidently that she did not cry "even once". "Not once?" "No, not once." Hmmm...she must count differently than I, because I heard many more than one before I was out the front door.

To be fair, Natalie is positively glowing when I pick her up, and quite animated trying to explain things that she did, without really knowing the right words to explain them. I think she has fun once she gives up trying to give me a huge guilt trip.

Still no picture of Natalie in her backpack. She is never happy to be photographed beforehand. I will have to try and take one after she returns.

I am the one still trying to adjust to Kindergarten. Besides getting yelled at in the carpool lane, and confusing Liam about which direction to walk, being the sweatiest mom out there by running to school (Liam has a career in track & field though - he can run the entire way, and I have to stop myself from yelling Run, Forrest, Run!!), and forgetting to send his snack, I have now caused him to forget his lunch box already. Yes, it was my fault. He was going to carry it and I stuffed it in the stroller basket instead and then forgot it. So I dropped it off at the school at 9am - plenty of time for them to get it to his class for lunch, right? Wrong. He came home that night proud of himself for buying his own lunch, and with no idea that I had rushed right over to deliver his lunch box to him. What? Didn't they bring you your lunch box? No, but that's OK, I bought a brownie for dessert!! sigh... So then I have to track down the lunch box...which one would imagine to be simple. Now I am beginning to think that either the school or, I suspect, his teacher, make this difficult intentionally in order to train parents/kids not to forget their lunch. I have been reading the parenting discipline book Love & Logic, which is all about letting kids feel the full consequences of their actions. So last night as I read the book...I realized...HEY, I think Mrs W just Love & Logic'ed ME!! I guess it worked, because tonight I was double checking everything for tomorrow. I wonder who she can train faster - me or Liam.