Wednesday, August 10, 2011

First day of First Grade

I rolled over and looked at my clock- why do I always wake up before my alarm? It had been a long time since I had set an alarm; usually my kids were more than enough. But today was the first day of school and we had to be out of the door by 7:30- their usual 7:00 wake time would not suffice.

The morning zipped by. Lucas kept telling me how excited he was. I kept saying that's awesome, all while trying to suppress the butterflies in my stomach. Why was I nervous? I wasn't the one going to school- we had done this last year- now he was a first grader.

We loaded into the car and headed towards the school- very slowly as the road was backed up past our subdivision, we had to wait to even make it onto the road. We found a spot along the street and made the long hike up the hill. We entered the gate and went to his classroom. I snapped a quick picture.
A sign on the door told us to head towards the main playground. Hundreds of kids waited on the black top in lines behind cones with their teachers' names. Ryder got bored sitting in his stroller; I held him while trying to snap a few more pictures.
A few minutes before the bell was going to ring Lucas' teacher came out and introduced herself to each student. "She seems really nice" Lucas said to me and I whole heartily agreed. The kids were dismissed and many of the parents followed to the classrooms. This was new to me as Lucas' previous school just had the parents leave.

Lucas found his place at a long table, they began making the letters of the alphabet with play dough and went row by row to put their snacks and lunchboxes in the right place.Lucas picked one thing from the extra large snack I had packed him and put the extra food in with the other lunches. Lucas would be buying his lunch for the first time- the money safely zipped in his pocket. The teacher began reading a story and all of the parents quietly excited. The butterflies had vanished.

Alex and I went home- the house definitely seemed quieter- though definitely not silent as Alex took full advantage of the almost solo time with me.

The time quickly passed- as Mondays are early dismissal days. We loaded back in the car- once again hardly able to make it out of our subdivision. I turned on the street to join the line of cars for the pick up line. The line went on forever and was not going anywhere. I flipped around and abandoned the line and found a place to park. We cut through the bus parking lot and walked up to his school. We said goodbye to his teacher.

I asked Lucas how his first day was. He was very quiet. Tears began to well up in the corners of his eyes. I had flash backs to last year when he sobbed as he didn't want to leave. But this seemed different. He didn't say anything. He then reached into his pocket and handed me back the money I had given him. "Here's your money." he said.

"What happened, why didn't you buy a lunch?" I pleaded
"They didn't have any; it was all gone."

How could this be- he was a first grader, they had lunch first! I was mad and my heart was breaking for him.
"Did you eat the rest of your snack at least?" I asked
"Yes" he said as a few tears trickled down his cheek.
I mentally went over what I had packed for a snack, cheese-it crackers, a gogurt and a drink box and that was it.
"Well don't worry, tomorrow I am going to pack you the best lunch- I got the new lunch box we were talking about."
This seemed to cheer him up a bit. I asked how the rest of his day went. He was disappointed at the short amount of time for his morning snack, thinking he was going to have time to play and said they did a lot of work- but he was still looking at it through tear-filled glasses from the lunch catastrophe.

We got home and I was ready to call the school to let them know how I felt about everything. I asked him again exactly what happened. As he explained it again, it turned out that his teacher thought he had a lunch- since he had his lunch box with a few extra things and so he missed the time to go get in line to buy lunch. I was grateful I talked with him again before giving someone at the school an earful as it was all a misunderstanding.

Ah first grade- it's a whole new adventure for both of us.

25 comments:

  1. Oh, my heart hurts for that little man! Little things like that make it so hard on us as moms, don't they?

    I forgot to send Buddy with some money for popcorn day one day last year. I had sent some cash in to pay for hot lunches in advance, so I called the school and to my surprise, the principal answered. I explained how I forgot to send the quarter he needed to buy popcorn, but that he could take money out of his lunch envelope to get it. I felt so stupid calling in like that. But then the principal said, "Thank you for calling. Things like popcorn day are such a big deal for the kids. We will make sure he gets the message." It made me feel so much better.

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  2. His little tears just broke my heart. That poor little guy...I know the next day will be so much better though!

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  3. Ohhh, poor little thing. It amazes me how tender they are. How some of the smallest of things are so huge to them. I'm glad you found out what happened--it may have been a long year otherwise.

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  4. Oh poor Lucas!!! I hope the next lunch buy day goes smoothly!

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  5. Poor guy! It must have been so confusing for him! I'm glad you figured out why it happened, though, and I know he'll have a great lunch today!

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  6. I'd cry too if I didn't get lunch. Seems like they could have done SOMETHING to help him get food. Hope it gets better from here on out.

    I agree about the new adventure for both child and mom. That's how I feel about Ethan riding the bus!

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  7. ps- your "about me" picture is really pretty!

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  8. So sad! I about teared up just reading about his lunch experience. Here's hoping to a better second day!

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  9. Oh my gosh. My heart is breaking for him! I know it was all a misunderstanding, but how could you let a little 1st grader go without lunch?!

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  10. OH, that is so sad! But I have never heard of taking a snack to school. That's a good idea.

    School starts super early. We don't start till after Labor Day. I can't wait for it to start. I'll have two in school. 1st grade and kindergarten. Really, can't wait. LOL!

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  11. Wow I can't believe school has started for you guys already! Oh I wanted to cry reading the part about lunch! Poor guy!!

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  12. Oh no, I gasped when I read he didn't get his lunch..poor boy, that just makes my heart hurt. I'm glad you called the school and I hope he never has to experience that again!

    Not a good first day!

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  13. I had no idea the other school made you guys leave. They did that to us in VA. It made me so mad! GRRR. They are so much more relaxed here. I love it! They are little kids for goodness sakes. Glad you got to go with him this time. I hope his next lunch buying experience goes better.

    I got an email from Ryan's new teacher and she said that we should label snacks from lunch to avoid confusion. I thought that was funny and that it must have happened many times before.

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  14. Oh poor sweet Lucas - I hope day 2 is much better! I'm glad you were able to stay and that you grabbed those cute photos!

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  15. Awww sweet little guy. Made me so sad to think about that lunch. It's all learning experiences.
    I hope 1st grade is a wonderful year for him!!

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  16. That's so sad! I'm glad it was just a misunderstanding though. It would be so sad if they ran out of food for the kids and let them go home without eating!

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  17. Poor little guy...1st grade is WAY harder than kindergarten...in my opinion. I hope he has better days soon! And you too!! What is up with the traffic situation?! That stinks!

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  18. Hey Emmy, thanks for your comment on my blog. I know there is nothing anyone can say or do to make things start going better for us, but the fact that you cared enough to read my blog and comment means tons to me. Especially since my blogs always end up being so long! Thanks again!

    (By the way, I don't usually post responses to comments on my own blog, because I'm not always sure if the person who I'm responding to will get a notification or go back to check the post again. That's why I always post my responses to your comments on your blog.)

    =)

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  19. Those kinds of things are just so hard for kids! You are so good to recognize that. What a good mom.
    Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment.
    Sandy

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  20. :( That is so sad!
    I'm glad you could cheer him up by packing him an awesome lunch the next day! :)

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  21. Poor little guy! I hope his lunch the next day was fantastic!

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  22. Awww…that is a tough thing to face on the first day. I remember when my son was in first grade last year … I was convinced he wouldn't get any lunch either. I'm sure he'll be an old pro at it very soon.

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  23. I hope today went alot better. It makes me sad they couldnt get him anything.

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  24. OH MY GOODNESS, poor little guy! Glad that he's doing better.

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  25. Oh gosh! Did the 2nd hot lunch go better? Big hugs for Lucas, but hopefully all is forgotten by now!

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