One of these days, I am going to get a picture of this child where he is smiling with his eyes open. Until then, I refuse to stop taking or arguing about pictures. It is what it is :) I was so proud of these on their first morning at their new school. Both were up early and excited. Both were excited to pick out clothes (although Michael is wearing his "uniform shorts" in this picture). They were brave, more so than I ever expected.
Then we got to school. Emily was still excited, and Dad walked her to find her classroom while I took care of the not so excited brother. The school is twice the size. There more than double the number of students. I didn't have the heart to ask him how he felt, but I knew. I settled him in at his desk and said goodbye.. and he sat, staring into space, very unsure as to what would happen next. As I got to Em's classroom to say goodbye, I was so thrilled to see Audrey. Audrey is a girl that was on Emily's baseball team this past spring. It never occurred to me, because the team actually plays in another town, that Audrey was from town. All of the worry and anxiety drained out of Emily's face instantly. She was so happy to see a familiar face and could now relax. Any mom knows the feeling of relief I had in that moment. She was okay....
I wish I could say the same for Michael. I left the school in tears after checking in the window to see him with his arms crossed and head down. There he was, my little man, mad. I left not knowing how the day would end. Not knowing if I would be dealing with tears or anger. such is the life of a mom.
I picked them up at 2:45 to huge smiles and high fives ! When asked how school was, both were happy and ready to share all about their day. I was relieved. As I went through their folders later on, I found this adorable monster.
And this very honest hand. I saw it on his face when I left, I saw it in how he was sitting holding his hands together, in how he wouldn't say hello to any of the kids in the room. I couldn't ask him in that moment. I couldn't hear "mommy I'm scared" because quite frankly I was scared myself. I wanted to hug him and tell him it would be okay but I knew it would make it harder. So even though I didn't ask, I now know for sure how he felt in that moment, and am grateful that he had an opportunity to express it to me, even if it was at the end of the day in an adorably colored kissing hand :)
If only it could have been that simple... nope. On day 2, after another great day, the little man was a little overconfident in his physical capabilities and thought he could jump from 8 feet up. After some scary moments hearing "I'm going to die!" and "why did I do that? I'm not really smart!" and "I need to go to the hospital!", we went for some x-rays. Although it is not conclusively broken, he is in pain. He is on crutches.. It has been a challenge having him so limited as to what he can do.. but he has made the best of it only as Michael can. He hobbled all over my friends yard yesterday and convinced the big kids to take care of him.
So we start week two with a very happy 8 year old and hobbling not so scared any more 6 year old. Despite our emergency room excitement, it has been a great week and we are looking forward to next week going to school "unscared" and "un-new".
Life is good..
