First week of first grade follies

Back to school time! Luke and I have both been excited for school to start, and this week the wait was finally over. The week was so "eventful" that I thought it was worth a recap for all of our friends and family.

Monday: We started our first week with Back to School Night on Monday evening. We got to the school just in time to hear the principal give her "welcome" and school rules presentation. After that presentation the time had finally arrived go to the first grade area, find Luke's locker and classroom, and meet his new teacher. With great anticipation we found Luke's seat and met the students that sat at his table. Luke was very excited to see that one of his classmates from Kindergarten was sitting right next to him. I was less excited than Luke because it happened to be a girl that Luke said he thought was cute. I hoped this would not prove to be too much of a problem. Let's face it, Luke can be easily distracted by a cute face and a little conversation! There was a stack of papers on Luke desk that I was busily filling out while the teacher spoke to us all about the class responsibilities and rules. Luke was even given a "star student" train poster to complete as homework for the first week. Homework before school even started? Oh well, nothing like jumping right in with both feet.

Tuesday: The big day! Luke was up bright and early and we got dressed, ate breakfast, packed his lunch bag, and got out of the door early enough to take some pictures before the bus came. Luke jumped right on the bus and was gone. I could hardly wait until he got home so I could hear all about his day. He loves to talk and I just knew that he would have quite a story to tell upon arrival. I couldn't have been more wrong. When he got home I asked him to tell me all about his first day. He looked at me and said, "I really don't remember much." I tried to extract the details by asking if they read any books, did and worksheets, who he sat by on the bus and at lunch, what he did at recess, etc., etc. Luke simply grumbled something about not having a good remembering brain. What? I reminded him that he can talk to me for and HOUR about all that happened in this week's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle episode, so I knew that he tell me something about his day! Again more grumbling and claims of not remembering. I sent him to his bed to think about things and told him that I was going to ask him everyday about school, so he better try to remember things!

Once he came out of his room he did provide a few scant details about what he had done at school. During our conversation about lunch I realized we had a problem. If you know Luke, you know that he is possibly the SLOWEST eater around. He told me that after he finished his lunch he asked a girl (later details emerged that it was the principal) what he should. She told him to put his lunch bag in his locker and go out to recess. With lunch bag put away, he headed outside only to find that he was the only first-grader out there. A few minutes later his teacher came out to find him because he was suppose to be in class! He had taken so much time to eat that recess was over and class had already begun. Great, now the teacher must think he is a total space cadet. I did my best to nicely encourage Luke to eat lunch a little faster and pay attention to the kids around him to see when all the other kids in his class were finished eating. Okay, not the best first day, but I was sure that Luke would be able to make up for his first day error and prove to be the model student I know his is.

Wednesday: Surprisingly I miss Luke while he is at school. Even though I still have two at home I was really looking forward to Luke coming home so I could talk to him about his day. He came busting through the door and this time was able to have a conversation about school without being sent to time out to think. Class, lunch, bus rides, recess, and even P.E. All seems to have gone without a hitch. A little while later I got a phone call to inform me that during recess Luke has been spotted holding hands and kissing a girl! Actually the girl was said to have kissed Luke, but one way or the other supposedly kissing had occurred. Although I didn't really think this escapade sounded like something Luke would do, I called him in for questioning. He denied all of the allegations, but confessed to chasing the said girl around during recess (his favorite activity). I decided to take his word for it because I really don't think that Luke would be holding hand and kissing girls. He is pretty shy (as he always tells me).

I decided to get his old yearbook out and look up the girl who was involved in the recess incident and found her to be pretty cute (a little red-head), so if it is true at least he has good taste. Luke then started looking through his yearbook to see the pictures of the kids who are in his class. I looked over at him and found that he was kissing someone's picture! I asked him who he was kissing and he told me...Mrs. Schumann, his teacher. Again, good taste. She is a cute, skinny, mid-twenties, little thing.

Thursday: After another busy morning of getting ready for school while taking care of all the kids I sent Luke out the door just in time to catch the bus, or so I thought. I watched out of the window for the bus to pass, and never saw it go by. I walked out of the driveway and found Luke still standing there waiting for the bus that we obviously missed. I quickly threw clothes on myself and Noah (sorry Eli you got to go in pajamas) and jumped in the car to get Luke to school in time. Note to self; the bus comes earlier than the "schedule" they sent home said it would.

I was lounging on the bed with Noah and Eli around the time that Luke should have been getting home, when I looked at the clock and made a mental note that he was 8 minutes later than he was the day before. It was time to feed Eli so I sat down and fed him and waited for Luke to come home. When I was finished feeding the baby and Luke still wasn't home I started to get concerned. I called Billie Jo to ask her if she thought I should be worried and she said I should call the district office and have them radio the bus to see if he was on it. I decided that before I made the phone call I could walk over to the neighbor's house to see if he went there to play instead of coming home. No one was even home at the neighbor's house and I started to get more and more worried about where Luke could be. As I was walking down their driveway I saw a bus finally come pulling up. Luke got off, but I noticed that there weren't any other kids on the bus. I hurried to the bus and found out that Luke had gotten on the wrong bus at the school and so he had to stay on the bus until the route was finished and the driver could bring him home. I figure that Luke would be pretty upset by this, so when I talked to him about what happened I tried to be as nice as possible as I explained the importance of paying attention to what bus he was getting on. Luke swears that he was standing in the right line by some of his friend that ride his bus, but somehow he ended up on the wrong bus. In his defense, the bus driver of the WRONG bus was his driver last year so he probably didn't think anything of it when he got on and saw her in the driver's seat. By the end of our conversation Luke was crying and informed me that he needed some time alone. Didn't he just have quite a long bus ride alone? Oh well. I let him lay on my bed and watch some cartoons, which seemed to make everything better.

Friday: Our last chance to have a day without any problems. As I was reading through Luke's planner I saw that for homework his "star student" train poster was due. Oops. Someone's parents forgot to even bring it home on Back to School Night. I quickly wrote a note to Luke's teacher explaining why Luke didn't have his FIRST assignment completed! So much for being the model student. It was just a small glitch, and considering the week we had just had I figured it could've been much worse. What an eventful week of first grade. I hope the next 9 months are a little less "eventful".