First Day of School/Trauma!

Anna was so excited to finally get her turn to go to school. She started August 26th a day ahead of Ethan so she thought that was pretty great. She doesn't really need a backpack, but isn't that part of the fun of going to school-all the new gear? Not surprisingly she picked out a pink, princess backpack and loves it. I really like the preschool she is attending and it is just one street East of Ethan's school so also very convenient. Anna of course is very shy and hesitant to jump right in which always is so baffling to me since she is such a little spit fire at home. I thought it might be hard to leave her, but she entered with confidence and I left without tears. We are happy that she gets to have her school time and I am happy that I get a little time with just 2 kids at home with one usually napping.


Ethan started Kindergarten August 27th just 2 days before he turned 6. Yes I am one of those mothers who holds their child back so they can be the biggest and the best at everything :) Ethan was more than excited to get to school and when I offered to take him the first day(for my sake more than his) he enthusiastically denied my offer. I was quite surprised with how emotional I felt watching him ride away. Placing my trust in a stranger driving a bus kind of tipped the scale and made me realize all the more that he is getting older and more independent.

So when it was time for him to come home I arrived at the bus stop 20 minutes early just to make sure that should they arrive early I would be ready and waiting. The bus finally came and the children excitedly piled off. More and more children came and I kept waiting and watching, with camera ready mind you, so when the bus emptied and closed it's doors and drove away and Ethan hadn't ever come off... I began to PANIC!!! Where's Ethan??? At school? Another bus? With a friend who's parent may have picked him up? I wanted to cry and yell for help but knew I needed to stay calm until he was found. I rushed home to use the phone(no I don't have a cell phone, can you imagine...gasp here) I called the school and there was no answer. My fear only was 100x magnified at this point. I called the bus depot and practically yelled/cried into the phone "my son is in kindergarten and he didn't get off the bus" I was met with, "please hold". It was then that I saw a friend of mine coming down the street, so I frantically waved her over for nothing more than mere support at that point. Thankfully she said she was driving down her street(where we used to live) and the bus driver just happened to open her doors and asked my friend if she knew the last boy on her bus, and by sheer miracle she knew Ethan and told the driver where to take him. The bus soon came down my street with Ethan. I ran to the bus ready now to completely start bawling. I jumped on the bus prepared to cradle my poor scared son when Ethan slowly and very calmly walks down the aisle and says to me "Mom everything is fine, just fine. I didn't get "stolden" or anything and proceeded to jump off the bus. I was speechless. I of course then played 20 questions with the bus driver trying to find out what had happened. My visions of the best 1st day ever were quickly replaced with me just trying to calm myself down. I could hardly ask Ethan how his first day had gone. I was so grateful that in our family prayers that morning we specifically prayed that the children would be particularly watched over and kept safe. Wow, were my prayers answered. And, in the end everything was fine, just fine.

A picture of Ethan getting on the bus...not off!