I have spent the last two weeks laminating, cutting, hot gluing, printing, copying, cleaning, and organizing from basically dawn until dusk getting my classroom and myself ready for Open House and the first day of school. Open House was last week and it went well. I’m so thankful for all the families who came to meet me and to see our classroom. The kids are so sweet, of course!, and I can’t wait to see them again tomorrow morning!

So am I ready for my first day of school????

Yes! Totally.

And that does not mean that I think my classroom or my lesson plans are perfect – I know they’re not! And it doesn’t mean that I think the day will go perfectly – of course it won’t! But if the past 4 years of being a stay-at-home-mama to these two surprisingly special boys has taught me anything, it has taught me that I have the ability to face the unexpected and roll with it.

So bring on the first week of school!!!

Calvin and Henry’s first day of school will be Friday, so they have another 4 days to hang at home with our nanny.

And are we ready for their first day????

Well, to be honest, Henry has no idea what’s coming. It will be a whole new experience for him. But I do think he’s ready. His teachers are great, he did well in group speech last year which was in a preschool-type setting, and he has been doing awesome with his new nanny. Even though I still have to remind my self about every five minutes that he is not a little baby anymore! That he is in fact a big boy!! *sniff! sniff!* I know that he’s got emergent skills that his teachers will help him build on, I know he’s curious and wants to learn, and I know he’s resilient and he will be able to adjust to this big change of going to school.

The thing that worries me the most at the moment about sending Henry to school is that he will be riding the school bus with out me or his dad or his nanny or even his brother. Henry isn’t able to come to my school with Calvin because our school doesn’t have a special ed pre-k class. So he’s off to his own school and he’ll have to ride the bus. And the thought of my little guy strapped into his safety seat on the school bus all by himself makes me feel scared and sad for him. But I know that James will be there to get him safely onto the bus and I know that his teacher will be there to greet him and help him safely off the bus at school, and in the afternoons I know his nanny will be there to greet him and help him safely off the bus at home. I just hope the other kids on the bus are kind to him and I hope he isn’t scared. Knowing Henry, he will probably zone out and enjoy the movement of the bus and the view out the window and hopefully that will be stimulating enough to keep him from feeling worried. And like everything else about school, I think he will get used to it after the first few times. I have to remind myself that the scared and sad feelings about him being “alone” on the bus are my feelings, not his, and that chances are he will do just fine from the start.

As for Calvin, I think he’s totally ready. I brought him in to meet his teacher and see his classroom last week and he was totally chill and not a bit nervous or hesitant. He shook his teachers’ hands and sat down to do some coloring and puzzles while I filled out some paperwork. He even talked to some of the other kids there. I know he has work to do to overcome his speech challenges, but I also know that he is good at figuring out ways to make himself understood. He’s independent and clever, and he loves making friends and playing with other kids. It never ceases to amaze me how he manages to do that even when they can’t understand a word he is saying. I fully believe in this kid. I know he will do great.

I think my challenge with sending Calvin to school will be to not bug his teacher all the time with questions about how his day went! And to stop myself from going to peek in on him during my breaks!

It’s a big week and I think it’ll be a good one. Wish us luck!!