Surviving First Week of School

It's Friday (Thank GOD!). The children have all finished a week of school and everyone's still standing. Not necessarily a sign of things to come, though. I mean, come on, this week was the "fun" week, the I-can't-wait-to-see-my-friends week, the easy-cuz-it's-all-review week....Nevertheless, it was as good a week as one can hope for when getting back into the structure of the school schedule. We had a few glitches and still have a few things to hammer out, and I'm hoping to catch them now before the glitches deteriorate into the school insanity and I begin pulling my hair out looking forward to the holiday break when we are temporarily relieved of the schedule - sort of.

Monday was a nice easy day. Two hours of school on the first day, and Girl and SmallBoy were done. Piece of cake. Only thing difficult that day was making sure that Girl had taken off her nail polish so she wouldn't get busted by the "uniform police". Tuesday - easy enough. Everyone was up, dressed, and ready to roll. Lunches were made the night before and remembered in the out-the-door run. Wednesday. Ha! I knew it had to start sooner or later and Wednesday was the day. LargeBoy still gets a ride from me in the morning. I know, I said I'd make him take the bus, but it's literally 4 blocks from my office, so it's on my way and then I know he got to school on time. Wednesday morning, I rolled out of bed at my usual time, still not adjusted to the fact that I lose 20minutes of prep time making sure that the children are all up. SmallBoy was sleeping, and I heard noises downstairs, so I assumed that the first floor crew of Girl and LargeBoy was up. I continued my morning routine and made it downstairs about 5 minutes earlier than usual. Thankfully I was running early, cuz LargeBoy was not up yet...still blowing Zzzzzzs downstairs in his room.

"Uh, LargeBoy..."

"Grzlmbbpllf"

"LargeBoy. It's time to leave. Are you planning on getting up sometime soon?"

"Frmfkzll...pfflll...Huh? What? CRAP! Hold on."

Fortunately, LargeBoy had been diligent in collecting his things for the day and we were able to get out the door on time. That's the beauty of boys. They roll out of bed, throw on a shirt and pants and, aside from the lack of consciousness, they're ready to go. He got to school and I got to work on time. Mission accomplished. Wednesday night, "LargeBoy, set your alarm."

"Yeah, Mom. I will."

"Ok. Well do me a favor and come upstairs when you get up so that I know you're awake."

"'K."

Morning comes and this time I woke up five minutes before we had to leave. Thank God for ponytails. I still had to wake up SmallBoy, who decided then that he wanted to wear the pants that were too short because they fit better at the waist than his other pants. Oh, wait...wasn't LargeBoy supposed to come up and let me know when he woke up? CRAP! Yup, so I had had to run down the stairs, losing another precious 30seconds. Thankfully, he was up and dressed and in the kitchen. Last night the conversation went a little like this, "LargeBoy, set your alarm."

"Yeah, Mom. I will."

"Ok. Well, do me a favor and come upstairs when you get up to make sure I'm awake."

"'K."

SOOOOOO.....I dragged myself out of bed on time this morning, woke up SmallBoy, and managed to be ready to go right on time today. As I walked down the stairs I heard an all too familiar sound. Nothing. Silence. Quietude. Oh that was a bad thing. Not only was LargeBoy asleep still, but Girl was out cold. She is ALWAYS up and getting ready with her music on. She's almost always completely ready to go well before I am. Hmmm (Meem, that was for you..tee heee). Run around run around. "LARGEBOY!!!!!! GET UP!!!!!! TIME TO GO!!!!!!"

"Grmffgckl."

"LARGEBOY NOW!!!!"

He did it. Came up the stairs not two minutes later completely dressed, backpack in hand, shoes on - and on the right feet too, mind you, and we were out the door.

Tonight everyone is in bed early. We're talking 8:00. Obviously we're tired, but tomorrow morning we're Michigan bound at 6:00am...latest! We're back early Sunday so that PC and I can make the Jimmy Buffett concert by 6pm. CAN'T WAIT!

Other than the Wakin' Up Blues, we had a pretty decent first week. No one forgot their keys, LargeBoy only forgot his ID once, no lunches were left behind, and SmallBoy thought he had forgotten his homework folder, but as he discovered that night, it had camouflaged itself in his backpack (note to self: change folder to different color than backpack - preferably something BRIGHT), sports schedules were worked out between the siblings and all has gone well. I will be shocked - in a good way - if next week goes this smoothly. Now that the novelty has worn off, I think things will change. I'd love to hear your first week of school stories.