Change Is In the Air

 

So these were the first words Darcy uttered to me as she hopped in the van when I picked her up from her first day of school yesterday: "Mommy, I made twelve friends today!" She then proceeded to name each and every one, as Darcy is prone to do. Tyler, for his part, said he'd made two friends which, when you think about it, sounds just about right--boys probably make one friend for every six friends that a girl makes. Why are girls so eager to embrace one another (at least girls under the age of ten), while boys sort of circle around one another, sizing one another up before extending the full hand of friendship?

Tyler was nonplussed by the disparity in the number of friends made and I know exactly why: Because boys are just different, that's why! He told me his favorite part of the day was P.E. (not surprisingly) because you know how boys are when they all get together to play games--you don't have to know someone's name to play and have fun with them! They played kickball and I know Tyler thought he'd died and gone to heaven to have so many kids to play with, and none of them quit on him before he was ready to!

So what did I do with my day, you ask? Well, I'm still responsible for Peyton and Sawyer, obviously, but with a shorter school day I have a little more flexibility; SO, when Lori asked if Tracy and I could come to breakfast after dropping the kids off at school, I said, "Why sure!" We went to Cracker Barrel and celebrated the first day of school in the new year, but I am convinced the main reason Lori suggested the outing was because she knew I just might need a little encouragement after sending two of my offspring out into the big, scary world of private school!

I must admit, as excited as ALL of us were for this day to arrive, it was perhaps tougher on me than I had anticipated. First off, Tyler, who has long been my "sensitive" child, got my emotions churning when he sought out Sawyer (not knowing that Sawyer would be coming with us) to tell him good-bye. I still can't talk about this without crying. Tyler got down on his knees, took Sawyer's face in his hands and said, "Well, this is it, buddy. I've got to go to school so we won't see each other all day. Give me a hug." I had to turn away to stop myself from blubbering. Later, I asked Randy to take a picture of me with the kids and he asked why, and when I said, "Because this is the first day that I won't be their teacher," I got all choked up.

I kept an eye on the clock all day and could not wait to pick the kids up and find out how their first day went. And that brings us back to the first paragraph of this entry, and the multitude of friends. We hit Happy Hour at Sonic and got half-price cherry limeades to celebrate the completion of the first day of school (Tracy, Sam and Brennan piled into our van to catch all the details as well), and then after running a couple of errands we headed home to do HOMEWORK!

Homework is a new concept for my kids, for obvious reasons. And I will state right here and now that Tyler was stressed, and that made ME stressed. I wanted so much to reassure him and let him know that he wouldn't always feel the way he was feeling in that moment, but I also had another comment of his running through my mind: "Mom, I'm excited about going to school, but I'm going to miss homeschooling because I'm going to miss being with you all day." What more could a mother ask for?

Anyway, back to homework. Today when school got out he went straight to Brennan's basketball game so he didn't get home until about 6:00. As luck would have it, we were just sitting down to dinner so he made it just in time. And afterwards, he said he wanted to do his homework and get it over with so it wouldn't be hanging over his head all weekend--that's my boy! All told it took him about an hour to finish while I cleaned up the kitchen, and then I noticed something interesting: Where I thought he would either drift upstairs and maybe watch some TV or ask to play on the XBox or something, he just sat at the table making small talk. After a minute he walked over to my side of the kitchen and sort of followed me as I walked back and forth, putting things away and tidying up, then he followed me into my bedroom as I carried in some laundry and started folding it, talking all the while. I smiled inwardly as I realized that he was obviously craving time with me, but it humbled me too. I do so love that boy.

This transition has been tough on Sawyer, too. Yesterday he did pretty well but today, around 11:00 when I was deeply involved with Peyton, he came padding in and said, "Mom, can we go pick up Tyler and Darcy now? I'm ready for them to come home." Somebody pass me the Kleenex.