First Days

, yesterday was the kids' first day of school. They had orientation on Tuesday, where we met the classroom and teachers.

Just before leaving for orientation

Standing next to their "ready for school checklists"

Corbin, sitting in his chair at his table in his classroom

Brooke playing in her classroom

Corbin (right) plays on the "see saw" (it doesn't move at all) with Ryli (left) while Brooke watches from the playground (far back). [No clue who the kid in the middle is.]

The first day of school was eventful. For all of us. I made sure to follow our routine, and everyone got everything taken care of in the morning before school started. I had a lunch made for Corbin in the fridge. I may have purchased a lunch or two, but I still haven't gotten Corbin's PIN for school, so I can't set up the prepay for his lunches.

I did leave a note in Corbin's lunch for him, telling him that his dad and I love him, and that we hope he's having a great first day of school. I made sure to use words that I was sure he could read, but I guess he still had someone read it to him. A teacher in the cafeteria asked him if he needed help reading it.

Last night I asked him if he missed me at all, and he said, "Yeah, a little." That's something that we kind of say to each other. "I'll miss you a little bit." I don't want him to feel sad that I'm missing him, but I want him to know that I think about him when he's gone. So I say, "I'll miss you a little, but I'll be happy that you're having fun."

So he said he missed me a little, and then he said, "I missed you when I read your note at lunch." And I said, "But you're happy that you got a note, right?" He said, "Yeah, I liked it." So I sent another note in his lunch today that said, "Corbin, you are the best. Love Mom." Hopefully it's short enough that he'll get it on his own.

Brooke had a relatively good day. She finally understood that Corbin would be going without her in the morning and that she wouldn't be getting on the bus. She was really okay except for one very brief moment just before we went out to wait for the bus, she started to tear up quite a bit and hugged her brother. He told her, "I know. I know you want to ride the bus." But she really didn't get too overly dramatic about it. It was about 2 minutes and then she stopped.

I took pictures in the morning.

And because I'm having trouble just putting the picture in, here's some text, first.

Corbin, ready for school

Both kids, ready for school

Waiting for the bus

And finally...

One last hug before he boards the bus for Kindergarten

I held it together long enough to get Brooke inside, and situated in front of the TV, and I told her that I had to go in my room for a minute and then I lost it, bad. I called Tim and I guess he really thought something bad happened to one of the kids until I said, "everyone is fine." It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be.

I did take a video of him getting on the bus, but I messed it up when I was unloading it. A friend online is going to try to help me get it up and running, and then I'll post it IF we can get it working. ::crosses fingers!::

Once I got myself together, Brooke and I watched a little TV, then did homeschool, which was weird without Corbin. Everything felt very weird without Corbin. I know it sounds melodramatic, but the only way I could describe it is like if I cut off my arm and gave it away to a stranger for most of the day, for most of the week, for most of the rest of my life. It feels very bizarre without him here.

Anyway, we did homeschool, and I was able to focus on Brooke alone for probably the first time EVER. She enjoyed it. We are working on phonics now, as well as writing. She does some sort of counting each day. Sometimes it's just trading pennies or dominoes back and forth. "How many do we have? Now give me three. Now how many do you have?" That kind of thing. Then we're doing cutting with the scissors which she's getting good at.

For lunch we had refried beans and sour cream for our Triscuits, which she thought was The Best Lunch Ever. :n) Tim says I'm making a lot of BLE's lately. :n)

I underestimated the time it would take me to get to the school for her, so I was there about 2 minutes late and the doors were locked. I left 20 minutes before school ended to get there on time to pick them up. Brooke was busy playing on the playground and didn't even noticed I'd arrived until the teacher told her to come to me.

Corbin's class came out and he saw me and started to run towards me. His teacher snapped her fingers at him and said, "YOU! NO! You do NOT get out of LINE!" It bothered me that she was so harsh with him on his first day, but Tim thinks she was being strict in a serious situation, because buses were loading. Then she tried to put him on his bus to go home, and I had to intervene and say he's not supposed to get on the bus. I called the bus garage and they said it was fine, and they never told me that I had to write a note. So I had to go to the office and write a note.

I don't like his teacher, but hopefully it's just a bad impression and she's really nice. Corbin seems to like her. I told both kids that if anyone is mean to them, another boy, another girl or a teacher or anyone, that they can tell me and they won't be in trouble. But both kids enjoyed their days.

Brooke did NOT want anyone to talk to Corbin after school though. She was quite jealous. Even though she really didn't have much to say. In fact, I made it a point to ask her about her day first, and at length, but whenever I asked her anything she gave me very brief answers. So finally I asked Corbin about his day and he started talking and she got SO huffy about it. She said, "I want to talk to you right now!" I told her that we have to take turns. She didn't care about that.

Then after we were home, she wanted her daddy. She's been like that lately; she's all about having her daddy. So he got home and I told him to ask her about her day at length first, which he did. Then he asked Corbin and she got mad about it. I said, "She's very jealous, she doesn't want anyone to talk to Corbin." She said, "That's right. I only want Brookey attention. NO Corbin attention." It was really hard not to laugh at that. lol Except that she was SO serious!

After that, we all went to McDonalds (ew) for dinner with my parents, and the kids enjoyed themselves. Brooke seems a bit better mannered today... so I'm hoping we'll all have a good day again. It's going to take some getting used to....