On Friday, September 2, 2011 the girls had "Meet and Greet" at the school. They were able to go in to their classrooms and set up their desks and lockers, put away all of their school supplies, and meet their teachers. We started out in Chloe's room, meeting Miss Kulzyck, seeing Chloe's seat, checking out her locker. She was a little shy when we first came in but as she started seeing the other kids, along with the room and all of its toys and games she became much more excited. After Chloe's room we headed to Olivia's classroom where she met Ms. Carbonara. Livy was able to pick out her own seat. It turns out she picked a seat next to the other new kid in class so she had an immediate buddy! From there we headed to Ms. Buck's room for Tory. She made her own locker tag and set about organizing her desk. While speaking to Ms. Buck we found out that she herself is a grown-up Coastie Brat. Small world. I really think Tory couldn't have been more lucky in the teacher they chose for her. What a great way to start out at your third school than to have a teacher who moved ever 3 or so years as well?
The first day of school for Tory and Livy was Tuesday, Sept 6. They were so excited they were both awake well before my alarm went off. I asked Liv what time she woke up and she shrugged and replied "I'm not sure. But the first number was a 5!" Yeah....my alarm went off at 8 am. They ate, endured millions of pictures taken by me, then got on the bus. They both came home that afternoon totally jazzed about their new school and the friends they were already making!
The next day, Sept 7, was Chloe's first day of school. She was very excited as well and, like Livy, chose to get up much earlier than was necessary to start the day. I don't know what I expected from her exactly. I guess I was a little afraid that she would regress to the kid who, glued to my leg, screamed and cried because I wanted her to participate in T-ball. But, as it turns out, that kid is gone forever. We took pictures. She jumped around, asking how much longer til the bus arrived. When the bus did come, I tried to grab her for one last squeeze and a kiss but she ducked me and ran up the steps. Gone. She didn't even glance back or out the window.
It hit me when I walked back in to the house. The silence was overwhelming. The dog and cat were sleeping and all three kids were gone. I was ALONE. I heard each clock in the house ticking..."tick, tick, tick, toc, toc, toc". I drank my coffee without needing to warm it up. I watched the news without anyone begging to watch Bubble Guppies. I messed around on the computer, loading pictures up to Facebook. I went to the gym. I came home and cleaned the house. By then it was all of noon. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but for now all of this alone time strikes me as bizarre. When I stopped to think about it (which, let's face it, I have plenty of thinking time now!) I realized that I'd probably been completely without children for all of MAYBE 4 days in 9 years. I'll be glad when I can get back to school myself in the spring. Then maybe I won't feel so lost!
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