Baylor's First Day of Kindergarten: During and After School

With Baylor away at school, Mollie and I were a little adrift today.  While we were at home I was basically trying to keep myself from sobbing the morning away, so it was nice to be able to get out of the house and head to my parents' abode for a while.  My mom wanted to go out to get some mums to plant, so Mollie and I tagged along to take our mind off things and away from the empty spot in the car.

When we got back, Mollie helped Mom unload the car ...

... and water the new flowers.

Then we came inside, and Mollie did a few puzzles before lunch.  Well, she spun this one around anyway.

After lunch and a fitful "nap time", we headed over to Baylor's school, picking up some donuts at Robinette's on the way.  While we were at Robinette's I got a call from his school; it was the principal just calling to let me know how Baylor's day went and that all was well.  That was a relief, though I knew I would only truly feel better when I saw him with my own two eyes.

We got to school twenty minutes early but were already eighth or ninth in line.  And when the time did come, the line didn't move for the longest time.  It was really chaotic and made me feel pretty anxious about finding him before he started to feel like I wasn't there, but then we spotted him, his Batman shirt shining in the sunlight like the bat signal, and I felt better.  After a few more minutes we made it up to him and I hopped out of the car into an enormous, twirl-him-in-the-air hug with tons of smiles; hands down, it was the best feeling of the day.

Once we got him strapped in, he started to get upset and sad, and he said he already missed "her".  When we asked who that was, he said, "Mrs. Murphy, my teacher.  I already miss her."  And with that I knew that school had gone at least moderately well.  From then on he perked up and told us all about school: how they went on a scavenger hunt around the school with Pete the Cat, how they learned about the number one, how he ate his lunch, how he likes both the teachers in his room.  His only complaint was that he didn't like the outside part of school, a.k.a., recess.  He said, "I didn't play with anyone.  I just sat there."  I knew this would be the toughest part for him, and we're ready to work on it to make all of school great for him.

The instant we got home he requested to do some Legos.  But don't start thinking that he went quiet on us; no, no, he talked and talked and talked the whole afternoon and into the evening.

After he talked his way through dinner, he got to play Lego castle with Bryson and Mollie.  Then we read some books, two downstairs and one upstairs, and got ready for bed.

Unfortunately, the books did not exactly have a calming effect on the kids tonight.

It was a lot of time without each other so I think they were just soaking it all in before bed. While we had them both in bed by 8:00, Baylor didn't end up falling asleep until about 9:10; he was talking, talking, talking to himself and needed to go to the bathroom twice before he finally was able to get some shut-eye.  (This isn't surprising, though, as he didn't go to the bathroom at all today until AFTER he got home from school.)

He seems moderately excited to go back to school tomorrow, so there is hope for the morning, though I know he'll be an hour behind on sleep, something that never wears well on him.  Fingers crossed for a good day tomorrow!