First day of school

Hey there!  Today was the first day of school.  Cute pics were taking of the children and they were sent off with shiny happy faces.  G started first grade this year and I was curious as to how the whole full day plus after school care would go.  When I picked them both up at 5 everyone was doing OK. (Yeah for small victories!)  On the walk to the car G began to fall apart.  I think she was holding herself together as best as she could all day and as soon as she knew the day was done the wheels fell off the wagon.  Well, they actually were kind of hurled from the wagon.  After being fashioned into a spear of some kind.  Metaphorically of course.

So, if you saw me in the parking lot today with my child standing outside the car screaming about wanting a drink of water RIGHT NOW you don't need to ask how my day went.  BUT, if you did ask, I would say it was really not a bad day overall.  Because while she was yelling and stomping and just plain being mad about being mad, I was sitting in the car.  With the air conditioning on.  Playing solitaire on my ipod.  I'm mean like that. 

Once the storm clouds passed she calmed down, apologized and we went home.  I sent her upstairs to shower, cooked dinner (breakfast for dinner!  A favorite around this house!) and my guess is we will both be asleep in about 15 minutes. 

This is the kind that won't get scrapbooked because I like to keep the illusion of the smiling-faces-all-the-time going in my albums, but I wanted to write it down.  To share it.  And to say, in the face of yelling and stomping, I kept my cool.  I didn't yell back.  I didn't hiss at her with clenched teeth.  I let her do what she needed to do, while I did what I needed to do.  Not surprisingly, after her tantrum passed,  I felt much better than I usually do at the end of these exchanges.  I guess everyone has the chance to learn something on the first day of school.


P.S. Not to short-change him in terms of blog fodder, P had a great, drama free day at school!