1st Day of School

Wednesday - This was the Westbrook Garden Walk aka open house. I had planned to leave the house early to pick up some forms from the ped's office but somehow my cushion of time got eaten away with longer diaper changes and me forgetting the tuition check so I had to turn around. Grrr. I pulled up to the school right at 2:30p and luckily Denis had already arrived from work and came over to help unload the kids. We picked up some papers in the office and headed to Nikko's classroom but had to stop by the transportation table first. It was a new bus company called Grand Transit that was handling the routes this year. We had to fit Nikko with a harness in the event that his bus did not have five-point harnesses built into the seats (an older bus). Walking into Nikko's classroom was like a sigh of relief and I enjoyed seeing his teachers and their aides. Much like last year, Nikko would not look up long enough to have his picture taken and we spent a while trying to coax him. After signing up for November's parent/teacher conference we had to shuffle next door to meet Ronin's teachers, Mrs. Russell and Mrs. Hirsch. Ronin was playing with some trucks and the other two kids were wandering while I discussed Ronin's allergy plan with Mrs. Hirsch. More forms, another P/T conference date, and we were good to go. Ronin didn't seem too talkative and Nikko didn't act like he recognized any of his teachers. Audrey was very explorative and didn't complain one bit. Everything seemed to be in place except for the bus situation. The supervisor told me that they would call us in the evening for our route # and time of pickup. At 9pm I was told that the route was #18 and pickup time was 1:00p. I worked on a to-do list while filling out forms and fact sheets on the boys including putting diapers, labelled changes of clothing, and snacks for Ronin into their backpacks.

Thursday - 1st Day of School
My routine today, and every Tuesday-Friday will be this:
11:30 - Lunch
12:30 - Change clothes and diapers, and put Audrey down for a nap
12:50 - Socks & shoes, backpacks
12:55 - Go outside for bus
1:00 - Bus!

At 12:55 as we were about to walk out the door I glanced at the coat hooks and saw Nikko's harness sitting there. I scrambled to get it and started to put it on Nikko. He was angry and tried to slip his hands across his chest to get it off. I zipped it up the back and was getting frustrated with Nikko for trying to defeat the harness. While keeping an eye on the door I quickly snapped some pictures of the boys and then shoved us out into the remnant rain. Denis came home, thankfully again, and he kept us company. The twins apparently changed to the afternoon schedule as well, so their mom walked over to us and joined us on our wait for the bus at our driveway. The bus was 20 minutes late and I expected it to be. The supervisor came out to greet us. I asked her about Nikko's harness and she told me he didn't have to wear it on the bus so I eagerly stripped it off him. Ronin got on with Denis' help and we followed them. I put Nikko next to the window just like last year, buckled him in, and then Ronin was placed next to him. Ronin didn't seem to mind being near the aisle. I was even able to take a picture of them while the twins' mom was buckling them in. There were absolutely no tears from either kid. When I got off the bus I was giving high fives to Denis and the twins' mom, doing a silly happy dance that the seats had five-point harnesses so Nikko didn't have to wear the medieval one, and that Ronin did not have a meltdown once he sat on the bus. I almost didn't care that the bus was late except for the fact that the boys would start school late. After the bus left I went out to run errands since Audrey was napping and Denis was home. I went to the ped office to drop off yet another round of forms, these in particular regarding permission for Ronin to receive Benadryl or an Epi-Pen in the event of a reaction. I went to Target to get a cubby system for the kids' shoes, to clear our foyer just a bit. Then I ran to Costco for other provisions. While checking out of Costco the ped office called to say the paperwork was ready. Great! But I wasn't ready, it was already 3:30 and too tight to pick it up before the boys came home. Too bad I didn't know ahead of time that the bus would be 35 minutes late in dropping off the kids. When I got on the bus, I introduced myself to the bus driver, whose name was Veronica. She started telling me about how the bus was going to be late these first few days, but I told her I figured it would. I think she was reacting on the safe side because the twin's mom was furious that the bus was late. Nikko and Ronin had fallen asleep, heads lurched forward and dripping with sweat because there were only a few windows open. They woke up and were slow to get off the bus, but were relatively happy. I couldn't pry much information from Ronin because he just didn't reiterate how his day went. The communication sheet was missing from Ronin's backpack so I didn't know what they did. But Nikko's sheet was there and it said: Nikko had a great day! I will send pictures later today. And they did. I am so very relieved that Ronin didn't have any separation anxiety, wasn't scared of climbing onto the bus for the first time ever, and didn't complain about school. He stated that he had Triscuts for snack and was pretty thrilled. I put a box of it in his backpack since I have to supply his snacktime food. I'm sure the busses will be late again tomorrow, but I just hope they will be "less" late than today. I noticed in the three pictures emailed to me that in Nikko's class I saw two kids from his morning session, Dougyoung and Sofie. I'm glad that there are some familiar faces in the afternoon.