Back to School

Hmm.  Where is that bus?  It's what we all wondered for forty minutes this morning.  We were outside seven minutes before the scheduled pick-up and when it was obvious the bus was very late, I got busy signal after busy signal when I tried to call the bus company to see where it might be at.  It must have been at that moment, with A running in to get a sweater that the bus drove down the main street.  I got through to the school and realized the bus was already there and that our route had a new driver who no longer picks up outside our house even though that's what our itinerary indicated!  So . . .  it wasn't the best start to a new school year, but A goes with the flow so well.  I'd been feeling weird about not going to school with her on the first day, anyway, so at least I was able to.  Briefly met her teacher, too, as otherwise I wouldn't even know her name nor any of A's classmates - she's so hard to get any info out of about her school days.  Teenage years could really leave us out in the dark!

After getting A to her class, I popped up to the office for a form.  The Nursery (pre-K) classrooms are across from it and a teacher saw Ai and Iz standing there.  She kindly directed them into the classroom, having its open house, before I could get over to explain they don't belong there.  Her kind gesture brought on the challenge of 1. getting them out of there, twenty minutes later (!) and 2.  having Ai now determined to go to school.  Not just any school, but that particular classroom (as he had no idea school had such great toys, especially two totes of wooden train tracks!).  For pre-K, there are no French Immersion classes, and so we have to attend our direct catchment school for that.  Ai has resisted the thought of going to nursery this year (half-days, M-F) and so I'd assumed we wouldn't be pursuing.  This afternoon I had him in a fit when I explained we could go to Nursery but not at A's school.  Meanwhile, Iz was crying because she wants to go to school, too.  Poor girl.  So, possibly we will be on a new course sometime in the next week if A's school can make an exception or Ai will change his mind and accept an alternate school.  It would make me rather sad, as I'd looked forward to more time with Ai, still feeling that much of his childhood has been a blur.  Far less intentional than my preschool years with A had been . . .  I could see the schedule doing him much good, so I'll deal with my angst at potential time away from him once we see if it'll happen this year.  Either way, it should be fine.