Today was the first day that both girls had to go to school – albeit an hour later than usual for Julia, and only a 90-minute preschool orientation for Genevieve. Still and all: they were wrecked when I arrived home, just after a screaming/hitting fight (and consequent time-outs) over some toys.
In the scant time I had with them before they went peeplessly to bed at 6:45, each girl had at least a couple exhaustion-induced meltdowns. Vivi cried, for instance, because we ran out of jam at dinner and because I unthinkingly wrote a “Z” down where she had written the letter backwards. Julia simply fulminated about everything (even rolling her eyes!), and told me (for the second night in a row) that she didn’t want to go back to first grade because it was too tiring. This came after telling me a dozen or so funny anecdotes about the day, so it was clearly the tired talking.
Throughout all that, though, Julia played school with her Little People toys, openly and adorably processing the new experiences of first grade. She named the bus driver, the teacher, the “recess guard”/librarian, and all the kids, and she put all the kids through her full day of activities, from “greetings on the rug” to “lineup for bus 14.” Had I taped her playing, we would have had a 1/10-scale replica of her first-grade day. The day ended with the kids being dropped off at home – and then Daddy coming home from his job (“where he just sat at a desk all day”) and being late for dinner.
Point taken, kid.
4 responses so far ↓
1 gae // Sep 8, 2010 at 8:23 pm
lol. how many times can i say how much I love the wit and wide-eyed adoration with which you recount your girls’ days…?
I love it.
2 Mary S. // Sep 9, 2010 at 9:28 am
First grade is such a huge change for little ones — very stimulating and exhausting at the same time. I remember asking the daughter of a friend how her first day of first grade went. She sighed deeply and said, “I thought it would never end.”
3 Shannon // Sep 9, 2010 at 9:48 am
OMG, Mary S.’s anecdote is hilarious! I laughed out loud!
4 Mnmom // Sep 9, 2010 at 4:29 pm
Too funny! My girls, who you’d think would have outgrown such, had their own fight with a couple of shoulder punches. I think it was “the tired” happening here too.
Love how little kids process their lives through play. And Mary S’s story was adorable!!
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