Back in June, the summer seemed to stretch out ahead of us like the yellow brick road on the way to Oz. Like a lot of families I know, we relied on a patchwork of camps, vacation time, relatives, playdates and juggling with our fingers crossed to make sure that we could get some work done without leaving someone home alone chained to the radiator to keep them out of trouble.
.
Well, we survived the summer and even though school’s not officially back in session, the back-to-school frenzy has begun. The PTO emails are appearing in my inbox, the new backpacks are labeled, the forms have been filled out, and yesterday was the first in a series of back-to-school activities, Adlani’s bus orientation.
.
Adlani rode the bus to and from Summer Scene for 5 weeks this summer (I’m sure you remember the seat belt incident) but I figured that it wouldn’t hurt for him to hear the rules once again. He’s a sly little guy though…while I was chatting with my friends he sat next to his partner in crime, so while the principal was talking, so were they. My attempts to shush him had zero effect, and when I stepped it up a notch, so did he. After I climbed through to the next row and was using the ferocious-mommy-whisper tactic, Aliya’s kindergarten teacher calmly took him by the hand and led him away for a talk. When he came back to his seat he sat quietly for the rest of the presentation.
.
When the kids filed out and got onto the bus, Aliya’s teacher told me that she just asked him about whether he was looking forward to going to school, if he knew his teacher’s name, etc. Then he asked her if he could go back to his seat and she said, “Yes, and maybe we can talk again sometime.” She said she didn’t think he wanted to talk to her again and that’s why he was so well-behaved. This year is obviously going to be completely different from when Aliya started kindergarten. I’ll be relying heavily on the teachers to prevail where I’ve failed. I think they’re up to the task!
.
.
Oh yeah. That’s trouble right there:
Heading for the bus:
Back safe and sound:
.