We are putting the finishing touches on our first week of school here at our house. While I write this, Auburn naps, Gerret is away at nursery school, and Nolan is accomplishing his fifth day of first grade.
Nolan, who is a professional by now, was looking forward to first grade, despite the fact that not one of his friends from last year are in this year's class. He led us to his classroom Monday where we met his teacher, who seems like a kind one. His favorite thing each day this week has been playing with his "old friends" on the playground. Hopefully he'll be quick about making some new friends, because you know, one is silver and the other's gold.
Nolan has fully prepped his brother, who is attending his alma mater. "You'll make your own friends, Gerret! And lots of projects! And learn songs! Oh! And Gerret, there are toys!" At this point he would start listing all the toys he could remember from his days at nursery school and Gerret would pepper the list with happy exclamations. "Oh!" "Yay!" and "Yipee!" Somehow in Nolan's joyful reminiscing, he always omitted the part about his staunch four-year-old reluctance, even trepidation to actually go to nursery school. Maybe he has forgotten how he used to cry and cling to my legs when it came time for me to leave or how some days I would have to coax him into the front door when he would stop stubbornly on the threshold. Maybe he was simply dedicated to his job of pumping his brother up and purposely overlooked his own nursery school hang-ups. Whatever the case, Nolan took the role of cheerleader seriously and was dang good at it.
This exuberant encouragement went on for weeks leading up to September. Nolan's hope for Gerret to love school as much as he (supposedly) did, spurred Gerret's courageous anticipation. The first day, Monday this past week, was all excitement. Gerret said a friendly "hi" to everyone, found his hook, and was gone into a room full of toys and books. He didn't look back.
We found him outside at the end of the school day, digging in sand with a handful of nameless friends (having friends is nice, but their names are completely unimportant when you are four). He announced that he didn't want to leave. I considered that a success.
His excitement carried him to day two of nursery school, but not entirely through the day. His teacher told me that he would go out to his hook and stand by his backpack periodically looking a little forlorn. When I asked him about it, he told me that sometimes he missed me, but that he still had fun at school. I held my breath for day three. That's today.
He came downstairs this morning and announced that he would not be attending school today. I happen to have more willpower than him, especially because we pay for him to attend this school, so he is, in fact, in attendance today. He didn't go without some struggles though. He told me numerous times on the drive to his school that he did not want to go and then presented a glib refusal to get out of the car upon arrival. He did eventually get out, but proceeded to demonstrate his disgust on our walk down the sidewalk to the entrance, at which point he stopped moving. He held a statuesque position in the threshold, just like Nolan.
I can be tough. I don't know if that's good or bad, maybe sometimes good and sometimes bad. (Actually, I think the only bad thing is my inconsistency, but sometimes I'm just too tired to enforce some rules.) Anyway, I wasn't too tired today, so I made Gerret go to school. I forced him through the threshold, down the steps, and into Miss Debbie's welcoming arms. Three days in.
Heaven help us get through this school year.
