At the end of each school day, I expected Hannah to be overwhelmed, beyond crabby and wanting space from her number one fan, Adelaide. I had a list of distractions a mile long in an attempt to keep the peace each day before bedtime.
But then school started, and I don't know what on earth they did with my Hannah! Alien abduction, perhaps? She bounces off the bus, smiling ear to ear, and invites everyone at the bus stop (which consists of SEVERAL kids) to our house to play and have an after-school snack. It's as if she's morphed into this sorority girl! Here I was worrying about all these trivial things like making sure she gets on the right bus, finds her way in the wide, wide world, blah, blah, blah. But apparently, she's switched from, Most Likely to be Living with Your Mother at 40 to Miss Congeniality!
When she came home the first day, she talked of tapping fellow classmates on their heads to get their attention, then leaning over to ask if they wanted to be her friend. Ha! I find this hard to believe coming from the girl who spends more time with her face buried in my legs than actually conversing with strangers! She also said she winked at fellow t-ball players she recognized from her team this summer. Winked? WHO IS THIS GIRL?! I'm even shocked she recognized anyone from t-ball as most games were spent either sobbing uncontrollably or tightly clenching my hand as I tried in vain to drag her tiny little body into the ready position.
But then school started, and I don't know what on earth they did with my Hannah! Alien abduction, perhaps? She bounces off the bus, smiling ear to ear, and invites everyone at the bus stop (which consists of SEVERAL kids) to our house to play and have an after-school snack. It's as if she's morphed into this sorority girl! Here I was worrying about all these trivial things like making sure she gets on the right bus, finds her way in the wide, wide world, blah, blah, blah. But apparently, she's switched from, Most Likely to be Living with Your Mother at 40 to Miss Congeniality!
When she came home the first day, she talked of tapping fellow classmates on their heads to get their attention, then leaning over to ask if they wanted to be her friend. Ha! I find this hard to believe coming from the girl who spends more time with her face buried in my legs than actually conversing with strangers! She also said she winked at fellow t-ball players she recognized from her team this summer. Winked? WHO IS THIS GIRL?! I'm even shocked she recognized anyone from t-ball as most games were spent either sobbing uncontrollably or tightly clenching my hand as I tried in vain to drag her tiny little body into the ready position.
Mind blown!
On her second day, I asked if she made a new friend that day (as preschool required MUCH prodding in this area). But I was met with a resounding "no," and an eye roll to go along with it.
"Well, maybe you'll meet a new friend tomorrow. That will be fun, won't it?"
"No, Mom. I didn't make one friend today, because I just really couldn't decide. I made like three or four new friends," she coolly remarks.
(I dropped the plate I was holding with this one!)
Something else that is absent (but certainly not missed!) is the attitude that seemed to infect almost every moment during the weeks preceding the start of school. Looking back on it, I think it was Hannah's attempt to become more independent and convince herself that she could be away from me, but MAN it was ugly! Argumentative, precocious ... just the tip of the ice berg! After one particularly rough day spent arguing and complaining, I overheard a discussion Hannah was having with Jeff.
"Mom says that numbers keep going on and on - that there's never really an end. Ha! She is sooo silly!"
Standing out of sight in the hallway, my blood began to boil, but Jeff kept his cool and told her that this was true. "You can always keep counting higher and higher. Mom is right."
Well, that didn't sit well with Hannah! She stomped out of the room, found me in the hallway and huffed, "You are on the other side of the world from me!"
"What does that even mean, Hannah?"
"It means that everything on the other side of the world is the opposite from where we are. It means I am right, and you ... are wrong."
Oh boy! I thought we had a few more years before teenage hell began! Needless to say, this attitude of hers helped me get ready for Hannah to go to school! ;) Turns out, the anticipation of school was more stressful than actually going, so the dragon has retreated back into her cave. Thank goodness!
On the other end of the spectrum is our Mello Miss Adelaide, who has not really thrown a tantrum of Hannah proportions in her entire life. That is, until Hannah's first day of school. She even had an encore the second day! It would seem Little Miss really likes the spotlight and one-on-one time with mom for 3.5 hours in the day, and still has many more things left on her To-Do list when her big sister steps off the bus. So that mile-long list of distractions hasn't gone to waste - just reassigned! I think we may have found our new groove by playing with trains and basking in the spotlight of being a temporary only child. Never a dull moment!
Now that we have our emotions under control, maybe we can start to focus on something called education! The teachers don't want parents correcting their kids - for obvious reasons as Spanish is not our native language - but when Hannah skips through the house singing "Dwaynos Bartays" rather than "Buenos Tardes," I'm finding it hard to bite my tongue!
Small steps, I suppose! ;)
* Disclaimer: I realize those of you with school-age kids are probably chuckling right about now thinking, "just you wait!" Ha! I'm sure Hannah will have meltdowns of gigantic proportions in the weeks/months/years to come, but I will be forever grateful for such a positive start to school! Any tips on dealing with delayed meltdowns would be much appreciated, however!
* Disclaimer: I realize those of you with school-age kids are probably chuckling right about now thinking, "just you wait!" Ha! I'm sure Hannah will have meltdowns of gigantic proportions in the weeks/months/years to come, but I will be forever grateful for such a positive start to school! Any tips on dealing with delayed meltdowns would be much appreciated, however!
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