Week One is Done!

I am a total school geek and will admit to really liking the first week of school. I like the newness, the sharpened pencils, and the back on a schedule.  We got through our first week here in the McMahon household with very little carnage and I am grateful. I am also pooped, wiped out and exhausted.

Me.

The boy did great!  First year of middle school and while my stomach was in knots about it, he was very calm.  Probably too calm, but that is the boy.  He found his classes, he opened his locker, he found a friend to eat with in the cafeteria and he got on the right bus coming home.  All successes!  He did set down his papers the first day along with his schedule and instantly lose them, but he knew to ask for help.  He made it to the counselor’s office to get a new schedule and then came home and told me where I could go online to download the forms he lost.  He even wrote his homework down in his planner.  His lunch box made it home every single day.  I know this is a honeymoon period for him with the newness of it all, but I will take it.  Happy honeymoon to me!

For the girls, school is all old hat.  Maizy is a senior, A SENIOR, and is already harboring an advanced case of senioritis.  This should make the spring semester interesting.  She is taking it all in stride and even gave her siblings a ride to school on Friday.  Sniff.  SG in her last year of middle school is calmer than ever, even with a schedule change!  Next week she starts cross country practice and probably softball practice, oh and guitar lessons and that is all I can stand to think about right now.  A busy SG is a calmer SG so practice away I say.

The happiest member of our household this week was Bill.  He will admit to being jealous and dare I say sulky about our summer off while he worked.  The man was giddy on Monday.  There was a song in his heart and a sparkle in his eye that continued throughout the week.  He lovingly made us all breakfast twice and did so with a flourish because his joy at our being back to school was that great.

My week was crazy busy and as such it immediately wiped out all the good intentions I tried to start the year with.  No Diet Coke quickly became YES Diet Coke on Day One.  My “I am not going to eat things just because they are there” became I NEED TO EAT THIS RIGHT NOW.  I also vowed not to be so tired. HAHAHAHAH.  I don’t know what I was thinking.  I must have been wrapped up in the every day is a nap day of summer to make that deal with myself.  I am definitely tired but I did make it until 8pm on Friday before falling asleep, sitting straight up, in the chair and that is a half hour later than usual.  Small steps I guess. 

I love my job but our library is a crazy place.  We are the Ellis Island of the school and it makes our days insane.  Don’t know where to put someone?  Send them to the library.  Can’t log on to the computer or software or wifi?  Library.  Send us all your clueless, your troubled and your roomless teachers, we will light the way!  Plus we had full classes checking out books.  Oh and I am in charge of our students as teachers until they get a room assignment so I lesson planned and taught four classes as long as I had them there to practice on.  Yes, and we started having homeroom this year and there are six different homerooms held in the library.  That first day was almost hilarious in trying to get kids to the right sections for their homerooms.  My colleague commented later that we all should have held up signs with our names on it like chauffeurs at the airport and I am sad we missed that opportunity.  That would have been fun!  I have found that homeroom is my favorite part of the day.  Me and twenty kids getting to know each other and me being a teacher like person on campus they can go to for information and help, I love that.  It makes my day less tiring right there. 

So yes, full on school craziness has begun and while I admit it almost defeated me the first day by dinner, I am in it. Bring it.  Oh wait, it’s been brought and we survived it so let’s just keep on going.  Plus I am a woman who learns from her mistakes and I have set no good intentions for myself to break by day one again this week.    And as for the kids, I am trying to not set good intentions for them either.  They can set their own or not and at the end of the week, we’ll meet back up to see where we need to put in our efforts for the following week.  I enjoyed them so much this summer; I want to enjoy them this school year too.  Being a crazy, shrieking, goal-focused mom does not lead to anyone’s enjoyment.  They might sink a little but I am confident I have taught them how to swim and they can bob back up.  I am not saying I will be totally hands off, but I don’t want to be hands pressing on them either.  They can do this, I can do this and Bill is doing it as he smiles and sings, so for now, it’s all good.