On Strawberry Yougurt and First Days of School

Today was a big day in the Wagner household. Joe went back to a full day of work for the first time since our vacation started two weeks ago, I had my first real day of the school year complete with kids, and Joey had his first day of school ever.  There were many things learned today.  First days are (bitter)sweet ... and, when you are lucky, strawberry-sweet.

Joey is not a morning person.

I steeled myself for this occasion.  A conversation I had with my mother-in-law not too long ago had motivated me to try to be more joyful about changes and growth in Joey's life and not so sentimental .. sentimental being my preferred term for kind-of-a-crying-mess.  We left J for ten days and I was perfectly fine with it, not even a single welling tear.  I was liking my new perspective and confidently assured  my friends I would be fine as they asked the obvious questions as this day approached.  I seriously had like seven conversations with myself this morning, at least they weren't out loud.  And I'm sure it came to no surprise to my friends that I did end up crying ... in the day-care .. couldn't make it to the car .. ok, really I couldn't even make it through the first 25 seconds of my conversation with Miss Debbie.  After all, they do know I'm done in by things like Joey's little baby feet outgrowing his itty-bitty socks. I probably never had them fooled.  A girl can only change so much in a short time :o).

First day of school picture.

Joey did great for his first day.  He loved Miss Debbie and didn't cry as I left.  It came as little surprise that most of the comments I got as I picked him up regarded how much he loved lunch and snack time.  He tried to eat the other kids' food and drink their milk.  The director found us as we were leaving and also mentioned that she thinks the highlight of his every day will be lunch. Ha. At least he felt comfortable enought to be himself :o).  He was happy when I left him and happy when I picked him up and got a "grade" of "content" for the day .. just one mark short of "joyful", the highest grade for one-year-olds, which is what we are shooting for :o).  He took a nap on his cot like a big boy, played outside, and learned about family members.

At the end of his day, happy with a messy shirt.

When I picked up Joey he smelled so good.  It was the strawberry yogurt he had during snack time.  It was the perfect poignant punctuation to end this big day.  The strawberry yogurt painted on his shoulder, and the little bits I found in his hair and eyelashes as we read books on the couch once we got home, betrayed the fact that they had let him feed himself with a spoon.  Gasp, bravery.  Joe and I can't stand messy kids.  As a result, we don't let Joey feed himself anything that gets really messy.  We know he is 13 months old and it's a phase and something we need to get through, but in the end we still just don't let him do it.  I smiled as I breathed the sweet strawberry goodness, reminded that this is the exact reason we decided it was time to let Joey branch out to more than family.  Those strawberry yogurt eyelashes were just what I needed to remind me that this is just what he needed.

Tuckered out from a big day and relaxing while waiting for me to come read to him.