I rose up early in the morning. At 6:30. I was excited. Anxious. Mixed Feelings overcame me. The feeling I felt when I was going to give birth to him. Once again, I turned to Him. Cried out to Him for comfort. Not for me, but for my son.
You see… I never really exposed him to different people without me or his dad. We were always there for him. I could only count the times when I left him to the care of other people. The first of which was when he was 16 months old. I left him to Archee aunty and my Filipino friends, Alve, Mian and Barbara. We went to Bali, Indonesia for 5 days. The next time we left him was a few hours only with Aunty Pauline and Aunty Jac, our Chinese friends. We went for a movie then. He was already 2 years old. The next time was only for 30 minutes with Joshua and Janke when his dad and I went to buy some things from Taipan. The next was last December, when hubby’s parents came to take care of them and we went for a Movie (Beowulf – I need to write my review about this movie). And that’s it. So I literally cried our before God. No. I’m not exaggerating. I felt so nervous and excited at the same time.
I showered. And I woke him up, showered him, and put on his first uniform. He looked so dashingly handsome in his uniform. I felt the pride swelled up deep within again. I snapped shots. Hubby and I took turns.
Then we drove off to his school, which was a 2-minute drive only (10-minute walk). His grandmother came with us, to witness his first day of school, which was a bad idea (more on this coming up). I went with him inside his room. He was placed in the En-Beethoven class. The other class was En-Picasso. Nice class names they got.
When the class was about to start, the main teacher asked the parents to leave. He refused to let go of me. And he started crying. My excitement and nervousness faded… Reality crept in. My heart broke to see him crying like that, calling out for me. But I have decided to release him on that day. If I stayed with him, I felt that I would only make it harder and longer for him to adjust.
The grandmother (as I’ve told you, was a bad idea) kept showing her face. She said if he knew we were there outside, he’d be comforted. I told her if he knew we were outside, he’d keep calling out for us. She sarcastically remarked “Ok. You know your son better.” But she kept showing her face. I understood her, alright… being a grandmother, she just couldn’t to bear seeing her grandson in such a traumatic situation. Good thing I managed to talk to the main teacher (there’s five of them in one class, one main teacher and 4 helpers) to talk to MIL to stop peeking thru the glass window. She stopped at first but later, she did it again, when the kids went out to the playground. She started talking to him and the boy wanna start crying again. The teacher told granny to go off it seems coz I saw it from a distance. That’s why I said it’s such a bad idea to have a grandma on the first day of school. I know it breaks their hearts to see their grandchildren cry out for people they’re close with in such a new situation, new people and new environment. But we have to get used to it the sooner. Otherwise, we’d just make it harder for our kids to adjust.
This is just a quick tip to those parents who are sending their children to school for the first time: talk to whoever goes with you… and decide on an unanimous decision before going to school. or better yet, don’t let others go with you. it spoils the plan.
Anyway… when the grandma stopped peeking thru the windown, the boy stopped crying already. phew! When the class was over, each of them was given balloons. They have free snacks also, btw. And when they came out, I was ready to receive him. I opened my arms wide and welcomed him, and congratulate him for his first day at school.
We both survived! LOL. I hugged him and he hugged me back like crazy. When I looked at him, he looked like he was happy only… like he never cried at all. LOL. And I asked him whether he liked the school or not, he just said yes. And when I told him to say good-bye and thank you to the teacher, he did it also, without hesitation (which he normally does when he meets new faces). And when I told him to tell the teacher “see you again tomorrow,” he also said that to the teacher. Hehehe.
This is his after-school look. 
So while we were walking home, I asked him what he did inside the room. He said he cried. And I asked him whether he would cry again the next day, he said no mommy, i will not cry. Hehehe. Talk only.
We came home feeling very exhausted. We were there for only 2 hours but I felt like we were there the whole day. It wasn’t a happy first day of shool… but what to do? It’s pretty normal for kids like that who are so attached to his parents. I think Samantha will handle it better coz now, we knew better, right? Hmmm… I hope so…
So, this was my boy’s first time in school. I will write more on his adjustments and how he copes with school next time.
The clock was silently ticking, doing its own countdown. Hubby and I sat, waiting for the clock to strike at 12:00mn. New Year’s eve was different this time. We have decided not to do anything coz (except that I have prepared 12 different kinds of fruit on our dining table) we had a lot going on on Christmas and we were having a get-together on the 1st of January. Hubby and I had our own personal reflections before the New Year’s eve…