Not since I was working full-time have I had a day this bad. It started with a lot of complaining (both Stephen and me) and crying (just Stephen). Then, we find out that our trip to California has to be postponed (nothing serious). Because the trip is postponed, I made a last minute decision to start Stephen at school today.

We trooped over to school where we got the paperwork we needed and visited the nursery class Stephen will be in. About 10 kids between the ages of 2 1/2 and 4 were sitting nicely on little chairs around a big table; the older ones were tracing the shapes printed on the paper with a pencil, the slightly younger ones were coloring in the shapes, and the youngest ones were scribbling.

When Stephen was invited to join in, he opted to jump around instead. It’s understandable that he’d want to explore, but I’d never been worried about his ability to focus until just then. If a lot of sitting is required in school, I don’t know how he will adapt to this sudden “loss of freedom” as the school’s head of early childhood education put it.

In any case, Stephen seemed intrigued by the school environment - books, numbers and other decorations on the wall, and Bob the Builder coloring sheets. A couple of his playdate friends are in the same class and they were very eager to play with him. Even so, he wanted to leave after a short while and asked for waffles and a strawberry smoothie. I figured it would be a last fling before we started school for real tomorrow, so we hopped in the taxi and spent an hour lounging at a local expat hang-out.

I’ve been trying to psych him up for school tomorrow (he’ll go for a couple of hours in the morning on weekdays), but it’s a hard sell. I can’t say I’m all that excited myself especially after seeing the younger children (ages 1-2) crying their eyes out in the play area, which is probably unavoidable during these early days of the school year. Tomorrow, I’d like to turn him over to the teacher’s care and just stay on the fringes of the classroom if not stay outside within line of sight, but not interfering or intruding. I dread this transition period and worry it will take weeks.

Other things that are contributing to this bad day:

  • Stephen won’t leave me alone for more than a few minutes. I hope it isn’t anxiety over school.
  • Marv isn’t home.
  • Someone edited me without my consent (have to be vague in order to stay out of trouble).
  • Irrational worries over how my Genetics and Public Health Blog is being perceived, especially with regard to ads.
  • The irony of writing a noodle post after just proclaiming that I didn’t like to write them. But I really need to vent and there’s no one else here…but you (and - thank you for listening)!