Jessica's first week at school.

Well it's over that first week of pre-school for our little Jess, and yes mum was far more stressed than Jessica was.

On her first day, which was last Tuesday, everyone was up nice and early all ready to put on clean uniforms and set off to school with new books, pencils and all the other stuff that was needed. Good start i thought, no arguing, no grumps from Hannah and Lauren and a willingness to do everything asked of them the FIRST time!!!!!

Then it was time to get Jessica up, no problem, she always wakes up smiling and is eager to do pretty much anything, so up she gets, we change her bum and start to put on her school uniform, that's where it all stopped being perfect!

Since arriving back from the States Jess hadn't been eating much and the size 18 month old beige shorts that we had bought for her fell straight down as soon as i'd pulled them up, (yes we had tried them on her in the States and yes they did fit her then) now at any other time this wouldn't have created a problem and i would have laughed about it, NOT TODAY!!!!

I have been meaning to get a sewing kit since we arrived here but as i hadn't needed one up to this point i kept putting it off, now i find myself in desperate need of a needle and thread at 6.40 am and i don't have one, so what do i do, find a belt of course, and who better to assist me in this..... Hannah. So having found a belt and secured Jessica's shorts for the day we headed of for breakfast.

This was dealt with quickly and painlessly thank-goodness, although Jess couldn't quite understand why Hannah and Lauren kept saying "it's your first day at school, who's a big girl now" and just kept responding with "nannan, lolol ool"

We managed to leave without any further mishaps, but i reminded myself that making sure 3 bags were packed, 3 lunches were ready and 3 lots of water bottles were filled took a little longer than just 2 of everything and resigned myself to getting up a little earlier the following day so i wasn't rushing around like a mad women again.

The trip to school was uneventful, if you forget the fact that you're driving in Antigua and it can get pretty hairy!! And once at school we deposited Jess in her pre-school room with no problem at all, she was excited about carrying her lunch bag and puttng it into her cubby and was fascinated by all the little chairs in the classroom that she could get into and out of, withput it seeming as if she was climbing Mount Everest. I said my good-byes and told i'd pick her up later after lunch. Now at this point i don't know what i was expecting to happen but it wasn't "see you late mum!"
Feeling rather lost and unsure what to do i headed out of the room, half expecting her to realise i was going and get upset, but no, she just kept climbing onto the chairs then getting off again!

At this point reason sets in and i figure if she's ok, go now and make sure she stays that way, so off i went.
Next on the delivery run was Lauren, who had obviously got fed up of waiting for me to finish with Jess and had already settled herself into her new clasroom and was telling her teacher about her trip to Florida. After giving her a kiss and saying hi to her teacher i was again redundant.
Now Hannah through all of this has stayed by my side and wanted me to take her to her new classroom and help her settle in, so feeling needed i treked up the hill and take Hannah into her new (brand new, built over the summer classroom) and think OMG they are never going to fit 17 children and a teacher in this shed!!!! But apparently they were. Now i'm not exagerting here, but there was not a lot of room. With all the children seated those who were seated in the centre rows couldn't get out, and if you were slightly on the large size you couldn't pull out your chair to sit down, not comfortably anyway. Now realising that this is the first day i advise Hannah to sit on an end and assure her that it will be ok and that things will get sorted out during the day. I introduce myself to her teacher and enquire about her holiday, then sets of to head home.

I stand just outside Jess's classroom to make sure she is still ok and find her still climbing on and off chairs, so head off to the car and back to a nice quiet house.

Now what i did the rest of the day i can't eally remember, but i do know i checked the phone numerous times to make sure school hadn't rang and did a lot of aimless wondering around complaing about how quiet it was! This after saying i couldn't wait till they were all in school so i could have 5 minutes peace, turns out 5 minutes of peace is all i can handle then i need chaos again.

At pick up time i was all excited at seeing Jess, Han and Lol again and finding out how they'd settled into the new classrooms and routines and had roped Scott into coming as well.
I raced in to see Jess and found her playing with a "ellow tuck"(yellow truck) outside when we first arrived, was she pleased to see me....NO, but see was really pleased to see her dad! whom she then insisted play truck with her. I leave them to it and go in search of Lauren who's had a fab day and can Nikita come to tea. After assuring Lauren and Nikita that i will arrange a playdate next week, i send Lauren off to find dad and Jess whilst i go in search of Hannah.
Hannah comes out of her classroom some 20 minutes after the end of school (i later find out that Grade 4 finishes at 2.10pm and not 2.00pm) and looks rather bedraggled, she's had an ok day but doesn't like all the new rules in her new class and complains that it is sooooo small. But other than that she's ok and can Zoe come for tea! Not today i assure her but i will arrange a playdate soon.

The rest of the week is uneventful, letters coming home with more school supplies to buy, term dates and holiday dates.
The only things to change are Jess's shorts are now tacked and fit her, and she's discovered that mum saying see you later means she's being left at school and she's not keen (on the being left initially, the rest she loves) so we now have tears for aproximately 30 seconds when i say bye, they have stopped by the time i have gone down the steps and i am out of sight. How do i know this, well i wait where she can't see me and listen, then i come back and check again after seeing Hannah and Lauren in, then i stop the car outside the classroom and have a quick look before i drive off!!!! Not that i'm obsessed, honest!!!