First Day Of School

Yesterday was Ivan's first day of school and we are the ones getting butterflies in the stomach. We are the ones getting sleepless nights; worried about leaving him alone in the school on his Day One. Before school starts, we 'prepared' him mentally by telling him about how wonderful school is and how he's going to meet many new friends and we talked about his teachers, etc etc etc. Besides, we also toilet-trained Ivan before school starts. yah ... he says poo when he actually wants to pee. hehe

So, the day finally came after anticipating for a long time since we registered him. Yesterday was his first step before Oxford and Stamford or even Cambridge happens. Yesterday was went the butterflies in our stomach flew around crazily, yesterday was indeed a disaster. well, minor disaster. nothing major, really. :)

Anyway, we woke the sleepyhead up at 7.30 am. Got him dressed up in his cute yellow sailor uniform and packed his bag with extra clothes and with a bottle of water; off we went to School ! He was pretty excited during the ride and when we arrived, I held his hand and walked him into school. His teacher came to greet him and walked him in with me. Then, I showed him where the toys are, to make him feel at ease and also ... to distract him while I fleet.

*gosh* how he cried when he saw me walked out. How he called for me. How he struggled with the teacher to run to me. How desperate he sounded for me to turn back. How frightened he must be to be among strangers. How traumatised he must be.

.......................................

Both daddy and mummy felt so sour ... I was feeling so guilty for putting him in such situation and probably he was indeed too young to attend school. But, the intention was for him to mingle, to meet more friends, to play. We are definitely not the crazy parents who pressure him to learn new things, to recite his ABCs, even though it will be fun if he does. *sigh* was it a wrong decision made?

We are not giving up yet. Afterall, the intention was good, I suppose. So, his Day One in school ended when daddy came to pick him up at 11:30am. He was exhausted and hungry. Daddy brought him back, fed him and he slept soundly after that. I came back after work and I asked him this, "Ivan, do you like school? Do you want to go to school again tomorrow?" And he replied gleefully, "Yes."