I wish I could say that last week went smoothly.
I thought after the first day of kindergarten and preschool were over, the rest of the week would be better.
That was not the case.
On the first day of kindergarten, my son Matthew, did not get off of the bus at the bus stop. I had to chase the bus down.
Luckily, the bus driver stopped to let some children cross the street; and I was able to flag him down.
He opened the door; and I said “Matthew Thompson was supposed to be on this bus; and get off at the last stop.”
He replied, “Well, let’s see if he’s on the bus. He turned and yelled ‘Matthew.’” My son quickly appeared at the front of the bus.
“Is this your son?” the driver asked.
“Yes. Thank you,” I said.
Matthew got off of the bus and we walked to the house. The next day, I made sure I was at the right bus stop. Even though it was sprinkling outside, I stayed out there waiting for my son to get home. Just as I thought I saw the bus coming, my youngest son said he had to go to the bathroom. I told him to run back to the house; and I would meet him there.
Just then the bus pulled up to the curve. My neighbors children got off, but still no Matthew. I was about to ask where he was when he appeared. I let out a sigh of relief.
A different driver was driving the bus that night. She asked me if all of the kids had gotten off the bus; to which I replied, “I think so.”
She said my son kept asking her where his younger brother was. I said he was at home. I guess he was confused.
She drove off down the street.
The next day I was dropping my youngest son, John, off at daycare. When I opened the door to unlatch his carseat belts, he started to cry. I asked him, “What’s wrong.” He said “I don’t want to go to daycare, I want to go home.”
I told him he couldn’t go home because I had to go to work. He cried even harder. I tried calming him down as I carried him up to the door, but to no avail.
He just kept crying. We didn’t even have to knock on the door because our daycare provider heard us.
She said she had expected him to go through a transitional period since he started preschool and his brother started kindergarten. John, was learning what it is like to be alone, which is something he really hasn’t had to do before.
He started crying hard again when he realized his favorite friends were not at daycare that day.
My daycare lady assured me he would calm down within a few minutes after I left. She started to take John, but he locked his legs around me in a death grip.
I had to physically take one of his legs off at a time to get him off. I felt horrible leaving him there as he crying and saying he wanted to go home, but I knew if I didn’t he would through a fit every day and that is not good for anyone involved.
I drove away from daycare for the second time last week with tears rolling down my face. Hopefully, the rest of this week will be better.
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