Thursday, September 11, 2008

Justin's First Day of School

Monday was Justin's first day of school and believe me it could not have come soon enough. A week and a half of just him and I was really tough. As much as I whole heartedly believe that delaying him a year is the best decision it was REALLY hard not to put him on that bus. So here he is, you might think I said, "Justin, why don't you sit down, not look at me and put on a really painful smile?" but I didn't- he just does that intuitively.

No real pictures from the inside this year- forgot to put on my flash- oops. But he was amusing. Mrs. B sent out a paper stick and asked the children what they would do with the stick. Justin decided his would be a bat and practiced saying, "Batter up!". But upon arriving at school he saw that another boy had made his stick into a car and that was SO cool. Justin kept saying, "I changed my mind, I changed my mind, mine is a car I want mine to be like that too." One by one the children are invited up front to show Mrs B and the class what they did. Most of the children that go up are very shy or hestitant. They go up a little quietly only answer the questions they are asked and rush back to their seats. Um, yeah, not Justin.
He goes up and tells Mrs B that his is a car. She looks a bit skeptical- it does not look like a car. So then he has to go into his whole explanation. She convinces him to stick with bat so he gets to demonstrate "Batter Up!" Now he is louder (no surprise there, he is just made that way- ask him) and more animated in this entire discourse than most of the kids. This does bring on laughter from the parents. About 5 minutes after he has sat back down again with me he turns to me and says, "mommy I made everyone laugh". That, my friends, is his ultimate goal. He loves when he makes people laugh. Now if only we could harness this for good...
How about a look back. Here is last year's first day of school pic.
And this is my all time favorite first day of school pic, from 2006, how cute are those 3 year olds?
Ok, how many of you are thinking, when will Deb figure out what kind of hairstyle works on that kid? I know nothing about boy hair and unfortunately his entire childhood will be told with pictures of bad haircut after bad haircut.
Ah well another year of preschool it is. I have a feeling that school will always be a challenge for Justin. He gets so easily frustrated if he doesn't succeed at first try- and then stand back for the emotional meltdown that follows. He has a hard time sitting still and more and more they are decreasing "active" times (see Bec's Blog for a clip from the Today show about just this topic).
But on the positive side, people like Justin and good things come his way. He is outgoing and friendly and truly interested and easily thrilled. And I am really hoping those dimples help him skate through a tough time or two (pretty sure they have helped his Daddy).

5 comments:

Mrs. Cook said...

Yay! Now the school year is ON! He sounds very comfortable and excited to be back. And yes, the dimples ROCK! They were put there for a reason. :)

Kelly H. said...

Boys boys boys, what would we do without them? As tough a decision as I know it was, you made it with his best interests at heart. Besides, they're only little for so long. I'd give my eye teeth to spend some time with 2 year old Devin again. But I know I didn't feel that way then.

Kathy Stewart said...

Love the description. As always- I'm wishing that Mrs. Birch taught in Florida. I too struggle with the boy hair- I just keep taking Ryan in, and letting the barber do his thing. So far it's working.

Anonymous said...

I love this post. As for the hair thing, I can only suggest what I have learned with Kiran - cut it reaaaaaaly short. He's got the Harry Potter look when his hair gets even the slightest bit too long. And as for not sending Justin to school yet, I admire your decision to do what is best for Justin instead of doing what is convenient for you. (I'm not sure I'm as noble as you are in that regard. Ahem.)

Anonymous said...

So darned cute. Love the energy (easy for me to say...I have three girls!! But my payback will come when I have three TEENAGE girls...I'm already very scared).

But seriously...on the hair issue. Ask around among the women you know in your area who have fabulous short hair -- and find out who does their hair. Take Justin to a really good stylist, bite the bullet, pay what it takes (and I don't mean a John-Edwards-$400 haircut, obviously!), and ask the person after the haircut (subtly, if possible) for some details on the haircut. If you can get the stylist to give you some really good descriptive words, you can then take Justin back to the barber or Supercuts the next time and say, "What I want you to do is:..." The key, here, is finding a stylist who has a really good eye for what is going to work and look best.

That is what I did with Julianne -- and when I can't take her to my friend who did the original cut, I have the perfect words to describe what I want done. And it ALWAYS comes out better than it did when I used to blindly take her in to Great Clips for a cut. People do comment on Julianne's hair all the time -- I think there was even a comment on your blog when you posted the selected photos in June. And in a world filled with long-haired little girls, little Miss Fashionista Julianne LOVES her short hair because people comment on it all the time. A good cut is key...and you're really not going to get it at the barber without providing some specific input. I'm sure Justin couldn't care less how his hair looks, but apparently YOU do!!

And no reason you need to tell Marc you took your son to a girly-girly salon for a haircut one time...right Marc?