all grown up

My little girl had her first day at school. I thought I was going to cry - but I suspect the people in charge of her school are aware of this tendency in moms and arranged the day in such a fashion that there was no real opportunity for it. On the first day, we brought them in, sat them down, and they had a party. Every place had a bag of popcorn, a box of orange juice, a lollipop and a chocolate. Which do you think they pounced on first? Yeah, the orange juice...No-oo!!!

Moms were ushered into the auditorium for a hellish hour of shouting to each other over plastic cups of coffee. I was "wearing" a baby at the time to boot so it wasn't relaxing, but the baby fell asleep anyway. Why not serve wine and canapes? Honestly.

The scary thing is, since then, a few moms actually seem to remember my name and say hello to me - how they retained any knowledge from the barrage of information on that day is beyond me. This supports my sneaking suspicion that I am, in fact, of substandard brain capacity. Also that Irish people are a highly sociable breed, able for remembering complex things like...names.

The children were totally unfazed by the experience. Starting school was truly no big deal for my little girl, only 4 years old and already wearing a navy pinafore with a starched shirt and - somewhat hilariously - a tie.

Two weeks in, we've clarified that PE has nothing to do with pee-ing, and that Homework is for Big Kids. Still, we march in with a proper school backpack, suitable for carrying books and A4 notebooks, but stuffed only with a ham sandwich and a raincoat (just in case. we're in Ireland, people.)

Anyway, the few hours of isolation with Baby are no punishment. As he won't nap, I'm never lonely, and besides, I am deeply in love with that little cuddly bundle. It's kind of sad to see. I could stare at him all day. He's so lovely.

x