The Real First Day

I went in to wake Eli up and he kept his eyes closed until I said, "Eli, remember this is your first day of school?" Then his eyes popped open and he said, "Oh yeah."

He got ready quickly, we had his clothes laid out, and ate his breakfast. Then we grabbed his backpack as we headed for the car.

Tim, even though he tries to act like he's macho, drove us down to the end of the lane to wait on the bus. He wanted to see Eli off on his first day of school too. I thought we would have a couple of minutes, but almost as soon as we got stopped we saw the bus coming so I helped Eli out and had him put his transportation necklace on, helped put his backpack on and walked him to the bus. I took a picture as he climbed in.

Then is bus driver told him to turn around and smile for his mom, so he did. I think he wasn't even going to look back.

His bus goes down and then turns around so we waited until his bus went back past us before we went back up to the house. His driver waved to us when they went by and later he said he saw us watching.

It all happened so fast I didn't have time to cry, and as we're going up the drive Tim commented about it, and I told him it wasn't over yet.

He went back upstairs to get the little boys up and I stayed in the kitchen and unloaded the dishwasher while I composed myself. Then went on with my day.

I went home on my lunch so I could be there when Eli got off the bus. The sitter and the other boys walked down the driveway and waited with me. They were late on that first day, but he's worth waiting for!

Some of the stories I got from the first day:
-There was a police officer because there are no guns allowed (as he says this he makes the slash like on the picture of the gun)
-You can't have food, drinks, gum or suckers on the bus because you might choke.
-You have to sit on the bus, even when it stops.
-He saw 2 boys he knew from the daycare, but they're not in his class.
-The nurse doesn't have shots.
-All the kids were in a big "pile" trying to get into the school.
-Him and another boy leaned when the bus turned and fell forward against the seat when it stopped and he laughs every time he tries to tell me more about it.
-One boy had to go to "yellow" for his behavior (they are cars with their names that all start in green each day-if they get to red they have to go to the principal).
-He drew and colored a picture.

-He had to get off one bus and get on another bus to get there.