The Very First..First Day of School

Two weeks ago we had the honor of taking Cooper to his first...first day of school.  Pre-school, that is.

Cooper is 4.  He has been staying with Auntie while Mommy and Daddy have been teaching and coaching at Clinton Prairie since he was born.  Auntie has lessons several times a week, and Cooper is picking up on all kinds of knowledge.   However, he would benefit by expanding his social skills more than just playing with Tessa and Owen, and occasionally Landon, during the day and by interacting with a teacher other than his aunt, not that she isn't a great teacher, but learning from someone else might be a good step before he enters kindergarten in a couple of years.

Since Megan and Matt do teach, and since Cooper's pre-school is in Frankfort, and since Tessa's pre-school is in Flora, the opposite direction and on the same days at nearly the same times....enter Mamaw and Papaw.  We agreed to be in charge of Cooper one day a week, Wednesday.  Spending the morning with him would be great, then after an early lunch, we would take him to the church in Frankfort for the afternoon and either Matt or Megan would pick him up.  Not bad.

However.  To be with him in the morning means one of two things - setting the alarm super early so we could leave home with enough time to make the 75-90 minutes drive to their house from ours and be there by 7:30 a.m.  Ok.. count backwards and decide immediately to go with Option #2.  Spending Tuesday night at their house.

And that is what we did for the first day of school.

Cooper was SO excited.  All he talked about was going to school and what he would do and how he would make new friends and who his teachers were.

Since it WAS the first day, after he was dressed and ready to go, he stood on the front steps for the customary pictures.  Then we moved to the back of the house and snapped a few more.

 


 
The drive to Frankfort took little to no time and we hit every stop light green.  Of course.  We were early, and well, we were early.  Upon arrival at the church, we drove to the back, as Megan had directed, and sat at the end of the sidewalk, staying in the car, also as Megan had directed.

We watched other mothers, grandmothers, and fathers pose their children by the sign of the church, at the door where the pre-school was located, and on the sidewalk.  And still we sat in the car.



We watched one vehicle pull into the angled parking spots, the mother and grandmother and two children exit and walk up to the door, and then seem baffled when the door was locked. Of course, Gary was saying as we watched this process 'You aren't supposed to do that.  You are supposed to stay in the vehicle and they will come out and get the child.  You can't get in the building. You have to stay in the car.   Get back in the car and drive around and get in line like everyone else.' And that is what happened. A nice lady came to the door and explained the same thing to them, motioning at all of us who were already in line.  The mother, grandmother, and children returned to their vehicle, pulled out of the angled space, and we saw them later at the end of the line which had stretched completely around the building by that time.

 

Cooper, meanwhile, was unbuckled from his carseat, had put on his backpack, and was ready.  Every 30 seconds he asked what time it was.  We heard the clock in the bell tower chime, and he asked the time again.  Finally two ladies exited the building and started the process of going to each car to retrieve the children.  As they did that, the cars began to continue around the building until, I  assume, all of the children were safely inside and ready to begin.

 

Watching him walk up the sidewalk to the door of the church was a tear-jerking moment for me.  Memories of sending the girls to their first days of kindergarten came flooding back.  It really didn't seem that long ago!  Now my first baby was sending her first baby to pre-school.    But there was also a moment of pride.  He was SO excited.  And when his daddy picked him up later in the afternoon, he called to tell us all about it.  He was ready to go back, which is great!


 
While there will be many more 'first day of school' pictures for Cooper, there will never be another 'FIRST First Day of School.'  My heart just melts because we were able to be there for it and share it with him.