When Did I Become the Mom of Tweens??

[geminilove]

Oh yeah.... it was bound to happen.

Oldest started middle school today. I think I'm more nervous than he is about the whole thing. To him, it's a chance to get back to school, to see his friends he hasn't seen all summer, and spend the whole day away from his little brother.

Mom? Mom remembers being intimidated by the 8th graders who seemed like miniature adults, terrified of the idea of having to change for PE, learning classroom schedules and which hallways to avoid cause they were always busy and made you late. Teachers who had been at the job so long they had burnt out whatever sympathy they'd had years before, so they didn't care if the 6th grader sitting in front of them is shaking in their shoes worrying about finding their next class.

I insisted on driving them to school today. For Youngest, he's excited because he's one of the few 4th graders that are in a 5th grade class. (Yeah, I didn't understand that either, but apparently, they had more 4th graders than they could hold in 2 classrooms, but not enough to create a 3rd class. So my son and 5 of his grade mates are in the 5th grade class.) I had hoped the 5th grade teacher would get at least a year's reprieve between my boys, but it looks like not. I think by the end of this week, I'm going to owe that poor woman coffee. And maybe a bottle of whiskey. I love my boys, but they are whip-smart and easily bored. While Oldest was the one had to be watched to keep him from spacing out and drawing or reading when he got bored, Youngest is my social butterfly. He rarely meets a stranger, if you know what I mean. Getting him to not talk and let his classmates concentrate.... will be interesting.

Oldest got to school an hour before his first class because I have to be at work at 8 and his first class is at 9. I gave him a refresher on where the important stuff was: cafeteria, office, library, bathrooms and where his first period classroom is. His best friend has first period in the building facing his, so at least they can say hi in between first and second period. Speaking of first period, it appears from the signs on the door that my sweet lil man, the one who still insists I cut his steak for him at age 11 because he's afraid of sharp objects - has woodshop first period.

Oy.

Why couldn't they have eased the kid into the middle school experience and given him a class that was familiar to him, like science? Instead, he's going to take one look at a room full of table saws, drills and awls and... well, let's hope he handles stressful situations better than his mama. Cause 6th grade is pretty much when school started me on the path to an ulcer.

I guess it could be worse. Could have been first period PE.

Nothing like having to run around in shorts on wet grass and sweating up a storm first thing in the morning, then having to go to class the rest of the day with your hair looking like it was done by a drunken Edward Scissorhands. And if your PE teacher was as sadistic as mine (allowing 4 minutes or less to change at the end of class), having to go the rest of the day smelling faintly (or not so faintly) of sweat.

It sounds like I'm playing favorites, but I packed a special lunch for Oldest today. I went to the store and bought his favorite sushi and hid it in the fridge for his lunch bag. It's his first year in a school where he has to pay for his lunches and I didn't want him to go hungry that first day while he tries to figure out which lunch lines are fastest/slowest, etc. Youngest, well, he's a Hoover. It's food, he's happy... and I know his elementary school has really good, healthy lunches that he likes. He's more than content to eat lunch at school (unless it's Kung Pao Chicken, because he doesn't like the peanuts), so he told me not to even worry about getting him a lunch bag this year. The elementary school is really strict about the nutritional content of the kids' lunches and snacks. (I should know, they gave me grief last year cause I let the boys have Sunny D as a treat - ONCE. So we can sell cookie dough for a fundraiser but if I bake that cookie dough and send it to school with my son, that's a no-no?) His snack for his morning break surely can't get me in trouble - unless there's suddenly some rule against fresh fruit.

Tonight, I'm sure they will come home with a ton of paperwork for me - here I thought I was done with homework, but every year, it's the same thing. *slaps a stack of paperwork down* "Oh, and they all have to be signed by tomorrow or I can't go to the library/assembly/have to sit out recess." I can't imagine what it's like for parents that have 4 or 5 kids. Just doing two sets of paperwork makes my hand cramp up. (BTW, am I the only one who came up with the idea of filling in all the info that's the same, then scanning and printing it and gluing it onto the other forms to save time?)

I better make sure my writing hand is all warmed up when I get home.

Oh, yeah - and stop to pick up dinner. There's no way I'll be able to finish laundry, make dinner, fill out all that paperwork, hear all about their days, referree the first, second and third arguments of the night, make sure their backpacks are packed and by the door, get them to lay out tomorrow's clothes and have them showered and into bed in three hours if I don't cut a corner *somewhere*.

At least till I get used to the routine again.

Welcome to the New School Year, everybody.