Although there was a two hour delay, today was Tristyn's first day of school. Everything was going smooth this morning--breakfasted, washed up, dressed, etc--when disaster struck.
Tristyn ran upstairs to get his new shoes that I just bought him THREE weeks ago. I emphasize the three, because it is relevant in a moment. He put them on and started crying. Alarmed, I ran over to him asking him what was the matter.
His shoes were too tight. The very same shoes that were a nearly a full size too big THREE weeks ago. His toes were squished, the sides of his feet were all squeezy--There was no way he could wear them to school. Being a boy who doesn't care much about shoes, his only other fitting shoes were his Crocs. I suggested he wear them just for today and we would take his shoes back to exchange them this afternoon right after school but he wasn't happy about that. In fact, he cried harder. Great big crocodile tears. Tristyn kept saying they weren't allowed to wear Crocs to school. He was so worried he'd get in trouble. I felt awful; what a horrible way to start off the first day of school! Who would have thought that he would have such a sudden growth spurt. It made me feel like such a bad mum. =( Finally, I was able to convince him that it would be all right and I would talk to his teacher and tell her what had happened. (I talked to both his teacher and the principal and both were very nice about it and helped him feel better)
Tristyn was too upset to pose for a picture this morning (I'll get one tomorrow when both kids have their first full day of school)and told me that for the blog that R2D2 would stand in for him.
Maia and I did some typical things--playing, treadmill (well I did that, Maia watched a cartoon) lunching with Missy and shopping--before it was time to pick Tristyn up from school. Thankfully, the incident of the shoes was long forgotten when he came out of the door all smiles. He had a good day and made one new 'good friend' that he played with at recess (as his grass stained jeans can attest) and sat across the table from at lunch. Only 3 of his friends from last year are in this year's classroom and one was absent! On the first day! Tristyn was a little worried about that but I told him it was likely that his friend's family probably were on vacation somewhere and hadn't returned yet.
Third graders are the oldest children in the primary school and Tristyn was very proud that third graders have to be extra good because all of the little kids look up to them. (Clever move on the teacher's part, eh?) Anyways, his day went very well and he's actually excited to go back tomorrow.
We successfully exchanged his shoes at the mall and because of a current sale the store was having, his new shoes were eligible for part of the buy one get the second one for 88 cents sale. I was able to get Maia a pair of black ballet flats that I'm hoping doesn't become suddenly too small overnight.
After wandering around the mall for a little bit checking out various sales and making a stop in the toy store, the kids and I went to the indoor play area at the one end of the mall. Maia made a new friend right away and Tristyn teamed up with some boys his age to chase the girls. We killed time here untiil Rick called. He met us over at the food courts and we had a quick dinner before he took the kids home and I went over to Barnes & Noble to pick up part of Maia's birthday day gift. We are planning to celebrate her birthday one day early--kind of combining it with a Labor Day Picnic. Not sure on all of the details yet but it should be fun!
