The Drop Off

You know in the movie "Finding Nemo" when they mention "the drop off" and Nemo's dad, Marlin, says, "THE DROP OFF!!" Yeah, picture me saying that. I have grown to hate the drop off.

It all started out really great. Here is the rundown on his first 5 days...

Monday, August 1, 2011: The parents are allowed to walk their children to their classroom the first week of school. This is his first day so I walk him all the way in and help him put his book bag away. We hug and then he goes to his desk and starts coloring. It was AWESOME!!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011: I walk him all the way to his room again and walk into his room with him. As like the day before, I watch him put his stuff away and then we hug, a couple of times, and then he goes to his desk. Another AWESOME drop off!!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011: I start think that maybe I should only walk him 1/2 way down the hall and let him walk the rest like a big boy. Well, when we get on his floor their are other parents still walking their kids all the way to their rooms. I think, "What's one more day going to hurt?" Instead of walking into his room this time I stop just before it. We hug and he goes to his door...then he stops. I start backing down the hall saying, "love you buddy. Have a good day." Then he turns around and pokes his lip out and runs to me and puts his head on my shoulder and starts crying. I tell him that it is okay and he keeps saying, "I'm tired. But I'm tired." Ms. Reagan comes out and guides him into the room. I never go in the room. She tells me that it has finally sunk in and the long day is starting to catch up with him. Later that day I email her to ask how he was and she says that it took just a minute to be okay and that he was an absolute joy.

Thursday, August 4, 2011: I had to go in to work early so Neil takes him to school. He decided to walk him to the beginning of his hall. I get a text from him that reads, "He lost it this morning. The teacher had to drag him in the room." Great. He later tells me that it was very dramatic and that other kids were staring at him like, "What's wrong with that kid?"

Friday, August 5, 2011: I am not getting out of the car this morning. I am just going to drop him at the door just like he was dropped off at preschool. Tough love. We talk the whole way there about being a big boy and being strong. He tells me that he is going to be a big boy. We pull up to the curb and a teacher opens the door. He starts very quietly crying. Actually, I wouldn't even call it crying. It was more like a whimper. It broke my heart, but I just kinda pushed him out, from the driver seat, and told him that it was going to be a great day. At that time his para-pro, Ms. Hancock, walked up and grabbed his hand to walk him to class. He was crying, but I just drove off. He has to get used to right? I mean he has to do this for 12 more years.

On a much happier note...he has behaved really well everyday this week and has brought home great reports. Their system is that everyone starts out on green, kinda like a street light. If they get a warning they move to yellow and if they do it again they move to red. Tyrus has stayed on green everyday. Here is a conversation that we had on Wednesday:

Me: "Tyrus, has anyone had to move to yellow yet?"

Tyrus: "Yeah"

Me: "Who? A boy or a girl?"

Tyrus: "A boy. Tyler."

Me: "What did he do?"

Tyrus: "He said ugly words."

A couple of hours later...

Me: "Hey buddy, have you made any new friends in your class yet?"

Tyrus: "Yes"

Me: "What are their names?"

Tyrus: "Tyler"

Well crap. Of course, he would call the only kid that has gotten in trouble on the first week of school his friend. I told him to tell Tyler that being good is the cool thing to do. We shall see.