First Day of Kindergarten

So today had lots of drama, but to save you the suspense, in the end it was all good.  When Liam went to get dressed today I suggested that I help him pick clothes so that he could wear "spiffy" ones.  He was very upset because he likes to try to get dressed very quickly (while Allen times him) and this would slow him down.  We "reset the clock" and mostly averted the crises.  I got both boys dressed a little spiffy and took a few pictures.  Here's the one I like best.

I was hoping to spend some quality time with Liam this morning, but Devin was in "high need" mode - he wanted to be in the sling with me walking around - even after he fell asleep.  Finally I managed to get him into the swing and spent some time working on a puzzle with Liam.  I tried to leave plenty of time to eat lunch and do all the last minute stuff that always comes up before going anywhere.  Nope.  When I asked Liam if he needed to poop he first said no and later admitted that he did.  So in the last half hour he was finishing up on the toilet, I had just fed Devin and needed to change his diaper, and Liam needed to put his shoes on and get his school stuff together.  What could go wrong?

I came out of my room to wash my hands and Liam was coming out of his holding a balloon.  He couldn't find any socks.  Why didn't he come and tell me instead of playing with the balloon?  "I can do two things at one time Mommy."

While I looked for the socks Liam told me he was nervous about starting kindergarten because "I've never done it before."  I tried to reassure him while feverishly sorting through piles of clean laundry.  When I finally found the socks he was still holding the balloon and a quick clock check told me we were on track to be late.  The baby was busy pooping (again) and I couldn't do anything about that, but I couldn't resist the urge to remove the offending balloon any longer. Tears.  Of course.  Then his shoes didn't fit and he really didn't want to put "blue bunny" into his backpack, but eventually we ended up in the van and got to the school while they were still taking the last of the afternoon kindergarteners to their class.  Just time to snap a few pictures.  I forgot to give him a hug. 

I did get a picture of Liam with the school's name in the background, but decided not to post it here for privacy reasons.  It was actually the school's idea for the kindergarteners to bring their favorite stuffed animal to the first real day for them.  It's funny because Liam picked this as a comfort item fairly late in his development, but it says "Baby's first bunny" on it.  Thankfully I don't think his classmates can read.

Here he goes with some friendly and responsible fifth grader.  And suddenly there was absolutely nothing for me to do.  Just get in the car and drive away.  Which I needed to do fairly quickly since it was running in the middle of the drive with a baby inside.  I started telling myself "I will not cry, I will not cry," but that was a mistake and led to almost immediate crying.  Better to distract myself by thinking about something else all together.  Not that crying is so terrible, but lately when I get started I have a hard time stopping.  But Devin went into full crises screaming mode when we got home and by the time he was asleep our friend Mary had arrived to help with some cooking and the moment had passed.

When I picked him up outside the school he ran over to me and then ran back to give his teacher a hug.  He was wearing the hat pictured below.  He was very excited about having climbed on one of the structures on the playground by himself.  And of course he wanted to know what we were going to do when we got home.  I ended up filling the kiddy pool on the back deck and sitting out there with Devin sleeping on my lap while Liam played.  I did find out more about school, though.  Liam feels he has made one friend. 

I said, "Do you know his name?" 
Liam said, "What?"
Me:  "Is it a boy or girl?"
Liam: "A girl."
Me: "Do you know her name?"
Liam: "No.  She's the smallest girl in the class."

His biggest beef?  Too short.  "Two hours?  Felt like two minutes!" (It's actually two and a half hours.)

Snack?  "Sweet Cheerios with crunchy marshmallows."

When Devin woke up this afternoon he seemed much less fussy than he has been for at least the last week.  He sat in his swing awake and calm for a while.  Then he laid on his play mat during the entire time that I was making supper.  Liam played with him which seemed to mostly consist of putting the porcupine on Devin's head and waiting for him to knock it off.  Very funny to Liam.  Also Liam decided to see if Devin would grab his nose and found out that an eye would do just as well in Devin's opinion.  Might have been revenge - I'm not sure.

So is the dairy experiment working?  I'm still not sure.  I don't enjoy the idea of spending the next 18 months or so dairy free, but I would sure love to get more sleep and have calmer days!