First Day of Pre-School and Thoughts on Returning to Work

After a week of hanging out with Daddy, the boys started pre-school today. I was worried about Cole, since this is a totally new experience for him, but he actually did really well. Considering I jerked my sweet boys out of bed at 6:30 this morning, we all deserve some sort of medal. Caleb had a brief moment of "don't leave, Mom" followed by a short burst of tears, but I quickly reminded him he needed to be a good example for Cole and to show him that it would be really fun. It worked. I'm proud to report that both boys found toys to occupy themselves and I made an easy exit before my own tears started to fall. This afternoon, I was greeted with a smiling 5-year-old waving "art" at me and a shrieking 2-year-old that didn't want to go home. I also found out that Cole used the "big boy potty" today. Yay! Pre-school virtually potty trained Caleb for me, so I'm crossing my fingers for similar success with Cole. Sometimes peer pressure can be a good thing, I guess. Caleb is bursting with excitement, as he gets to go on a field trip to the movie theater tomorrow to see "Wall-E".

Last week, I had a full week of "New Teacher Orientation" (although I'm neither "new" nor new to the district, just sat on the sidelines for a while) and today began the district-wide Orientation for all teachers. Personally, I think both need to be renamed "Death by PowerPoint". I don't want to ever see another PowerPoint presentation in my life. Alas, tomorrow is another day on the campus, so I'm sure I'll see at least seven more. After six days, I'm ready to share some of my observations with you...

1. Real shoes are cute, but not fun. I'm currently nursing three different sets of blisters and am out of the more adult-like cloth band-aids. I'm trying to decide between sporting Clifford or Spiderman band-aids tomorrow. Decisions.

2. Wearing a bra for longer than a standard grocery store excursion also sucks. Sure, it creates a better silhouette, but you better believe that baby is coming off in mere seconds after I walk through the door.

3. A shiny, new campus is pretty. I have new appliances and don't have to worry if anything is broken or that I'll have the "eclectic" look of hand-me-down chairs and furniture.

4. A shiny, new campus is also a challenge. There isn't a vast supply of excess materials for incoming teachers to use. My walls are pretty and clean, but completely bare. Until I got my "new teacher supply box", my desk didn't even house the smallest paper clip. Sadly, my nutrition classroom (which consists of four kitchen labs) will have to survive on one small 13-gallon trash can until after September 1st. Honestly, that will be okay since labs won't start until after then anyway.

5. There are a lot of rust on these wheels. I walked away from teaching just over two years ago, boxed up my "teacher life" and didn't truly think of it again until the reality of last Monday arrived. I am completely and utterly overwhelmed...even though this is my SEVENTH year teaching.

6. You may now refer to me as KRG or KG. Everything else has an acronym, so why not?

7. I honestly do not know where five days of my life went. Between going back to work and Caleb's flag-football practice starting last week, I'm pretty much a zombie.

8. I am completely boring. After about the third round of "Hi, I'm so-and-so from Whatchamadoodle ISD and here's an amazing fact about me", I have decided that I am definitely the LEAST exciting new teacher on my campus. I don't have a PhD in Aeronautical Engineering. I've never taught starving children in a third-world country. I don't speak any other languages. I didn't swim with sharks, para sail, or jump from any cliffs this summer. I've never had a movie, book or short-story released...or even almost. I've never run a race with an Olympic athlete. I'm not a vegan, Buddhist or past performer at Carnegie Hall. I've never even worked for Borden scooping Elsie the cow's poop. Hi, I'm Kristi and I'm intensely dull.