The Life of a Running Momma: Carter's First Week of School

Tuesday morning as we prepared for Carter's first day of school he told me, "I can't wait to meet my friends! I'm going to ask all their names." It was the cutest! I made a special first day of school breakfast of buttermilk waffles (my mom's recipe) topped with Nutella, sprinkles (just for Carter), blueberries, and strawberries. The kids were blown away that I also let them have orange juice. It was quite the breakfast. Carter was so excited as he ate, saying, "I'm going to tell my teacher I had a special breakfast!" Once we had eaten and everyone was dressed Carter pulled the last chain off his countdown to school. Then he and Elise played with their balloons for a while. They had such a blast playing with their balloons that they wanted to take them in the car with us and, unfortunately, Carter's popped before he got in the car. I took way too many pictures, but it is a first day of school must. Then I gave Carter the present we got him to open on his first day of school. When I was teaching every year on the first day of school Ty would buy me a book for my classroom library, write a sweet note in it, and put it in my car as a surprise for me to find in the morning. I wanted to continue that tradition with our children so we got Carter a book and to add some fun, I wrapped it for him the night before. Elise colored a card to go with it and he was so excited to open it.

Pulling off the last chain.

Playing with their balloons.

Enjoying a special first day of school breakfast.

I must admit that I was so nervous about how Carter would do on his first day of school that I didn't enjoy the first day of school morning activities as much as I would have liked to. On our drive to school Carter told me, "When you pick me up I'm going to tell you everything I did at school." I couldn't wait! We pulled in and he was still really excited. Then we walked in the doors to a room that seemed to be full of crying children. Carter did okay at first. We found his teacher, he got his nametag, and he started to sit with his class to wait. But then Elise wiggled out of my arms and ran off to the indoor play area. Of course, seeing Elise off playing, Carter took off as well. He and another boy from his class shut themselves in the playhouse. Carter kept telling me that he didn't want me to go and that he wanted to leave with me. Luckily he was just fussing, not crying which made it easier. I took him back over by his class and showed him a pretend stump he could sit on. Then I pointed out the window and showed him the sidewalk Elise and I would be walking on to get to our car. That way he could watch and wave at us through the glass. Seeing him sitting there waving and blowing kisses made my heart ache. As we started to leave his sight I saw fear rush into his face and forced myself to keep walking. When I picked him up his teacher told me he got upset once he couldn't see us anymore but by the time they got to the classroom he was fine and took off playing.

Carter watching us leave.

I took Elise to the aquarium and then to a nearby park to play while Carter was at school. It was nice to have one-on-one time with her but I missed Carter so much and was so worried about him that I didn't really enjoy much of our time while he was at school. I know that will get better. It was just the first day jitters. Before we knew it, it was time to load up and head back to pick Carter up. He was so excited to see us and waved with the biggest smile on his face. Both his teachers stopped me to tell me how smart he was. They said he did wonderfully and knew everything they were talking about. I was so excited to get in the car and hear all about Carter's day. He was so cute telling me everything he could remember. He said he played with some new friends. He listed Addison or Addy, Joshua (which he said Josha), and then said there was a kid named Space Jam. I am still cracking up over that one! He said they played on the playground and in the classroom. In the classroom they played with buses, babies, and ABCs. Then he wrote numbers, sang songs, and they read The Kissing Hand. He was worried he had forgotten the numbers he wrote at school, but I found the page in his backpack when we got home. It was a coloring page and he had colored the number one.

At the aquarium.

Elise's first picture by the shark statue at the aquarium by herself.

We headed straight from school to meet Ty for lunch. He took an extra long lunch so he could come to take Carter out for a special lunch on his first day of school. We used the Tropical Smoothie gift card Jeremy got me for my birthday to treat the kids. It worked out great because Carter picked Tropical Smoothie for lunch and not only did I have a gift card, but it was $6 flatbread and smoothie Tuesday! We got quite the deal! Carter told Ty all about his day and by that time was saying that having to sit still on the carpet was kind of boring, but he did say that he is excited to go back. On our drive home he was asking me if he got to go back to school in the morning. I love that he did so well!

This morning was Carter's 2nd day of school, the last day of his first week of school. I wanted to get another picture before we left for school. Carter was not at all interested. He wanted to hurry up and go to school! In the car he asked me if he was going to have the same teachers as last time. He was disappointed when I told him yes because he "wants to get to meet all the different teachers." What a difference from gymnastics class this summer! Right when we pulled up to his school, he said bye to me as he got out of car. When we got inside he told me he was going to miss me, gave me a hug, and sat right down with his class. It was awesome to see him being such a big boy and having acclimated to his school and teachers so quickly. After dropping Carter off Elise and I headed to a nearby playground called Hunter Park. I hadn't been to Hunter Park in probably close to a year. The last time I ran from the park I was only running 2 miles. I remembered a big hill at the start of my run but I wasn't concerned about that since I was running 8 miles with a 2 mile warm up and cool down with quarter and half mile repeats in the middle. The course turned out to be much hillier than I anticipated. It was already over 90 degrees and I was running with Elise in the stroller during speed work for the first time this season. The first half of the run was okay, but on the way back when I turned around and was running into the wind the wheels really fell off. It was a tough run! I finished the run soaked in sweat and then we played at the playground for a little bit. When we picked Carter up he was sitting with his class and was quite excited to see us. On our way home Carter told me all about what he did at school that day. The first thing he says is always that he played. He said he played with Addison and some other kids whose names he didn't remember. He said they read the Kissing Hand again although he didn't want to read it again. He also told me all about a song they sang about animals. It was cute because he said his teacher asked who wanted to be an animal and he told her "I do, I do!" while raising his hand. He said they ran around while roaring like tigers and then they bounced around like rabbits. That afternoon while we were laying in his bed resting he sang me one of the songs he learned that day. I was impressed with how well he remembered the song (video of him singing part of it below). I also enjoyed the adorable craft they made in class today, a Kissing Hand craft. Carter's first week of school is in the books and was a great success!