Four First Days

Emmarsyn started preschool today so we have finally completed our "First Days" for this Fall. Each child thoroughly enjoyed their respective firsts although Matthew's first day of Kindergarten was noteworthy.

Here is how it went:

• Drive boys to school in a sizable thunderstorm - my favorite.
  
• Get to school. Walk through the downpour to Matthew's classroom.
• Am met at the door by the teacher and am informed that the office does not have a copy of his birth certificate or proof of an eye exam. (Perhaps the glasses on his face should count as proof of an eye exam. Perhaps they could have notified me before the first day of class. Perhaps not.)
• Am told by the secretary that technically they should not allow Matthew to be in class, but they will let him stay if I am frantically driving around the valley to obtain the documents which, by the way, I turned in last spring.
• Panic slightly because I could not find Matthew's birth certificate and had given my only copy to...hmmm...oh yeah...his school.
• Call Bruce on the way to the eye doctor. He finds out how to get a new "original" birth certificate.
  
• Get proof of eye exam and head to a county health facility to get the birth certificate.
• Things are looking up - completed half my mission, rain is stopping. Put keys, cell phone, and wallet on front seat of van while I take off my sweatshirt.
  
• Watch van door close in slow motion while in even slower motion I figure out what is happening.
• Call my mom to bring the spare key.
• Sit in rain ( yep, it started up again) while I wait for an hour for my mom.
• Realize that she is likely lost and call Bruce.
• Sit in rain while I wait a half hour for Bruce.
• Get birth certificate. My mom shows up with key. Turn in documents 5 minutes before kindergarten is over and Matthew gets expelled. Things are looking up.
• Go home. Kids go over to a friend's house while I reflect on the fact that it was just one of those days.
• Hear banging on the door. Go upstairs to find the neighbor bringing Matthew home early. He fell off the couch and got some cuts on the bottom of his foot.
• Discover that the "cuts" are actually puncture wounds from landing in an art bucket and several actually still have significant pieces of pencil lead in them.
• Go to doctor. Have leads removed and wounds cleaned. Get prescription for antibiotic to ward off staph infection.
• Go home and hope that the next day would be better.
• It was.