First Day...

I don't think I slept a wink the night before. You slept like the baby I still thought you were. How could it be time to start big school? Surely you were still only about 2 years old??!!

But no, it was time and you were ready.

You'd already been attending the Craighalbert Centre since you were 7 months old and were used to having a full school day (9.45am-3.45pm!) each day since you were 3. Three hours at Primary School weren't exactly going to wear you out :))

You were excited and a little apprehensive but full of smiles. I prayed they would last.

I remember you sitting so beautifully whilst Dad buttoned up your crisp white shirt and tied your school tie. The standard uniform was a white polo shirt but there was no way you were wearing that on your first day. A shirt and tie was a must. (I think the only time you wore it after that was for school photos! :-)) Then it was time to go!

And the sun shone.

All the P1s and their nervous parents / grandparents gathered in the school gym hall. The echoing chatter was very loud and knowing how much you hated that kind of noise and how easily it could upset you, I kept a close and nervous eye on you. You looked at me reassuringly and smiled broadly with that twinkle in your eye that is the closest thing to a wink you can manage.

The Headteacher, Deputy Head, class teachers (there would be 2 P1 classes in this intake) and assorted classroom assistants gathered at the front, with the HT ready to address the room, before calling out the individual names of the children, to have you all gather at the front in preparation for being taken to your classroom. I got very nervous at this point as there was no sign of your classroom assistant.

One of the ladies from the school office sneaked in to the gym hall and immediately sought us out. Bad news. Your support assistant's car had broken down and she wasn't going to make it. Great start! After a few tense moments, word came that Gillian from Craighalbert would come down to E Primary and support you in the class that morning. Crisis averted.

Soon the children's names were being called and one by one, these tiny little people made their way to the front of the hall, some hesitant, some confidently striding, some needing their mum's hands right till the last minute. Your name was called and I took you to join your classmates. You were still smiling but I wondered if your smile might falter once I left you and headed back to my seat. But no, when I sat back down in my seat i could see the Deputy Head had caught your eye (a blonde, there's a surprise) and you were smiling at her.

Soon you and the rest of the little people had disappeared out the door at the bottom of the hall that leads to the classrooms and dad and I were left sitting there, with the other parents, smiling stoically at one another and shoulders sagging in relief.

I remember we came back home and put the kettle on and sat at the kitchen table with a cuppa, wondering how you were getting on. Or more precisely how THEY were getting on with you! The school had never had a child as complex as you before and if we were nervous about sending you, I know they were a million times more nervous about receiving you!

Two and a bit hours later we headed back to pick you up. All the parents were allowed into the classroom to collect their little darlings. And there you were, sitting in your little heathfield chair, a drawing in front of you (your first piece of school work :) and that smile still on your face. Even the teacher was smiling but I think that was from relief that the first morning was over!

On the way out we stopped in the playground and took this photo of you and your pal Ross. You were full of the joys as you couldn't quite believe the school day was over. 3 hours? What a lark!

Home, back into civvies, lunch and an afternoon wondering why mum had spent most of the day with mascara smudged all over her face. My pride in you overwhelming me at many points throughout the day.

And so began your 12 year school journey. Some of it amazing and some of it so heartbreakingly awful. But that's in the future. Today was all about the first step.

This was No 1. You loved it. :))