When I was growing up, my friend Laura’s daddy would always start off a new school year by singing “SCHOOOOOOOL DAYS, SCHOOOOOOL DAYS, DEAR OLD GOLDEN RULE DAYS,” and it made me laugh whenever she would tell me about it because who? who sings that? who wakes up their child by singing a song from the early 1900s?
We do, apparently.
And so this new school year began.
I’ll spare you the sight of our before school pictures; just suffice it to say that my eyes would have benefitted from a solid half hour underneath some ice-cold cucumbers. I’ve noticed over the course of this past year that it’s always a good idea to give my face a little recuperation time in the mornings so that things – like my eyelids, for instance – can settle down a bit, but the hurried pace of the first day of school did not afford me that privilege. My 20 year-old self would have laughed at my need for early morning face rehab, of course, as she jumped out of bed, threw on some sweats and hauled her crease-free face to Lee Hall two minutes before Advanced Composition started.
But here’s a little secret that you can’t tell anybody: sometimes, when I think about that wrinkle-free, crease-free version of myself? I want to kick her. Just a little bit. A gentle kick. Mainly so she’ll appreciate the fact that she doesn’t have to slather on moisturizer the second she gets out of the shower. And so that she’ll treasure her precious few remaining years of looking wide-eyed with absolutely no help at all from ice packs and/or cosmetics.
Anyway.
The little man had a great first day of school, which honestly wasn’t a huge surprise since he typically has a great time doing anything at all. Pushing a grocery cart down a frozen food aisle? BEST THING EVER. Sitting on the couch in the salon where I get my hair cut? IT’S SO RELAXING, MAMA! Watching a public transit bus at a red light? I LOVE THOSE BUSES! I WANT TO RIDE ONE OF THEM SOMEDAY! Going to Walgreens? PERFECT! I WANT TO LOOK AT ALL OF THEIR FUN TOYS!
Bless him. He’s definitely a carrier of the COMPLETELY LIMITLESS ENTHUSIASM gene.
So after school we headed over to a yogurt shop to celebrate the first day of school with my sweet friend NK and her girls. It’s one of my favorite traditions, mainly because I like to sit back and think about how much the young’uns have grown and how before you know it we’ll be at their graduations and they won’t really need us so much anymore and OH MY WORD DOES ANYONE HAVE A TISSUE?
The kids had a blast fixing their yogurt and then piling on nutritious toppings like gummy bears and sprinkles and Oreos and hot fudge. But more than anything, they had a blast laughing about everything and nothing.
They’re getting so big – which is all the more reason to hold them extra tight while we still can.
Hope back-to-school has been a happy time for you, too!
Awww. I love how excited your boy is about everything. That’s a wonderful quality!
Oh, and kicking your younger self? Yeah, I get that. Oh, do I get that. Then I think, maybe I should appreciate where I’m at now (wrinkles and all) because in 40 years I’ll want to kick my (current) self! :)
oh that little boy is SO cute. i think he could be a little children’s clothing model. like he’d look so perfect in a little seersucker suit!! i think you should probably just go call the gap right now and tell them you have their next child supermodel on your hands. :)
I love your way of describing it: “the COMPLETELY LIMITLESS ENTHUSIASM gene.” I have a four year old with that gene so my life is full of “{insert current food, game, toy} is my FAVORITE EVER” and “THAT IS SO COOL!!” and everything is just SO! MUCH! FUN!
If I could just get him to be a little less enthusiastic about torturing his sister all would be good :0)
I have a 4 year old, too, that has the “COMPLETELY LIMITLESS ENTHUSIASM” gene. I love your descriptions of your son. I know he is a delight to you.
By the way, is that Yogalicious where you stopped for yogurt? Because if it is, I just tried it for the first time on our quick trip to Dallas last week and oh my word, it is a delight….we just don’t get that kind of stuff up here in Dalhart Texas.
Hope your little man has a great first week!
I love Alex’s enthusiasm!! I have a nephew who is the same way – it’s a great gene to have!
The only children I have are the 4 legged kind. I just had to write to tell you that your son is so beautiful..yes in face, but as you can see from his smile..his heart is so filled with joy that it radiates from him. You are truly blessed.
Boo,
From the looks of your title, it appears as though Martha has taken over your blog. Haha!
Joy
Charlotte, NC
Oh what a blessing Alex is, and will be to all who know him. Joy in the every day is a true gift.
And you’re right… before you know it he’ll be starting his senior year and you’ll be a basket case who starts mothering her pets way too much and talks of fostering pets and babies and cries when she looks at baby pictures….
oh wait, that’s me!
Alex just makes me smile. It is obvious he is a joy to parent.
We are headed to the yogurt place for a class get together after school today – have they not sprung up all over the HAM lately?
Every morning before school my dad would sing “You’re so pretty, oh so pretty, Miss America should just resign” to me. All the way through high school and whenever I visit him or he visits me he will still sing it every morning. I love it!!
I feel the need to confess that I couldn’t sleep last night, and after an hour of lying there and not falling asleep, I got up to do some eyebrow plucking in the bathroom. I had a crease over my mouth AND I HADN’T EVEN FALLEN ASLEEP. And it had only been an hour! Un. Fair.
I’m so jealous. My daughter started her senior year on Monday.
I would love to have just one of those “first days” back…creases, puffed eyelids and all…
I hear ya on the creases and puffy eyes.
Speaking of which, I’m fairly new to your blog and can’t find much of any pics of YOU! :) Would love to see ya, creases and all!
What a wonderful boy you have! ! He has been so well behaved when I’ve seen him around! And he is ADORABLE to look at! I chuckle out loud at the things he says. You are truly blessed. Love ya!
Since I’m on both sides of the back to school thing (as a teacher AND a mom) I always have mixed emotions on it. Our first day was yesterday, and my own girls seemed to have a good day (I have 6th, 9th, and 10th graders.) My students seemed to enjoy day one, but today one of them told me, “This is boring and not so much fun.” My feelings would be hurt, but she IS 4 and apparently a princess whom the world revolves around ;) Me? I’m just so stinkin’ tired from all the getting ready!
Sending ’em off to school doesn’t get easier as the years go by, does it? I just sent my oldest to high school for her SENIOR year…ohmywords…I can NOT be that old and this can NOT be really happening…
I’m going to take a nap now…
No. Way.
My name’s Laura, and I kid you not…my mom used to sing that exact same song to us when school was starting. With lots of vocal swoops. She’d also sing “Sisters…Sisters…” from White Christmas to us when we were arguing with each other. So she never did actually arrive in the current decade in terms of her song references. Good times!
I don’t have one in school yet, but tomorrow I am taking our adorable little fellow for his 9-month check up! I get so excited to go to these “milestone doctor visits” so I cannot even imagine how I will be when he starts school. A big fat blubbering mess holding a big fat soggy ball of what was once seven or ten tissues. I hope my little Owen has the same zest for life and happiness-oozing quality that your little man has.
Blessings for a wonderful school year.
~~Carianne~~
I had to giggle…does Caroline (as in Big Mama’s Caroline) read your blog. She enjoys the cucumbers on the eyes, too. :)
I Love that you sing songs on the first day of school. Every year WITHOUT fail, even through college, my Mama (lord bless her) would sing…”Good Morning, Good Morning, it’s time to say good morning. With a hello, and a how do you do-today is your very first day of school. Good Morning”……brings tears to my eyes, as Mama is gone now, but MY kids get to hear it every year on the first day of school!
Soph-
My Dad used to sing, “Good Morning to you, Good Morning to you, we’re all in our places with sunshiny faces…ohhhh this is the WAAAAYYYYYY to start a new day” very loudly. Maybe I should start doing that.
Is that I Heart Yogurt? Love the yogurt store!
xoxo
Emily
My mother had a “Morning Song,” too – I don’t know where it came from but it started with…”It’s uppity up time..” You can only imagine. Then she would turn on the shower full-blown hot and say if I didn’t get up there would be no hot water left. Yes, that worked!
Our school started August 2, so we’re into the routine now!
We start (home)school on Monday! My girly could not by more excited to start kindergarten! It sure helps to get things off on the right start when they are so enthusiastic about it all!
omg, stoppit! my mom TOTALLY sang that song to us in the morning! it was either that one or ‘it’s time to get up! it’s time to get up! it’s time to get up in the moooorning!’ and it was either that or ‘wake up, wake up, wake up you sleepy head. get up, get up, get up, get out of bed’
she was definitely a morning person, god love her.
i seriously love alex. if he’s not the cutest thing. aaand, he looks just like you! (from what i can tell.)
glad you had a successful first day of school aaand that you spawned an eternal optimist.
xo
The “limitless enthusiasm gene”! Love it! My two had the B and M genes (rhymes with Rich and Joan). Get to push a cart down the frozen food aisle at Kroger..”Oh my poor little feet. They hurt like you are making me walk on bloody stumps”. Accompany me to the beauty salon…”These toxic chemicals they use to make your hair not grey are burning my little eyes and making my nose run”. Run into Walgreens with me….”Walgreens! They have all those cheap toys made in China by child laborers, like you force me to be when I have to pick up a sock off the floor”. Yes…they grew up with the B and M gene and so I say appreciate your little PollyAnna boy! That is the bestest! :)
Mine are in college and high school now and have outgrown some of their negativity but they are still both glass half empty type of people.
Amen to the holding on tight. They grow soooo fast. My sweet boy is 4 and it just kills me sometime how fast he is growning.
Yesterday was our two boys first day of school, and when they got home we watched an episode of the Walton’s, where it was John-boy’s first day of college. It was so funny because Grandpa sang the School Days song in it, and I immediately thought of you, since I had read your blog right before watching it. :)
Oh, going to the yogurt store after the first and last days of every school year was one of our traditions! Thanks for bringing back that memory.
Yes ma’am! Hold tight!
Hubby and I just returned home from dropping our Sweetboy off for his 2nd year of college!
He’s still as happy and funloving as he’s been his whole life! What a privilege to be his parents!
Enjoy little man!
Wow! I had English Comp in Lee Hall! It was on the very top floor and we used to get in trouble for watching the pigeons walk back and forth outside the window! And no one would sit on the front row because our professor spit so bad when they talked. HAHAHAH! Thanks for jogging that memory