The 1st Week at School!

So we are survivors. We got through the first week at school.....whoop!! Go us!! It was always going to be a funny week, we're finding our feet, Alfie's finding his and a whole load of new experiences for us all to get used to. Don't worry..... I won't be doing weekly updates, imagine how tedious that would be but I did think it would be nice to round up his week and I'll probably do sporadic updates throughout the school year.

If you read my starting school post you will know that there were some natural anxieties and concerns from myself with this big step. My hubby thought I was being silly but I'm fairly confident in saying that I'm sure I'm not the only one that was a bit anxious for the 1st week. I really tried not to let this rub off on Alfie and I don't think it did, I'm actually really proud of him as his first week has gone pretty well......it didn't start off overly promising though I have to say!

Monday - Unfortunately I was attending a funeral today so was unable to do the first drop off, I wasn't overly concerned though as the first 2 days were only a couple of hours from 1:15 - 3:15. Elarna was at nursery so we had a few hours with Alfie before he went for the afternoon. Alfie was absolutely fine in the morning and seemed to be quite looking forward to going. We had been talking about starting school for a while in the run up so he knew what to expect. Hubby text me once he dropped him off and it was reassuring to read that he was fine, no tears and was more than happy to be left to play with the other children.

Tuesday - Today was to consist of a 3 hour session at school including lunch, he had to be there from 12:00 - 3:15, Tuesday is my day off so I was looking forward to being able to take him and pick him up. Elarna is also at home with me so she would be joining us for the school run, Daddy had the week booked off work so he would be able to help out too (thanks goodness!). One of the main things bothering me is faffing about with Elarna and getting Alfie to school on time. As it is such a small, village school we have to park a little way from it and walk through the church yard to get there, this is all well and good but I'm definitely  going to have to put Elarna in a pushchair when I'm on my own to make it a bit easier.  Anyway, I digress, so we dropped him off with no issues and he met up with his buddy (this buddy system is really good I have to say) and we left him to go into class. When we picked him we were actually spoken to by his teacher to inform us he had eaten nothing at all (not good but we weren't overly surprised as he can be a bit unsure in new situations), we were a bit disappointed to hear he hadn't eaten anything but felt we perhaps needed to encourage him a bit for the next day. The teacher felt he was maybe a little over whelmed. As he hadn't eaten at school he was an actual little devil when we got him home......definitely didn't want this happening again. 

Wednesday - Today I was at work so it was down to Daddy to take him, today was an 8:40-1:15 (with lunch) day.  No tears again on drop off (phew) and when hubby picked him up he was told that he was like a different boy to the previous day! He ate all of his lunch, sat with his buddy and a new friend he'd been talking too and then played out on the field with the bigger boys and girls. Yey!! Much more reassuring to hear he'd had a better day.

Thursday - This session was the same length of time as Wednesday and as this is also my day off I was happy that I could do the drop off and pick up. Today the drop off was a bit different to when I dropped him off on Tuesday, we arrived at 8:30 and had to wait for the playground gates to open before taking him into the classroom. He was a little bit more subdued and reluctant, although I think I made things a bit more difficult for him as I was faffing around with trying to take his communication book out of his book bag and put it in the tray while Alfie was trying to show me where to put his book bag in said tray! He then showed me where his water bottle belonged and then his teacher asked him to pick his name from the table and put it in the pencil pot which he did. When we were about to leave he came to the gate and wanted cuddles from Daddy and me which we did but he was starting to look a little upset. We pointed him in the direction of the sandpit and dinosaurs and made our retreat quickly. We could see as we were walking away that he was ok though which was good. When we picked him up he was fine, had eaten lunch and seemed to have had a good day. 

Friday - Today would be Alfie's first full day at school, 8:40 - 3:15, I felt he was ready to tackle the whole day definitely. We were starting to see little friendships form and hearing some names of boys and girls he had been talking too. We hadn't heard  much of what he'd been doing during the day, he didn't seem to want to disclose that ha! So my husband dropped him off and today there were a few tears, not sure why perhaps the end of the week and a bit tired? Who knows. They have a little commendation assembly at 2:55 so I text hubby to remind him to pop along which he did. Apparently Alfie sat with his buddy (who is a girl and looks like she is keeping in check, ha!), he was a bit fidgety according to Adi and there was a bit of bum shuffling going in but his buddy looked like she was telling to him sit still which I thought was cute! His day had once again well though and it seemed like a good end to the week.

Overall the week has gone well, thank goodness - it could have been awful I guess but I'm so pleased it seemed to go pretty well. He's been tired in the evenings and over the weekend which is to be expected. Next week will be my first time doing the Tuesday and Thursday drops off by myself, I'm hoping it won't be too stressful getting them both sorted on my own so we'll see how it goes - watch this space!

How is everyone else getting on with either their children starting school or starting back? Please tell me the tiredness and crankiness improves over time!