Well last night was quite a night.
Today was Harry's first day of "Kindergarden Prep." It gives the new kids 2 weeks to get used to riding the bus, and going to a new school without any interference from the "big kids." Harry's been building up to this all Summer, and as we expected, last night was one of little rest, but we didn't think it would go this far.
For the past few days, Harrys' interest has really come to a point about what was going to happen on his first day. What thing were going to be like, who was going to be there, all kinds of things. Last ngiht at dinner, he very strategically framed the following...
"Daddy, what did you feel like on your first day of riding the bus by yourself?"
Unfortunately, I really didn't have much of an answer to give him, as a) I have very little memory of such things, and b) even if I did, my older brother would have been there too, thus rendeing the entire discussion moot.
So we tried to come up with comparisons that seemed like they wuold be comfortable to him relating to movies he'd seen, or other experiences he'd had.
And as the night went on, maybe we should have known something big was coming, but didn't.
Around midnight or so, he could be heard on the monitor givin off what sounded like some typical mid-dream moaning, or maybe a last-ditch "i need some water." So as I continue to be in my crutched, peg-legged state, Kim made the trip downstairs to see what was amiss this time.
As I tried to listen in, between the 3-speaker rotation through Ainsley's room and the kitchen, I could kind of hear that something was indeed off, and thought I heard something about a thermometer. Off I went to hobble downstairs.
By the time I made it down there, little man was on FIRE. He had a temperature of about 100+, and Kim was coming back in with a compress for his head, and wrestling some Tylenol in him pronto.
I stayed in there to take & re-take his temp a few more times to make sure, while Kim called the Pediatrician. The advice was to keep an eye on things and call back if it got above 105. So upstairs Harry went, and off to the futon in the office I went, so Kim could keep an eye on him.
Harry's always been one to get himself super-worked up about doing new things, sometimes they work out well, but often times he talks himself out of some really fun things, and sometimes it gets even worse and psycho-sematic symptoms take it all a notch further. This seems to be the worse one yet.
Fast forward to this morning, and things were slightly better. His temp was back down to normal, but just felt gross. After another wrestling match for more medicine Ainsley was off to school, and I needed to get ready for work.
T-minus one hour until the bus was to arrive... finish watching this show, get yourself a shower, and get dressed.
To say that his physical turnaround was 180 degrees would be an understatement. By the time he was out of the shower and dressed, any sign of apprehension or anxiety was LONG gone.
We headed out to the bus stop, only to wait about 20 mintes, with him in high excitement!
About a minute before it arrived, someone from the next street over came driving up... "Are you guys waiting for the K-prep bus??"
Turns out their neighbor who had the right time, didn't come get them when they obviously had the wrong pickup time, and they very much missed the bus. Luckily, it was right behind them, and as she pulled over to quickly park, we crossed the street and Harry jumped on, headed back to find a seat, and disappered.
Just like that.
Honestly, I can't really remember if I actually said bye or anything, it all happened so fast. All in all, I guess that's a good thing, and was exactly what we hoped would happen, but now that it has, it seems kind of weird. I really did think he'd get super-shy at the last second, and that we'd end up having to drive him in, and then walk him to the door, etc, etc. Apparently not.
And off they went.
