Back to School!

I went back to work today, after my nerves kept me scrubbing in the kitchen until midnight. Finally, Pat said, "Hon, you have to go to bed."

Elliot woke up before I left around 6:30am, so instead of letting him cry himself back to sleep (and it really did seem like he might not do so), I quickly got a little snuggling in and left him crying with Pat in our bed. Kinda hard, but when you just gotta get out the door early, there's not too much time for reflection. Last night were the few tears.

Luckily, the way it all worked out with timing, the sub, and what the administration wanted, I have two transition days with the sub still there, then we have spring break, and on April 5th, it's a full-go for me. It's seventh grade this year, thus I don't know names, and the sub wants to wrap a few things up anyway, so this is ideal. Although, for not really teaching much today, I sure am beat! It seemed every trip to the ladies' room involved catching up with a few people on the way.

Of course, Elliot did fabulously. The bottle issue is a non-issue at this point, and this week I tried hard to mimic his upcoming adjustment by not nursing him until late afternoon everyday, which went fine, too. Our good friend, Nancy, came to watch Elliot while Pat was gone (Leroi's owner) and we were so glad that she helped out so generously! I grabbed salads on my way home to cover dinner and we seem to be in decent shape. But I have to force an early bedtime now!

I have to say, it felt pretty darn great to be back in the classroom, interacting with the kids. As much as I am heartbroken to leave Elliot, we had a great start for his first 8 months, and it seems that the aching will fade quite fast since the day at school flies by. It probably helps that I know summer break is in 11 weeks. I expected to be more distracted or upset, and I really wasn't while at school. Now, the drive home could have been faster... :)