The Saga of Konnor Continues...........

If you are readers of my blog you may remember a few posts from last May in which Konnor would not walk in his graduation from Kindergarten. Well, evidently his emotional outbursts were not over.
Konnor was set to start 1st grade on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008. As most of you may know, we flew back from North Carolina on August 11th after a wonderful two week vacation. While on vacation Konnor seemed to be excited about going to 1st grade. However, as the first day of school grew closer he was beginning to be more apprehensive.

DAY 1:
On Tuesday morning we woke up bright and early(5:30 A.M. actually because we were all still on east coast time). Everyone got ready pretty easily and we had a wonderful breakfast of Eggs and toast and bananas. Konnor kept asking me about his friends and why he couldn't just go back to my school and see his friends. I tried to explain to him that they were all in different schools as well. He reluctantly stopped asking me any questions since I would not give him the answers that he wanted.

As we began our morning drop off journey we headed to Gwen and Makayla's middle school first. Both of the girls were very excited to see all of their friends and as soon as I pulled up to the curb, they jumped out of the car and hardly looked back as they said bye and gave me a half wave. We then headed over to a friends house to pick up her son Cole. He is in fourth grade at Rose Lane and I thought this may help Konnor to know that he was friends with an "upper classman". Konnor looked very worried as I watched him in my rear view mirror and we didn't say much as we pulled up to the school. Another friend of mine pulled up at the same time and she has a son named Sam who is in 2nd grade. I thought for sure Konnor would be excited to walk into school with his older friend. However, I was wrong. He wanted me to walk him to his classroom so of course I did.

He held my hand tightly as we walked through the school campus to find his classroom. As we opened the door both of his teachers were inside getting prepared for their day. Mrs. Willey said" Konnor, we are so glad to see you today. We missed you yesterday!" He immediately released his grip on my hand and went in to talk to his teacher. She was so nice and showed him all around the class. He was definitely more relaxed so I walked him outside to the playground where he was supposed to wait until the first bell rang. Before he went off to play he asked if I would wait until the bell rang before I left , so I did. When the Bell rang, he lined up and put on his backpack and gave me a wave as he went off to his classroom. I covered my eyes with my sunglasses so that no one would see the tears that were welling up in my eyes. He was such a big boy now and I just couldn't believe it!!!

DAY 2:
On Konnor's second day he again did really well. He still wanted me to walk him in, but as soon as we got to the playground he ran off to play with his new friends. He didn't even ask me to stay today until the bell rang. He was doing so well!!!!!!

DAY 3:
This day started out a little differently. Konnor threw a huge fit about getting up and getting ready. He didn't want to eat anything or pick out his outfit or do anything that I was asking him to do. It was very frustrating and I'm sure I yelled at him a few times. We finally got out the door and started the drop off journey.As we got to school he started crying and saying," I don't want to go to school. I hate school. It's too long and we never get to play inside. We only get to play outside in the heat and I miss all of my friends!!!" I didn't know where all of this was coming from. I went ahead and parked and started walking Konnor to the playground like usual. This time however, he was holding on really tightly to me. He started telling me that today was a special day because they had to go on another playground with the bigger kids. When we walked to the other playground he did not want to leave my side. He just wanted me to stay until it was time to line up. So I did. Half of his class was lined up 5 minutes before the bell rang. I think they were all feeling sort of anxious to get off of the big kids playground. I also found out that they would have to come to the playground every morning for the next three weeks because they just put sod down on their playground.

Day 4:
This day pretty much went like the one before. However, Konnor started crying this time. He started holding my hand tighter and tighter as we got closer to the playground. We stood by the basketball hoop and Konnor cried and cried as he held me closer. I tried to get him to go off and play with some of his new friends but he just wasn't budging. When the bell rang to line up he held me tighter. I didn't know what to do because he had to go to class. I pried him off of my legs and told hm he would be fine and that he needed to get in line because his class was going inside. He slowly walked over to the line and tried to wipe away his tears that wouldn't stop flowing out of his big brown eyes. Every time he looked back at me he cried more. NO ONE TOLD ME THIS WOULD BE SOOOO HARD!!!!!I knew God would be the only one that could get me through the next few weeks. I was just happy it was Friday and we would have the whole weekend to gear up for school again.

Day 5:
Today I was prepared. Over the weekend Konnor and I had made a key chain together. One side had a picture of Keith, Gwen, Kayla and Konnor riding a roller coaster and the other side had a picture of me that he picked out and printed from the computer. Monday morning arrived, and so did more fits from Konnor. He really did not want to go back to school. He said he liked his teachers and he had friends but he just didn't want to go because he missed being near me. I reminded him of the picture that we made and that he could look at that anytime he missed me. I also told him that if he went to school that he and I would go on a date after school to get ice cream at dippin dots... He perked right up and got ready for school. Everything was going well, so I thought the bribery really worked. When we got to school, though, I was not ready for what was about to happen. Konnor started to cry really hard as we were walking to the playground and he also began to hold on to me tighter as we got closer. He said he didn't want me to leave because he missed me. This tore me up inside because my son was crying in front of everyone and I knew he was trying not to. I wasn't sure what to do. This wasn't like preschool where you could take your Preschooler right to their room and the teacher could hug them while you left the room. We were on the playground and the teachers were all busy watching the children. I thought that if I just left he may try to run after me. I felt so bad for him and for me. I again started to feel like I was going to cry too. Not knowing exactly what to do, I walked to his classroom to talk to his teachers. They were so sweet and helpful but again would not let me leave him in the room. They suggested that I find a teacher on the playground and that they could help calm Konnor as I left for the day. So that is just what we did. I walked him back to the playground and took him to the first teacher I saw. I could barely get the words out because I was trying to hold back tears myself. But I said," Could you help us? My son is having a hard time with me leaving." The teacher looked up and pulled Konnor close to her and said," Sure, Hey Konnor, I am the Assistant Principal, Mrs. Spong. You can stay right here next to me." II waved goodbye and got to my car and cried my eyes out. I know I am such a baby!!!!That afternoon when I picked him he said he had a good day but he missed me. We went for ice cream together and while we were eating I asked him what would make him feel better at school? He said," I don't know........I think chocolate donuts might make me feel better." I said that we would try anything and maybe chocolate donuts would work,

DAY 6:
Today Konnor woke up and got dressed and ate 2 chocolate donuts for breakfast. He knew this was really special because I normally don't buy chocolate donuts or any other sugary breakfast treat. When we got to school Konnor was holding my hand tightly but he wasn't crying. He asked me what he should do if he starts crying. I just told him to be strong and think about all the fun he would have at school. As we entered the playground area I began to walk straight to Mrs. Spong again. While we were walking over to her Konnor's new friend Mac yelled," Hey Konnor, come look at this." Konnor stopped and looked up at me and said," That's my friend Mac. I'm going to go see him." He then gave me a hug and ran off. I was sooooooooo surprised. I was all set for crying again and I think he was too. But all of the sudden, Mac comes in and makes everything o.k..
When I picked Konnor up from school he said," I think the chocolate donuts worked. We should get some more." I agreed and we got more so that they would last for the the whole week.

Day 7:
Konnor ate 2 chocolate donuts and didn't cry when I walked him to the playground and said
good-bye. He looked for Mac but ended up playing with two other friends.

Day8:
Konnor ate 2 chocolate donuts and didn't cry when I walked him to the playground and said good-bye.

Day 9:
Konnor ate 2 chocolate donuts and he didn't cry when I walked him to the playground and said good-bye. It's Friday and I am hoping Monday will go smoothly as well. He finished up the bag of donuts this morning so I have to get some more for Monday!!!!

Day 10:
Konnor ate 2 chocolate donuts and today when I pulled up to the curb to drop Cole off, Konnor jumped out at the curb too and walked to the playground ALL BY HIMSELF!!!!!!

I AM SO PROUD OF HIM!!!!!!!!