As bad as it gets

The morning before I left for Washington, D.C. with my boys was the morning Christos and I were going to meet his teacher for the first time.

I was anxious, but prepared. I had spoken with his teacher over the phone previously, and she sounded incredibly nice.

My husband and I spoke with Christos about this day, about the fact that he'd be going to meet his teacher before officially starting school. He was ready.

However. My mom came over that morning to babysit Dimitry. And she said something she shouldn't have said.

"Can I come meet the teacher, too?"

Of course, in normal circumstances, this would have been okay. I mean, my son and I could have gone in, met with the teacher, looked at his classroom, and then my mom could have said hello to the teacher, too, as she will be Chrsitos's ride to and from school for most of the school year.

But, considering the fact that my son is extremely shy to begin with, as well as super sensitive, it just didn't work out. He acts different when he's with my mom. Of course he is spoiled, and there are no rules with her. My boys totally adore my mom, and she is madly in love with them, too. It's just that, for this very important day, I should have gone alone with Christos to school.

I knew it wouldn't go as expected. And it didn't. Christos would not leave the car. He was crying, saying he did not want to go in the school, saying he wanted to leave, to continue driving far away. It was heartbreaking. He wouldn't listen to a thing I said. He just wanted to leave. Another teacher heard him crying, and went to get the kindergarten teacher for us.

I convinced Christos to finally get out of the car, and to walk around the outside of the school. His teacher came outside to meet us, and that started the tears all over again. He clung to my legs as if it was the end of the world, screaming, yelling, crying. I was trying to calm him down, trying to pick him up, and trying to talk to his teacher at the same time. She was calm, relaxed and smiling. I started to cry, in disbelief that this was actually the situation I was in.

Things could not have gone any worse. It was as bad as it gets. Nothing would relax my son. I apologized to his teacher, and went to look at the classroom with her. Christos was watching from the window, but he would not come in.

"Have you seen this type of behaviour before?" I asked his teacher.

"Well, not on meet the teacher day, to be honest. But yes, I've seen children act like that on the first official day of school," she replied to me.

I wish that my son acted like the little boy I know at home - the amazingly smart little boy who knows way more than a 4 year old should know about life, about how things work, about letters, words, and about numbers. My smart little boy, who is protective of his younger brother, who can make a mean Greek salad, go the washroom alone, clean the house better than I can, take apart a computer, read a book, ask questions, and star-gaze through his telescope. My little construction worker, who loves to play with his giant excavator in the backyard sandbox, and who walks around the house with his binder and paper checking off the things that are working, and making note of what needs fixing. My happy, funny, smiling boy, who can tell great jokes and make us laugh all day long. This is who I wanted his teacher to meet that day.

Instead, she met the complete opposite.

We have another chance to meet his teacher again this week, alone, before he begins school next week. I'm actually hopeful that this time, he'll be better behaved. He feels bad for the way he acted. I hope and I pray that this time, things will go a lot smoother for us!

Who would have thought it would be this hard...