First Day of School

BS"D

Today was the first day of school after Passover vacation. Lillie's bag was packed with gluten free corn chips, cookies (Lieber's from my Passover plunder), potato chips, rice cakes and soy butter (in case she forgot her lunch). I awoke with trepidation, one of those "this is the first day of the rest of your life" scenarios. This would be the first day Lillie would go into the big wide world, alone, without me, with Celiacs.

Getting her out of bed in the a.m. was a challenge due to the fact that although she went to bed at a good time, she didn't fall asleep until around 10:30 pm. This due the fact that she reported on Rosie taking her pajamas off, repeatedly, coming up with games she could play in bed, and generally running out of her room. Finally she arose and had her Gluten Free (G.F.) Rice Chex (thank you General Mills) for the first time. They seemed to be a hit. I had a bit of back and forth with her whether she should bring her storybook, The GF Kid by Melissa London (which I highly recommend) to school for story time. I felt trepidation, as to why everyone in the class needs to know about her problem. Will they go home and report that Lillie has a disease and start a chain of worry among the Kindergarten moms. Also, the book is geared, in my opinion, for children a bit older. I asked if maybe she just wanted to show it to her teacher, she did not. I told her I would speak to her teacher about it, she accepted that.

Into the car we went, almost on time, which is a miracle in and of itself. With Uncle Moishy music blasting in the background, we were off. Me with tears in my eyes. From worry, from sadness. Rosie got dropped off first, very happily, to play group. Then we moved on to Lillie's school.

I walked in with Lillie, her big, new purple lunchbox (the last one had alot of glutenny crumbs) and Daisie in her stroller. Her teacher and I explained pleasantries and then I asked to speak to her outside. It went well. She was surprised, and in the few moments I tried to explain Lillie's immediate needs. We agreed to speak later in the day. I moved on to the Nurses office and informed her of Lillie's condition and she perfunctorally noted it in her notebook. All in all, not as bad as I thought.