I realise that is rather an odd title. Combining the momentous occasion of your son’s first day of school with a pretty good trip to the op shop? Yip.
Well it was a pretty good haul…
Noah started school yesterday. I’d been feeling a little emotional about this for the last couple of weeks. I had mixed emotions, of course I was immensely proud of him growing up, but also I wanted to hold onto and soak up his preschoolness for just a little bit longer. Prior to this I had been feeling a bit gutted. Up until a couple of weeks ago Noah had been third on the waiting list at our preferred school (my fault for getting the application later than I should have), so we had enrolled him at our second choice.
Initially I bet myself up a bit for being disorganised, but then I decided to make the best of the situation. However, even after deciding to take this attitude, I couldn’t help feeling that I’d somewhat dampened my own excitement of what should be a pretty awesome day. But then, a couple of weeks ago, we got a phone call – Noah was in! Yay! Thank you God! Only really at this point I truly let myself look forward to this milestone.
Andrew was out of town working so we stayed the night before his big day at my Mum’s house. Mum lives less than 5 mins walk from the school. Noah was very excited to put on his uniform in the morning and was running about so it was hard to take photos of him.
Most of them look like this…
He was quiet and seemingly shy at first (he has a whispery polite voice that comes out in such situations), but he was excited to see his friends. He already knows many of his classmates from church and preschool.
When I went to leave he hugged me really tight.
“Are you going to miss me?” , he asked.
“Yes” I said. “Then I’ll hug the ‘miss’ out of you, Mum” *Squeezy hug*
He repeated the question, to which I responded “just a little.” Another hug. “Maybe you could stay just one more minute?”
Just when I thought it might be difficult to leave, they had to go off to assembly. Noah was buddied up with one of his pals who had been at school a while. I made my exit, and wished I had remembered my sunglasses… and worn waterproof mascara!
After that, I took Isabelle to kindy. She was booked in for whole day. I looked at Pipi. What to do?
…So we headed to the op shops. A pretty avid op shopper, I had done very little op shopping in 2013… I’m also a pretty picky op shopper. I don’t want to buy something that’s just going to end up back at the op shop. And just because it’s cheap doesn’t mean I need to buy it. I have to LOVE it. Well there was a lot to love that day.
Essentially I spent $20 total, of which $8 was spent on 6 re-usable nappies (not pictured). They are the same brand as a large number of my stash, they’re in perfect condition and retail new for $20-$30 each. I also bought 4 tops for myself. Including a black Country Road one and that awesome embroidered blouse (my favourite item).
I also picked up a cute floral top for Isabelle, an awesome Milky romper for Pipi and a little cardi for a little friend.
Then Pipi and I enjoyed an iced coffee (ok that was just me) at our local cafe. It felt like a bit of a ritual because I’d gone to the same cafe and ordered the same thing when Noah went to preschool the first time, when he turned 3. Of course, it was just me and Isabelle back then. I sat there sipping my iced coffee, remembering the earlier occasion and how ‘free’ I felt, and wondered where the years had gone.
It was a pretty good day all round.
So far, Noah seems to really enjoying school. He has reading and writing homework and is so proud when he can pick out letters and words. Of course he is finding it pretty tiring and experiences a bit of ‘hanger’ /hungry anger (Andrew’s words) when first picked up, but it all seems to be going well.
Anyone else got kid’s starting school pre school/ school for the first time this year? Had any good op shop hauls recently?
x
