Haunted

It's The Morning Of Your Very First Day

August 23, 2016

Taylor's POV:

Today is a very special day for the twins. It's their first day of first grade and their first ever day of school. I'm very excited and proud of them. We had a lot of family conversations about them attending school this year and we decided that we have enough of a handle on their medical conditions to make it possible.

Their anxiety and PTSD are triggered by things at home specifically. Their eating disorder basically comes down to them not finishing full meals often or at all. And their concussions affect their focus and present like ADHD. I know that their teacher knows how to handle children with ADHD so I'm not too worried.

Archer and Lexie themselves are both excited and nervous. They're excited to finally have something normal happen in their lives but they're nervous about starting school because they've never done it before. Joe and I have been telling them about how much fun first grade is because they play a lot of games and will make a lot of friends and the twins eventually caved in and said that they should have fun.

Joe and I also told them that if they truly don't like school after this week, we can homeschool them this year and they can maybe try again next year, and if they don't want to try again and just be homeschooled, we can do that too.

Over the summer, a rule was established with the twins that they should try everything once. That means school, sports, food, experiences, etc. If they don't like it after the first time, they don't have to do it. Archer and Lexie agreed that that rule was more than fair so I'm glad they're on board.

I walk into the twins' room and wake them up at 6:30 since for some reason, they're still asleep. "Rise and shine, cuties! You've got your first day of school today!" I say. The twins roll over on their stomachs in their beds.

I walk over to Lexie's bed and rub her back. "Hey Lex, you've gotta get up, honey. School starts in two hours and God knows you and Archer take a year to get ready," I say softly. "I'm tireddddd," says Lexie. "I know, honey but you've gotta get up. I promise you'll feel better once you're up. Getting up is always the hardest part," I say. She rolls over on her back and I kiss her forehead. "Do I have to tickle you?" I ask. "No!" says Lexie. She sits up and hugs me. "That's my girl," I say. "You wanna double-check the outfit that we laid out for you last night while I wake up Archer?" I ask. "Yeah!" says Lexie. I point to her desk chair and she walks over there.

I move to Archer's bed and sit on it. "Alright buddy, it's time to get up. Lexie is already up and rearing to go," I say. "Need. More. Sleep," says Archer. Don't we all? "Arch, you've got five seconds before I do one of two things. Pour freezing water all over you or tickle you. Pick your poison," I say. "I'M UP! I'M UP!" shouts Archer, sitting upright. "That's what I thought," I say. My brother hugs me and I have him double-check his outfit too.

Both twins approve and I say "Do you want to take a shower or a bath this morning or just get dressed and do bath time at night instead?" "Morning!" says Lexie. "Night!" says Archer. I knew it. Lexie is like me and she says that showering in the mornings wake her up and Archer says that they relax him too much so it's better at night to get him tired.

I get Archer dressed in his favorite shirt with dinosaurs on it and his favorite set of cargo pants. I know it's August but my twins prefer wearing pants and besides, they're very active so they'll get more bruises and scrapes if they're in shorts. They've already proved that fact to Joe and me over the summer.

"Arch, Joe is downstairs making breakfast which will be ready by the time Lexie is ready to go, so how about you play in here for a while," I say. "YAY!" cheers Archer. "You know for someone who didn't want to wake up, you have a lot of energy," I say. He shrugs and grabs his dinosaurs and begins playing.