First-day anticipation for kids and parents

Hard to tell who was happier about going back to school Tuesday morning: 11-year-old Sarakshi Sadana or her father, Arun.

Sarakshi was excited about having new contact lenses for her first day at Hauppauge Middle School. No more eyeglasses, so friends could now see her blue eyes. And moving up to middle school means new friends and new teachers, said Sarakshi, whose favorite subject is science.

As for Dad, well, "It will be nice now when it is 2 o'clock in the afternoon and her bedroom is not a mess," he said with a roll of his eyes as the two waited for the bus in front of their home on Valleywood Road in Commack.

Around the block, Joseph Ferreri, 43, was waiting with his three children for the same bus just a few minutes before 8 a.m.

His eldest, Samantha, also 11 and, like Sarakshi, eager to experience middle school for the first time, said she was excited about having new clothes and meeting new friends. But she did admit Tuesday morning was a bit rough, especially after being able to sleep in all summer. "It was hard to wake up," Samantha said.

Her brother, Joseph, 8, was catching a later bus for Pine Elementary School. "I'm excited to go back so I can see more of my friends and some of my familiar teachers," he said.

But the best thing about going back to school, he said, might be his new sneakers, a pair of black, low-cut Airwalks.

The youngest Ferreri, Alex, 6, appeared a bit sleepy-eyed as she clung to her father. She was to start her first day of first grade and also would catch the later bus with her brother. Her father seemed to think her chief concern would be staying awake for a full day of school.

For Pierre Leroy, 5, a new kindergarten student at Flower Hill Primary School in Huntington, the biggest thing was the bus.

"He was so excited about taking the bus for the first time," said his mother, Sophie.

Each time a yellow bus would come near the driveway of their Park Avenue home, his father, Rodolphe, 37, said, "He would say, 'Is this my bus? Is this my bus?' "

As for the experience of school, Pierre is an old hand. He went to preschool and was used to being with teachers and other students in a classroom setting, his parents said.

They believed Pierre was more excited about starting soccer Wednesday and getting new cleats than actually starting school.

"For school, he was so relaxed," Sophie Leroy said. "I think I was more nervous than he was."

For preschool, Sophie said she had more control. She drove him to the school, watched him go into his classroom and could mingle with other mothers performing the same routine.

"Now, I put him on the bus for the first time with someone I don't know and watch him drive away," she said. "For me, that was more emotional."