Kindergarten at last

Well, Josh's BIG day has come ... his FIRST official day of Kindergarten! He was so excited that he woke up at 6:30 a.m., put on his clothes and began asking every 5 minutes, "Is it time to go yet?" I didn't know whether to feel sad that he wanted to go or happy because he was so excited. I kept on asking, "Are you nervous? Do you have butterflies?" He looked at me like I was crazy! "Nervous? For what?" And I'm not too proud to admit that, yes, I had butterflies in my stomach. But I tried to be brave.

On the first day I took him to school, but agreed that he could ride the bus home with his friends. His face as he went into the classroom was priceless ... full of excitement, anticipation, and just a hint of nervousness. And then the teacher closed the door to keep all of the anxious mothers out. And there we stood ... shocked that our babies were official Kindergartners. Not one of us shed a tear, but I'd be willing to bet we all went home and had a good cry. I know I did.

I was so happy to see his cute, smiling face as he stepped off the bus for the first time. I think that riding the bus is by far his favorite part of school. I shot all sorts of questions his way, the typical mom questions - "How was your day? What did you do? Do you like your teacher? Did you make new friends?" In typical boy fashion he looked at me and simply said, "It was good." And that's really all I got. Not a wealth of information, my small little friend, but boy is he cute!

The next day he and Kate, walked hand in hand down to the bus stop as I stood by, trying my best to keep it together. As they stepped onto the bus and Kate proudly showed him where to sit (the very back of the bus, of course), they knocked on the window, waving to me with giant smiles on their faces. And that's when I lost it! I quickly headed home so as to avoid making a giant spectacle of myself, had a little boo-hoo session and felt alot better.

It's hard to think of them out there in the world, away from the watchful and caring eye of their mom. But their exuberance and enthusiasm for school makes it a little easier to swallow. So, to all you Kindergarten moms out there ... it's ok to cry as they leave and yet feel a little excited at the same time. Kate and Josh ... I love you and GOOD LUCK in school this year!