Well, maybe not back to school since the boy hasn’t technically been to school at all yet. But you get the idea. Yesterday was my one and only child’s first day of kindergarten. A day I had both been anticipating and dreading. Good, because now he’ll have the stimulation he’s been craving, learn new things, be out of my hair for a few hours a day. Bad, because there’s no denying now that he’s not a baby anymore, he’s growing up and there’s nothing I can do to stop that. True, its just kindergarten, a little over 2 1/2 hours a day, but it’s the start of a new era in his life. K and I will no longer be the only influences in his life. And that’s pretty sad.

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The day went pretty smoothly, no tears on either side, no conflicts, no accidents in anyone’s pants. I don’t think we could have asked for a better first day of school. Watching him line up with the other kids and file into the classroom, into experiences I will not be able to join him for, was pretty sentimental, but I held it together. Some of the other mothers weren’t so lucky. So I was proud of that. But we were some of the first parents back at the end of the school day, waiting at the gate when the kids came filing out of the classroom. I craned my neck for a peek at my son and there he was, at the back of the line. He seemed whole and happy, so I felt immense relief there.

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Today is day two of the Great Kindergarten Experiment. Keep your fingers crossed :fc that today goes as well as yesterday. What a big boy now! :cry