First Day of PRE-K

Today was classic and will forever remain in my memory as one of the cutest days I've experienced with my son. Pre-K started Friday, but due to my son's surgery, I didn't start him until today. He needed a full week to recover.

His new school starts about a half-hour earlier than Mother's Day Out, so I thought I'd have a problem getting him up and roused. No sir! No sooner did the clock hit 7:30 a.m. and my son was up and raring to go. I heard rustling noises coming through the monitor, so I walked down the hall to peek my head in. I saw an excited child, who'd already dressed himself nicely, but who was pulling up DARK olive green knee socks. Chuckling, I entered to suggest some white ankle socks to match his red shirt and blue cotton shorts. This is what I got:

"No...this is a kid's room only, Mom! No Mom's allowed!"

Okay? So I left him to his fashion blunder and continued to pack his things up. I told him he had to eat a banana as brain food before school, and finished double-checking everything.

lunch? check
papers for the teacher? check
artwork that's due? check
backpack filled? check
backpack filled correctly with no surprises? double-check

Luckily for me, my son decided his knee-high socks, which he'd now rolled down to his ankles, were too thick to wear with his new shoes. The one thing he 'had' to wear though was his backpack. A backpack filled to the max because we had so many items to take and leave at school. On a normal day, it wouldn't be so filled or heavy. I was planning on carrying it in for him, but he insisted on wearing in not only into the school but from our home to the car as well.

"It's my backpack, and it's my school day! Mom!"

So he wore the pack, which almost knocked him down twice, to the car. The backpack was heavier than he was.

Once in his classroom, he ran up to the teacher spouting out so many words in succession that she looked at me in awe. He wanted to show her the banner we'd been assigned to work on, which symbolized our family. He didn't take note that she was in the middle of helping another child in the room. He just flew in, guns blazing, with excitement to show how hard he'd worked on his first homework assignment. She looked at me over his head with wide eyes, filled with amusement. She was almost knocked over by this 34-pound child and could tell his enthusiasm for learning was catching. I can tell she's going to be a good teacher.

Within a few minutes, it was time for me to go, and he didn't need his 'mom' there to kiss him goodbye. He left me behind and ventured to the other kids, curious to see who they were. When he realized that I was still visiting with his teacher, he ran back over to me. He reached up to kiss me bye. Not as affection, mind you....but as a sign that I should go now.

"BYE, MOM," he said in his deep matter of fact voice. It made me laugh! What a sweet kid he is, and well adjusted. I'm so blessed.

I left with such peace that my little baby is growing up in a good place. With a loving family, and a wonderfully fun environment at school.

Oh btw....last night he slept through the whole night! Hallelujah! So did I! And his reason for sleeping? 'Because I knew I'd have to be big enough to go to school today!'
He knows when he sleeps ... he grows!