Firsts

There are few times anymore when I can say that this is the first time I've seen/done/whatever something. And I don't know when it happened that I stopped experiencing firsts. Maybe it means I'm in a rut, but I don't feel rutted at the moment.

The point of this is that my boy is experiencing a first today. Today is Boo's first day of school. Well, pre-school. Well, day-care. But we call it what we call it and so it's school!

He's only going for a half day twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday), but it feels to his mother and I like we're sending him off to war. I'm sure it gets easier or we get used to it. The worrying, I mean.

He's a shy little boy. When I took him with me to "school" to pick up some papers, it was after most of the kids had gone home. Boo had already visited once with his grandparents, but the director gave us a tour nonetheless. He gripped my hand the whole time. There were no kids in his room, so we just stood there talking among the empty tables, chairs and shelves of toys stored neat and ready for the next day.

It's a nice clean facility. Because he's so shy, they suggested the 2-year old class. He IS 2, but he's going to be 3 in December, so we debated. I'm glad they suggested something to us. Parents need suggestions sometimes.

They provided us with the paperwork and then, right as we were about to leave, the nice lady said that she almost forgot something. She disappeared behind a door and came out with a brand new school bag for Boo. He carried it out to the car. Such a big boy.

So, today is the first day of school and I can't take him. I will likely be gone before he even wakes up. I'll be waiting with my cell phone to hear all about it from my mom. She will be with him and will stay until he adjusts. The rabid parent in me wants her to just hug him and say goodbye...but the daddy in me want to go and stay there myself.

He's growing up.