Tears and Fears

My D had his first day of kindergarten today-a few fears on his part, lots of tears on mine.

He looked cute, though.

The at-times over zealous mother I am, I have been touting the benefits of learning to read to this child for the last 2 months to the point that he has now developed a fear of not being able TO LEARN HOW! His fears today included not being able to find his class as he is unable to read his teacher's name (valid, actually) and not being able to read TODAY in class. I assured him both were unfounded (can you imagine if I hadn't?). I am trying to stress to him that learning to read is a process that will take a while...but I seem to be stressing in general.

My tears were directly related to:

1. seeing my firstborn growing up so quickly

2. hormones

3. I have no idea really, just was overcome with emotion but thankfully made it to the car before unleashing a torrent of water.

I am confident each day will get easier for both of us-my sip n' sob with my friend helped today.

We are off to St. Louis tomorrow for a few days which will be a nice break for D-if we all survive the flight together. That my friends, will make for another post.

2.

It's Official

Dominick is officially a kindergartener and so that makes me...happy, anxious, old?
We met his teacher yesterday and she seems great and the classroom was really cool. He is fortunate to have a buddy from his TK class in there with him as well.

It was interesting being back in a school again-for someone who did not really loovvee school, it was a bit of a surreal trip down memory lane. The smells and sounds were familiar, the decor was largely unchanged and the "size up" was also there...I could see the kids checking each other out and I could see the mommies doing the same (guilty here). Why is that? We count one another's kids, ask what other activities they're in (as if life in general were not enough), observe clothing and behaviors.
Don't get me wrong-everyone was really nice and genuninely interested in the task at hand, which was to give our kids a great start to their 12+ years in academia. It's just that I do not want to go back to school in order for my child to attend so here's hoping the mommies have a great year together!

Growing, Growing, Gone

My oldest is about to start kindergarten. I know many-a-mother has been in my shoes before but it only matters when it is you, right? I alternate between tears, pride and fear at any given moment of any given day. Part of me is so amazed that we made it this far this fast! Weren't we just changing diapers and watching Baby Einstein? How did he get this big?

He has now reached the point of not wanting to hold my hand very much at all but especially in front of other people-when the hell did that happen?

Go-Go has gone from sweet baby girl to sweet big girl in a blink of an eye-she is almost to big to hold and carry...her legs are so long and she is simply too busy to sit still with Mommy now for long... She still has the same cute little girl voice but the words now have more syllables...

And Nora, don't even get me started...how is it that she is THIS big already! Holding her head up, rolling onto her side, SMILING like a banshee...she'll be slamming doors and kissing boys before I know it.