I couldn't believe that the little boy who had been my world for five years was going to be heading off to kindergarten. I knew I would be fine, since he had been in preschool a couple of mornings a week since he turned four, and kindergarten was only half a day, so I figured I could handle the transition. Our neighborhood was one of the few neighborhood schools that still had a half day kindergarten program, and I was so happy and relieved that it was OUR school. I had been prepping Charlie for weeks, letting him know that he would only be gone half a day, and he would have so much FUN!
Charlie was ready, eager to be with other kids and explore a whole new world. Far more ready to be away from me, than I was to have him gone. When you have an only child, every milestone seems so much bigger.
We gathered with the other families, smaller children running around the tables in all of the excitement. The principal took the stage, and welcomed us all to the big night. He then proceeded to tell us that there had been a big change at the school, and they would now have mandatory all day kindergarten, rather than the half day program they had offered the last few years.
My eyes opened wide in terror, and I looked across the table at Mike, and I had to pull it together to stop myself from bursting into tears.
Charlie was coloring a picture, and when the presentation finished I sat him down and explained that he would now be going to school all day, rather than half a day, as we had talked about. He looked up at me, and shrugged his shoulders, and said "Okay mom!"
Clearly a bigger deal for me than him.
Fast forward to last night, and we went on-line to register for HIGH SCHOOL.
It was a lot easier.
But I found myself thinking back to that night, and how much has happened since then. And how the time accelerates each year, moving faster than I could have possibly imagined. I miss those eager young days, but I am so proud of the young man my son is becoming.
Speaking of shining, if you are not on Facebook I wanted to share a movie that Charlie made after our vacation. Here is a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTMayTef-tU
HIGH SCHOOL! Crazy. I still remember talking to you when you found out his kindy would be full-day. xo
ReplyDeleteThat kindergarten picture kills me - it is sooo cute! You and I are in the same place. Tonight is Juliana's Freshman Registration Night. Yikes! I imagine emotionally this is a lot bigger for us than them.
ReplyDeleteWell said. Parenting is full of bends in the road. My baby starts high school next year as well. Wow.
ReplyDeleteThat picture is adorable! That happened to us - expecting every-other-day kindergarten & finding out a week before school was to start that it would be all day every day. Talk about a shock! We were so disappointed in the way the whole thing was handled we took him to Heartland (about 1 mi. from our home) to go 3x a week. He's turned out just fine and we registered for HS a few weeks ago. Where did that time go? Enjoy as the HS years go every more quickly. :)
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