Back to School

A few weeks back at a church function, a family friend bent down to Judah level and asked, “So, is your mom excited that you’ll be starting Kindergarten soon?”

Judah looked up very solemnly and replied, “Nooooo…she’s gonna miss me when I’m at school!”

And he was right! The house feels pretty hollow and empty with all my guys off to school today after several weeks of togetherness that was our summer break.

Our day began bright and early at 5:45 this morning. We got the whole family up and ready because we wanted to take pictures of the big first-day-of-school event. Jericho began his Freshman year of high school this morning, Jeff returned to teaching at middle school and Judah just got dropped off at his afternoon Kindergarten class.

I knew it was coming, but I still felt a bit surprised when I found myself back in the kitchen last evening preparing school lunches.

Here we were first thing this morning.

For the record, Jericho is actually taller than me now, but I was wearing heeled sandals.

A friend from church, Cassie, a senior at Jericho’s school, had offered to pick him up for his first day and show him around campus.

A senior with her own car? Are you even kidding? He was thrilled and immediately jumped on the opportunity.

It was a bright, bright sunshiny day.

Hmmmmph. I guess now that he’s a big kid he’s too ‘cool’ to have his mom trailing him around with her camera on the first day. Whatev.

Then they drove away…and that was that. My baby is now a Freshman. **sniff, sniff**

Jeff left moments later for his first day activities, and had a couple of tricks up his sleeve.

Literal tricks. With the help of some props and some things he recently learned from an illusionist, he intends to really wow his students on their first day.

Really, I think he’s just glad to have several more audiences to practice said tricks in front of before the wedding he learned them for this Saturday.

The wedding he will be officiating.

The tricks he will be performing in lieu of the traditional unity candle.

It seems that lately, every time I turned around, there was Jeff with props in hand, practicing those tricks again.

I think he’s got it down. It will impress his students for sure.

Anyway, once daddy and Jericho were gone, Judah had approximately four hours to kill.

But do you think I could talk him into going back to bed for even part of that time?

Negative.

First it was, “Take a pitcher (his pronunciation) of me with my lunch pack!”

Then it was, “Take a pitcher of me with my pack-pack.”

Then it was 3 blessed hours and 45 long minutes of him chomping at the bit to go.

“Is it time for Kindergarten yet?”

“WheeEen do we get to GO?”

“Mom, you better check the clock.”

Lying around on the floor whining, “When is it time?”

Finally, with about 20 minutes before grandma was to arrive to see him off on his first day, I sat down to take a couple of pictures of he and I.

Betcha can’t tell he’s excited, huh?

Well, this should seal the deal

Seriously, this was him after he'd been running around like a wild child calling out, “It’s almost tiiiiiime!”

You’d have thought it was Christmas or his birthday or something!

But then, he stopped and climbed up on my lap and asked very soberly, “Mama, are you gonna miss me when I’m gone to Kindergarten?”

“Of course! This house is going to be so quiet without you!” I replied, feeling a little melancholy tug on the heartstrings. **sniff, sniff**

He gave me a big old hug around the neck. “I’ll still be your baby even when I’m all growned up.”

Awwww…little stinker. Guess he knew this was harder for his mom than it was for him.

At long last, grandma arrived.

We piled into the truck and drove to school.

We took a couple of pictures and a little bit of video footage.

Here he sports his new shoes, which upon testing them out in our front yard he breathlessly reported to us, “They make me run so fast the dirt flies up!”

Which was kind of a strange deja vu moment, because Jericho came home from his first day of Kindergarten reporting that his shoes “made him run so fast the wood chips (on the playground) flew up.” **sniff, sniff, sniff.**

These shoes were the closest thing we could find to PF FLyers, which he’s coveted ever since seeing the movie Sandlot.

He looks so little. Like he still needs his mama all day long.

T minus one minute to starting time: Is that a little bit of uncertainty upon my big brave Kindergarteners face?

Nope. Just the sun in his eyes.

At last, he eagerly and confidently jumped in line, I told him to obey all the rules, he smiled and then his teacher walked the little procession into her classroom.

At the last minute, just when I thought it would go into his class without a backward glance, my baby turned around and called out, “See ya later, mom.”

The photo was a bit blurry, but that’s okay, because I think my eyes were, too.

And that was that. My baby is now a Kindergartener. **sniff, sniff**