Tuesday, September 07, 2010

Our Big Boy

Today was a special day. The fact that it was our 8th wedding anniversary was overshadowed by Luca's first day of playschool.

For the last week leading up to today, Luca has been beside himself with excitement for school. He would ask every morning if "today was school day". He chose his lunchkit (Batman) and his backpack (Ironman - which I thought funny that he even knew who he was. Boys will be boys, I guess. Too cool for the Cars backpack now.).

When we went last week to meet his teacher, he wanted so badly to take his lunch kit and backpack. He was thrilled to give Daddy the tour of his classroom (I had already seen it when we registered), he was a bit shy when his teacher introduced herself, and loved to check out the toys and centres.

Yesterday I began to have mixed feelings about this momentous event. On one hand, Luca's excitement was so contagious, I couldn't help but be excited with him. But the mommy in me was sad, tears threatening to spill, questioning where the time went and how could it be that my first baby was starting school the next day?

This morning, Luca woke up just before 7am, crawled into our bed and snuggled. When I was truly awake, he said "Is today school day, Mommy?", knowing full well that it was. He was thrilled to find a "first day of school" gift waiting for him on the table at breakfast (some Firefighter action figures). He ate his breakfast quickly so that he would have a few minutes of play time with his new toys.

When I got him upstairs to get dressed, he was pleased to choose from his 4 new shirts (that he picked out when we went shopping) for his school outfit. He quickly got dressed and then announced that he would do "spikeys" in his own hair, that he was old enough now. He needed "school hair like Daddy has work hair". (haha)

Another moment of realizing that my baby was a big boy- he hauled his stool over to the counter, squirted some gel into his hands (under my watchful eye so as not to bathe in gel) and worked it into his hair. The end result required a bit of fixing by Mommy (glad to see he still needs me a bit!) but he was so proud to have done it (almost) on his own.

Before getting into the Jeep, photos on the front step were taken.






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During the ride into Carstairs, Luca was fairly quiet, with the odd question about school breaking the silence. We were all lost in our thoughts, I guess.




When we arrived, Luca was excited to see his friends, his teacher and most of all, the paint! We hung his backpack on his hook, took a few more pictures and I started to say my goodbyes before heading out and leaving him for the morning. When it was time for a hug, I got a tighter, longer hug than I have in a long time. There were no tears (although at this point, I was close) and he assurred me that he would have a good day and tell me all about it when I picked him up.




And with that, off he went to explore all the activities.











Dee and I walked down the stairs with mixed feelings. We were both proud that our kids didn't seem too rattled about being left for the morning, excited at this milestone, but also sad for the time that has seemingly whizzed by.




While we were chatting by our vehicles, the playschool class came out of the building on their way to play in the park for a while. Luca and Adelynn were holding hands, bringing up the rear. They didn't see us watching them from across the street among the vehicles. They looked so grown up. So confident. So excited.




At 1pm, when I arrived to pick up Luca, he turned and gave me an enormous smile, ran to me and wrapped his arms around my neck. In my ear he whispered "I like it here!". What a reassurance to me that he did great and was comfortable there.




All the way home he chattered about what they did and stories the teacher read. It was wonderful to listen to the excitement in his voice, with a few yawns thrown in too. When I asked if he was tired, he replied "oh mom, all those kids made me so tired!". He fell asleep within moments of being in his bed tonight.




By all accounts, it was a great first day and he can't wait for Thursday so he can go again.

8 comments:

CanadianMama said...

Oh this is so exciting! I love that he told you he liked it - how wonderful!

Julianne Harvey said...

Will Schuster's hair came to mind when you were describing the morning gel application (or at least Sue Sylvester's constant needling of Will's gel use!)...hahahaha.

Luca was just beaming at preschool. So very cute. I'm glad they all had such a good first day, and that the emotions/excitement/anxiety of it all is now behind us and we can get into the regular routine.

Joy said...

Made me teary!! I remember Jayden's first day of school. I felt exactly the same, and now he is in grade 4. I don't know where time goes either! I remember when he was too cool for the Cars backpack too...lol....and the Thomas one, and the Spiderman one. He actually chose one of the better quality backbacks with no figures on it this year..."Because I'm to old for those now."
Thanks for sharing :)

The Tompkins Family said...

You told this so beautifully! It gave me tears in my eyes!

Karyn said...

Great account of this milestone day - I could feel Luca's excitement through your words.

And when you picked him up....he ran to you and hugged you hard. He still needs you.

Anonymous said...

Jay,
I Think it's a mixture of that time of the month and the truth of how quickly they grow up but you have me in tears. Reinforces to me how right our choice was for me to stay home with the kids during this very short season of life.
Thanks for sharing Jan. Oh- and today's post about God and babies is awesome. You should tell that at daniel's wedding someday.

Anonymous said...

Sorry...that was me. Tor.

Amy said...

What a nice post! I got choked up just reading it, I can't imagine how you felt!