Noah is in Kindergarten!

It's crazy how it feels like it was just yesterday that I was sending Noah off to Preschool for the first time! I better brace myself because I get the feeling that the rest of my kids lives are going to fly by like a bullet...and I'm not ready for it, not one bit!

I promised myself that I was going to keep it together today. I was going to keep that smile on my face and not show any sign of sadness. But it's hard...I'm not sad because he's getting bigger and going to school...I'm mostly sad that my little buddy isn't going to be home with me every day. Noah and I are very close...we kind of lean on one another throughout the day. Maybe it's because he's my first baby...whatever it is, it was hard to send him off to school, and come home without him. I know that I have done this before, but now he was going to be at school every day. And the kicker is that he will only be gone for half a day...what in the world am I going to do next year when he is a true big kid and is gone all day?!?!? I better not think about that now, because I'll get to experience it first hand very soon...and I just don't want to go there.

Anyway...back to Noah's first day of Kindergarten. He's been talking about starting school all summer. I know that time to kids is very hard to understand, but I did my best to explain when he would be starting. More than anything, I pretty much told him to just enjoy summer and all that comes with the freedom of it...which he did! Once we went to back to school night, all of those unknowns that Noah had about school started to get answered, and be became more and more excited.

Then the big day came...and he just couldn't wait. The night before, Doug explained to Noah the joys of school and gave him his first father's blessing...which really was so sweet. I so look forward to this little tradition with all of our kids when they start school! Noah goes to school in the afternoon, and all morning long he kept asking when we were going to go {this goes back to the whole time thing with kids...}. We finally got him all dressed and went out and took some traditional back to school pictures...
THEN came the hard part. We live very close to the school, so I told Noah that it was time to walk to school, but he just flat out refused and said that he wanted me to drive him. I wasn't in the mood to disagree with him, so we got in the car and I drove him. He was quiet the entire time. I parked the car and looked back at him and he had tears puddled in his little eyes. I unbuckled him and had him come sit on my lap and asked him what was wrong, to which he said "I'm just nervous, mom." I proceeded to tell him that it's completely OK to be nervous on your first day of school...and I know that's the truth, because I remember being so, so nervous on my first day of school. So, he sat there on my lap and started to take deep breathe, after deep breathe to calm his nerves. Let me tell you, it took all that I had to keep it together during this little moment, which was hard to do! I'm a very emotional person, and holding back those tears and putting on my brave mommy face...ugh. So hard. But I did it, I held it in and just sat there and hugged my little guy and told him how wonderful of a time that he was going to have. When he was ready, we got out and started walking towards the school. He gripped my hand so tightly, so I knew that he was still nervous. We stopped to take a quick picture in front of his school, and you can just tell by the look on his face how he was feeling.
THEN...we got to the little playground and all of those nerves were gone in a flash! He ran over and started to play and was back to his happy and excited little self! Thank goodness!And then it was time to line up and go to class...for the first time. When his teacher came out, she asked them all to get in a line and to wave goodbye to their mom and dad's. Before he went to get in line, I gave him a huge hug and a kiss and told him that I loved him and how excited I was to see him after school. And then he went......and Leah, Isaac and I went and got in the car and totally let go of all those emotions that I was back. And I was ok with the fact that I was crying...I was happy for my little guy, but a little sad at the same time that he was growing up so fast. He is such a great kid...and these tears were for all the love that I have for him. I'm so proud of him! And the best part about my little sob-fest was that Leah came and sat on my lap and said "Mommy, I'll take care of you." Can you believe how cute that is...and of course, I just started to smile and be happy again. We headed home and took naps, and 3 hours later we eagerly went to go get Noah...
...and he had the most wonderful time! Just like I knew that he would! He even said to me when we were walking home that he had the best day ever! Music to my ears! I am beyond happy that his first day of Kindergarten was all that he thought that it was going to be. I am also so thankful for his most wonderful teacher...I just know that she is a good fit for my little guy and I so look forward to all of the wonderful experiences that we will have this year!