Today was my kid’s first day of kindergarten. It’s half days this week to help the kids adjust and give the teachers a chance to decide how to split up the classes, then starting Monday it’s full day. O was totally ready. He wanted to leave early for class, and as soon as the teachers told the kids they could go in, he was off. No goodbye, not even a glance over his shoulder. He waddled off with the new Mario backpack he had picked out exclaiming, “I’m walking like a penguin!” (We’ve been watching penguin documentaries recently.)
He was first out the door at pick-up (I think just because I was the first parent the teachers spotted, so he was let out first). He ran over with a big grin on his face waving a piece of paper. “Look what I got! It’s a certificate!” For completing his first day of kindergarten. Sounded like he had a good time. They had to follow clues all around the school left by Pete the Cat.
I tried to get some good pictures of his first day, but he’s not a patient subject, and there is a lot going on the first day so I was trying not to be in the way. Plus at midday in August in Colorado the light is pretty harsh.
I went for a jog this morning and I passed some parents at the playground with their toddlers. A few years ago that was how he and I would manage to get through the summer. I’d put him in the jogging stroller in the morning and after my run we’d stay at the playground for him to play. It would eat up a good chunk of the morning without requiring a lot of thought or imagination from me. Lunch when we got home, then nap shortly thereafter.
Anyway, here we are. He’s a kindergartner now. It’s exciting, and I can’t wait, even as a part of me laments the fact that he is no longer my little boy. But that’s parenting, I guess. It’s clichéd to say it, but I think for good reason.
The days are long, but the years are short.