wordless wednesday

i've had a pit in my stomach for a week now, counting down the hours until my first-born left me for the huge, cavernous, busy, overwhelming halls of elementary school.  i couldn't sleep last night, tossing and turning as i tried to prepare myself for what i knew was to be an emotional morning.

and it was.  for me, anyway.  liam was just a bundle of excitement.  he came bounding in our room at 7:00 on the dot, proudly informing us that he had risen at 6:05 and gotten himself dressed and was ready to roll.  "i even matched my underwear with my shorts!" he exclaimed.  (unfortunately, he had chosen a wrinkled moose t-shirt and ratty shorts from his playclothes drawer, so while i applauded his drive, i chose a more appropriate outfit after breakfast.)

my tears started as we took pictures on the front step, abated somewhat on the drive over, and returned with full force as we entered his classroom.  luckily, out of the 18 other children in liam's class, we know about half of them from preschool or church or our neighborhood.  liam would have been completely fine in a room full of strangers, but for me, it was comforting to have friends give me a hug and assure me that it does get easier. 

susanna and i thought of liam all day, wondering aloud, "i wonder what he's doing now?"  and, "i hope he's having fun eating in that loud cafeteria!"  we watched the clock all afternoon and got to the bus stop at the end of our cul-de-sac ten minutes early, eagerly awaiting his arrival.  susanna assumed the role of the lookout, and as soon as that big yellow fellow crested the hill, she started jumping up and down.  he came bounding down the steps into my arms with a huge smile on his face and story after story of all the fun things he did.  "that place is AWESOME!" he exclaimed.

one school day down.  4,679 more to go!

 attempting to give susanna a goodbye kiss -- but, as i've posted before, she is no morning person

going in for the kill anyway

i took it as a good sign that the activity awaiting him at his desk involved pattern blocks!  i used those same manipulatives so often while teaching middle school math.  and, as he told his teacher, math is his favorite thing to do in school.  (wonder where he gets that from?)

his is the first stop, but he loved riding the bus so much that i think he's disappointed he has to get off so soon

thank goodness his is the "blue" route.  the boy who refused to eat cake last month at a birthday party because it had princesses on it would be none too happy having to sport a tag that had "pink" or "purple" on it