Alex's First Day of School

Today was Alex's first day of 4th grade! I cannot believe it. As I was driving him to school this morning, I looked over at him sitting next to me and couldn't believe that my baby boy is growing up so fast!! At soccer practice last night, one of the Mom's that we have known since the preschool days asked "how did this happen - 4th grade!" "Weren't we just at the Villa?" I totally agree. How did this happen so fast? One minute I am preparing him for preschool and the next minute, he is going into 4th grade!! Crazy!!

Last night was kind of rough. He was so nervous when it was time for bed, that he couldn't go to sleep. I went to bed after 11 p.m. and he was still awake. Jimmy came to bed at 3 a.m. and when he went to move him, Alex told him he was awake. On the way to school, he looked so tired. He worries so much about things. He worries that he won't know where to put his stuff, that he won't know what to do - in general. I had to have a little pep talk with him that he needs to believe in himself. That I believe in him and that nothing can stop him if he just has faith that he can do it. I assured him that no one knows what to expect on the first day but that Sr. Margaret would tell him. She would tell the whole class the new rules and that he didn't need to worry about the small stuff. I mentioned that he is an old pro at this now. He knows all the kids in his class, he knows Sr. Margaret, so there should be no worries. I guess that's easy for me to say even though I am a worry-wart too. He just doesn't know how to calm himself yet.

So, I walked him in to school and as we were walking in, one of his good buddies was also coming in (without his parent). I think that made him realize that things would be OK. He found his friends and waited for Sr. Margaret to walk them to the classroom. I quickly said good-bye and prayed that he would not get upset and he would just go with the flow. I guess I won't know until after school when I talk to him how the day went.

As I mentioned this in the last post, today Alex received another feather in his wings. And as I tucked that feather in, I couldn't help but get choked up as I noticed how quickly his wings were filling up. Have a good day, Buddy!