The Beginning

Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new adventure in our family.   Ace starts preschool!  He's ready, he's excited, and I am preparing myself for the car shuttle shuffle for the next decade+ - but even more than that I am preparing myself for letting go, just a bit.   I joked with Loving Husband that starting tomorrow we'd never really know for sure anymore if he was telling lies.   Up until now he's had very little exposure away from us.    He only sporadically stays in Sunday School, we've had very little babysitting, and all playdates for the most part I am in attendance for.  So if he created a story or a fib, it was pretty easily known if it hadn't happened.    Now we start a whole new adventure of several hours away from mom and dad.   Into a whole new world of school.

I am so excited for him and I am so thankful that he's so excited to start.   I pray that enthusiasm remains when we go to say goodbye and leave him in his class.   That it remains as the days of the week continue and he realizes that this isn't just a one time adventure that this is a couple days a week, every week, all year long.  

I won't lie - even as a I write this I'm misty eyed.   It seems impossible that we're already embarking on the adventures of school for him.   Yes, him and I have done 'school' together for over six months now - but this is truly the beginning of it all.   Soon he'll move to a 5 day program, then he'll go onto kindergarten, elementary,  extra curriculars will be developed... more car shuttling will happen and more and more time out of my care I will be entrusting him to someone else.   I won't lie - that's a little scary.  I won't lie - it's a huge milestone that I've been waiting for him to experience - and I hope he loves it.     I won't lie - the last 3.5 years have flown by.    Where has this baby gone? 

So while tomorrow's adventure is for Ace and what he's experiencing - it will certainly have just as big of an impact made on the rest of us - especially this mama. Ace will make friends, learn new things, and experience life from a whole new perspective.   I just pray that it's a good experience for him and pray that to date we've done a good enough job preparing him for the outside world. 

I look forward to his adventure tales, his insights, his new knowledge and excitement he finds. And  again, I won't lie - I will look forward to when he comes home - because even on the worst days he's my first born, my baby big boy, and I love to see his precious face, see his excitement, hear his perspective on the world, and give big hugs!     So yes, I'm sappy - I'm trying to get a good portion of that out before tomorrow morning so my toddler isn't rolling his eyes at me in embarrassment. 

Here's to a great first day at preschool, Bear!   I'm so proud of who you are and can't wait to see where you go in life - this is just the beginning!