Big School: check.

"Mommy, is it time to go to big school yet?"

"No, Griffin, it's 6am."

"Oh."

To say that Griffin was excited about his first full day of "Big School" is an understatement. The kid was practically jumping out of his skin with excitement.

By 7:15 we were fed, dressed, and ready to rock.

"I'm going to put my shoes on now and go wait for the bus."

Too bad we still had an hour till the bus came.

When the time came, we FINALLY suited up and headed out to the end of the driveway to wait.
We kept our eyes peeled, and finally spotted it coming down the concession road, headed our way.
Griffin started jumping up and down and waving his arms back and forth.

"I'm over here, school bus! Come and get me!"

I held his hand. It was all I could do to hang onto him as we crossed the road. He climbed up those (huge!) steps like he'd been doing it all his life, and plunked himself in the front seat. I couldn't even see him anymore, he was gone so fast.

"Have a great day, buddy," I called into the depths of the bus, confident that he was still close by, even though I couldn't see him.

"I will Mommy!" he yelled back. There was no doubt in his mind, no fear, no apprehension. This? Was going to be AWESOME.

I hopped in the car to stealthily follow the bus to school.
OK, maybe I wasn't so stealthy.

Whatever.

The school bus dropped him off, and he got off and marched, with the confidence of someone who had done this a million times before, in completely the wrong direction. Luckily, someone grabbed him before he got too far. I then had a small moment of panic when I thought he headed into the big school (the "kinderpack" is in it's own separate building) but he was waiting with the teacher to collect all the other kids as they got off the bus.

After the bell rang and the yard cleared, a parade of tiny learners marched along the sidewalk and towards the kinderpack.
Safe in the knowledge that he was safely headed to his classroom, I whispered a silent goodbye and started the car and pulled away from the school, and drove home trying not to let my tears obstruct my view.

This afternoon, I was the one standing at the end of the driveway, nearly jumping out of MY skin, waiting for the big yellow school bus to appear and bring my baby back to me. The doors opened and there he was, just as I had left him.

"How was your day, bud?"

"It was good, Mom."

"Do you want me to carry your backpack for you?"

"No, it's OK, I've got it."

Yup, you sure do, little buddy. You sure do.