in the first grade, luckily mostly unscathed. After Jackson successfully went to bed tonight Mike and I high-fived each other. Jackson was in bed without fussing, upset or calling for me to come snuggle with him. That is a success these days.
Today has been a pretty great day, and I'm full of pride and love for my growing boy. He woke with anxious anticipation for the day, ate an OK breakfast, and began asking every minute how much longer until he got to go to the bus...number 105, the one with the dinosaur. About 8:40 we drove around the corner to the bus stop, met our friend Kyle and soon we saw big yellow coming down the street.
Next thing you know Jackson is racing on the bus, and quickly took his seat next to his buddy. If you ask Mike he says I started tearing up when I saw big yellow, but I held back and my welled up tears didn't actually trickle down my face, I will have you know. He just looked so great getting on that bus!
I promised Jackson that I would meet his bus at school and walk with him to his class. We even did a dry run on Tuesday, showing him where he would get dropped, where I would be, where we would walk to, etc. Mike and I got to school before Jackson's bus, and when the bus got there they went over bus rules, and then tattooed the kids with their bus number. When Jackson got off the bus, he saw us and quickly ran past yelling behind him "Bye Mom"
We did follow him to his room, watched as he excitedly stuffed his back pack into his cubby and quickly walked into his room.
We greeted Mr. Dekker (yep - he's got a male teacher, I'm so excited!) and couldn't even get Jackson to turn around and tell us good-bye. That's it, he was off and rolling.
Mike teased me as we walked to the car, called me a sap. And I am, I completely admit it. Just chokes me up that 7 years ago this little being came into our life, and now this year he is off on yet more adventures, big kid adventures at a big kid school. And I just couldn't be more pleased. Then Mike treated me to a first day of school coffee (I know shocking, right?!)
And it was oh so yummy!
Then about 4 this afternoon I met Jackson back at the bus stop.
And as we walked back home I reached my hand out to his and he didn't grab it. I asked if he could hold my hand and I got his cute face looking up at me and he smiled and said "Im a first grader now mom". I suspect he'll still hold my hand from time to time, when he needs a little support. But today, he was feeling the same pride for himself as I did for him, and for that he didn't need my hand.
He filled me in on most of his day, I suspect the gaps will start to fill in - he's good about giving me details, all in due time. The class has a lizard (named Gieco), he got to be line leader today, he held his class sign that had the teachers name on it at the assembly, he ate most of his lunch, he played tag at recess with Skylar (who he knows from summer camp and who apparently runs really fast), there are lots of girls at his school, all these things came trickling out.
Some things I want to remember about the last couple of days, Jackson loved getting a school sweatshirt - one that had the name and logo on it. He couldn't wait to wear it, love that he has pride in his team (good tip from our friend Isaiah and Michelle who went through this last year). He loved hearing the Grizzly cheer today at the assembly (mom, what's an assembly?)...Go Grizzlies Go!! He was so anxious about the bus (rightly so), I know he was worrying about that quite a bit. I safety pinned a ring my Mom II had given me when my dad died to the inside of his jeans pocket so that he could rub it and know that his Papa David and I were close to him all day today (thanks Raegen for the great suggestion) - he told me he felt it several times today, but didn't let any of the girls see it. He was super excited to wear his DCs to school (thanks Mom II).
So good to be in first grade, so glad this first day is over and we are on the other side. Now just wish us well for the rest of the year. Roller coaster here we come!!
