The Real Deal

Packed and ready to roll.

Seriously. Could I ask for anything better? My child, packed and ready to walk out the door, standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for me to come down and take him to his first day of Kindergarten. It was so easy. Breathe sigh of relief.

A few parting shots with Mommy
It took a small army to manage all of the supplies for our one little kindergartener. I cannot believe how much stuff we had to buy! But YAY for Clorox Wipes and Purell. If it means that we can avoid at least one nasty stomach bug or cold virus, I'm all for it! The Second Little Nguyen's bookbag was loaded down, my arms were loaded down, and of course Chi was equipped with his mac daddy camera, capturing it all.
Everybody out! Yes, I can manage all of this. I am a Kindergartener!

The Second Little Nguyen lead us right to the room we knew he would be in, and didn't miss a beat in beginning to unload his backpack. It was like he had done it a million times before. Chi and I stood there, watching, and it didn't take long before Ms. R roped us into helping control the chaos of a first-day-of-school Kindergarten room. We sorted through mounds of supplies. We helped kids unload their backpacks. We marked things with Sharpies. I haven't experienced the classroom side of a first day of school in six years. Whew! Don't miss that craziness! Praise the Lord for patient teachers. I was just a parent, standing there, and my stomach was doing flip flops! The Second Little Nguyen, meanwhile, went right to his table, put on his nametag, and began working. Good boy! And he didn't blink an eye when it was time for Chi and I to leave. In fact, he waved and smiled like, "See 'ya later, alligator!" After our departure from the sorting frenzy, I went to the PTA's Tissues and Tears thingy. I was fully prepared to use the tissues for my tears and snot. In fact, I had even brought my own just in case the PTA couldn't fund all the tissues I thought it was going to take to dry a multitude of my tears and blow my nose. Strangely, they didn't come. And neither did the sniffly nose. I knew our little guy was ready to be where he was. He was happy. More treats!

I walked around in a strange fog all day long. Although I had been dreading this separation for several weeks, I had secretly made plans to treat myself to a matinee or something like that. But I never went. I came home and took Ellie and Betsy for a walk, and then I read a book for a little while. Two loads of laundry and a trip to Harris Teeter later, I was waiting in line to pick the Little Nguyens up. The littlest one was giddy when I saw him. All of these years, he has waited with me in carpool to pick up the First Little Nguyen. He has practiced what the teachers would say through the megaphone as they were announcing my arrival. Finally, he was there. He walked to the car with a bashful smile, sat down in his booster, and said, "I got to be the special helper on the first day of school!" He was full of information about who he played with, what he drew, who he sat with, what a waste of time rest time was. He was a veritable chatterbox of details, and I was so excited to hear all about his day. I guess I thought he would be exhausted, but he wasn't. He was raring to go, already wondering what tomorrow would hold. That's the real deal.

Gotta have a little treat! But seriously...that's it. No more.