Another school year kicks off

This year, there were no tears from anyone in the family.

I guess you could say I was more prepared or maybe it came so fast I didn’t have time to react.

Yes. My son Matthew is now as we like to call him a “hot-shot first-grader;” and John started his second year of preschool.

While other parents were once again encased in death grips from their children, who were crying uncontrollably as they attempted to drop them off for that first day of preschool, my John just ran off.

Once again, without a wave, a hug or goodbye.

Oh well. I would rather have this type of reaction, than the death grip.

As for Matthew, I walked him down to his bus stop every morning, which is at the corner of our street. I would then wait for him there each night for the bus to drop him off.

After about a week, I started sending him down to the end of the street to meet the neighbor’s girls to get on the bus.

This was a task in itself. My Matthew is more reserved, while my John is all about independence and doing everything for himself.

I would tell Matthew to go down to the corner of the street and wait for the bus and when I would go out to the garage, Matthew was in it playing.

Where was John? At the end of the street waiting for the bus. Sheesh. I would have to walk Matthew down there and bring John back.

I have been making sure Matthew makes it down to the bus stop, which I can see from my house. I am trying to get him to go by himself to get him more independent. Sometimes he goes, but usually I take him down there and wait with him. When I do get him to go by himself, I still watch from the driveway and don’t leave for work until I have made sure he gets on the bus, but he doesn’t need to know that.

When it’s about time for him to get off of the bus, I also just so happen to be watering the flowers in the front yard when his bus drops him off at home. I know I am a bit of a mama bear, but I have come to live with that.

It’s the little things like this I think I am going to miss in a few years when I know both of my sons will be more than ready to do everything by themselves.

Everyone keeps telling me from the day they were born how fast they grow up -- and darn it they were right. It seems like yesterday I was holding them in my arms nursing them. Now, they are making friends, learning how to read, add and subtract.

I know all of this too will pass too fast, which is why I try hard to spend time playing the games they like to play and completing crafts, which we have come to call projects.

I know all too well that one day I won’t be cool anymore or the smartest person on the planet, which John insists I am. It will suck when they realize this, but for now I am going to savory it while I still can.

So while a new school year is upon us, and I am getting used to the new work schedule, preschool and elementary school schedule, I am going to try and enjoy all the picking up and dropping off as much as I can, because next year, they will both ride the bus.

Something my youngest son, John, can’t wait to do and is overly excited about. Yet, something this mama bear will have to adjust to.