I’m so HAPPY!

Guess what happened? My 5 year old figured out how to open his milk!

~smirking~

He’s LEARNING!

I had no idea how tricky it was to open a milk carton. Every morning I take him to school and sit with him while he eats his breakfast. There seems to be HUNDREDS of giant kids in that cafeteria. My baby loosk so small and fragile. I demonstrate how to open the cereal, how to spread his jelly on his toast and how to break his biscuit and put his eggs into it so he can eat it. But the ONE thing he didn’t get was opening his milk.

Pull the two flaps apart. Fold them back then squeeze and it pops open.

He didn’t get it.

But on FRIDAY I planned to slowly give him his independence. When we got out of the car I saw some small kids walking and I asked him if he knew them. He just looked at me. Then one of the kids says, “Hey *Sugarbear* I’m going to eat breakfast, COME ON!”

Sugarbear looks at the kids and then at me. I tell him to go ahead and catch up with them and that I’ll be right behind him. He runs and is quickly next to them. Then he keeps walking. Right past them. Into the cafeteria.

When I catch up to him he’s walking right up to the front of the line.

“Sugarbear!” I whisper loudly. “Stand in the line. The back of the line.”

He giggles and walks to the back of the line.

When he reaches the front he gets a milk and then the lunch(man) gives him his tray. He takes a fruit and then some cereal. He says “Goodmorning” to the lady at the cashier. (YAY! I’ve been trying to get him to remember to say Goodmorning when he sees adults in the morning.)

He sits down and takes off his backpack. I’m standing there totally quiet, allowing him to do his thang. He picks up the milk and then..he opens it! Like a PRO! Then he looks up at me and smiles. I give him a BIG hug and say, “My baby is sooo BIG! GOOD JOB Boo Boo!”

He grins.

I am SOOO Proud of him. He’s come a long way. We had a bit of an adjustment problem. After that smooth first week of school all of a sudden he started peeing in his pants everyday. At first I just talked to him and then when he kept doing it I started to get upset. Then I realized that he must be getting used to the new school and it must be his nerves. I continued to encourage him and offer rewards for everyday he doesnt pee his pants. He eventually stopped. When the aftercare lady noticed his dry pants she complimented him and he said proudly, “My Daddy told me not to wet my pants.”

I raised my eyebrow. “Yo DADDY told you?” Hmph!

After the first two weeks of school he was adjusting to his teacher and his class and then I get a call from his father telling me that he was switching to another class. It turns out at his school, they test the kindergarten kids and group them according to ability and my son (who can already READ basic words) was moved to another class with students who are on his level. So now my son had to adjust ALL OVER AGAIN. ~sigh~

I had smirked at the other parents whose kids were acting up on the first day of school. Those kids were wildin out! Screaming, kicking and crying. Some kids wouldn’t let go of their parents. I thought it was so wild that they behaved like that. Not my baby. Cool as a cucumber. Or so I thought.

After introducing him to his new teacher and classmates we were approaching DAY 2. I sat with him in the cafeteria like I usually do while he ate his breakfast. We walked outside together so that he could line up on the courts to wait for his NEW teacher. I gave him a kiss on the top of his head and walked away. I was halfway down the street when I turned around to get one more look at my Baby. He was sitting cross legged on the courts with a deep frown on his face. Then I saw both fists go up to his eyes and I heard the saddest wail I have ever heard before. “MAAMAAAAAAA!” He was crying.

My eyes got big. I turned around and began walking toward the courts. By the time I reached him I hadn’t even noticed that I was running. “What’s wrong Boo Boo?” I asked him and gave him a big hug.

“I don’t know what to doooo?” he whined and buried his face in my neck.

My heart broke.

My Baby doesn’t know what to doooo. I held him. And cried. He cried. We cried together.

Me in my gray knee length skirt and heels, my legs getting all scratched up from the asphalt, but I didn’t care. My baby needed me!

After I gave him a moment to calm down, I stood up slowly. The security guard gave me a look and I walked over to him. “My baby doesn’t know what to do.” I told him.

He tried to hide a smirk.

“Look Ma’am. The best thing to do right now is to turn around and walk away. He will be okay. I will make sure he gets to his class.”

“For real?” I ask in a whiny voice, my eyes still red from crying.

“We will take care of him. Now go ahead and leave. You can cry in the car.” He gives me a soft push on my back.

I walk away and don’t look back. And Yes, I did cry in the car. And I had a HORRIBLE day that day just thinking about how sad my baby was.

And the NEXT day, he does it again. I kiss him on the top of his head and walk away. When I get down the street I looked back to check on him and what do I see- MY SON IS RUNNING as fast as he can toward me and screaming like someone is chasing him. “MAMAAAAAAA!!! Don’t goooo!!! I freeze.

The security guard catches him and walks him back to the court.

I cry in the car.

And I had a HORRIBLE Day all day thinking about how sad my baby was.

But now he’s all better. So my days are better.

~whew~

Do I really have to do this all over again when my younger son starts pre-K next year?

~shivers~

Oh no…