First Full Day

Today Marcus had his first full day at preschool. My mom came over in the morning to hang out with Will so I could take Marcus alone. I wanted to make it special for Marcus and also wanted to be able to concentrate on Marcus instead of chase Will around the room and keep him from clearing all the toys off the shelves.

I have let Marcus pick out his outfit for his two days of school so far. I have given him a couple choices in outfits. Both times he picked out the most preppy of the outfits. I figured he would go for comfort - the jogging pants or the Steelers shirt. Nope. My boy went for the polo shirts.

Marcus's teacher said on Tuesday that the parents could stay as long as they felt their child needed them to today. I was in the room for about two minutes when I discovered that there was only one other mom that was still around. I snapped a quick picture of my big boy, my big boy who never ever smiles in photos. I am thinking he was happy to be there.


But, it was time to leave. I asked Marcus if he wanted to keep doing artwork or if he wanted to go play with the other kids. Marcus prefers to do his own thing. He avoids the social scene like the plague. He said, "I play with other kids." I knew it was time to say goodbye to my baby boy and let him be a preschooler. I felt the tears coming on and all I could manage was a quick hug and a kiss and I had to go.

Out in the hallway, there was no room to walk. Every single mother was looking in the window spying on their kid to make sure their kid was okay. Inside the room, every kid was fine. There wasn't a single tear from a single kid. Out in the hallway, we were all holding back our tears.

Back home, Will was far more upset that Marcus didn't return than Marcus seemed to be that I left him at preschool. I had such a wonderful time with just Will. My little musician and I goofed around on the various guitars that we have in our house. We tickled each other and cuddled a little and then headed outside to do some running around in the yard. All the little two year old things that Will does that tend to bother me either weren't present when Will was sans Marcus or else I just didn't feel torn in two direction and overlooked them. I am looking forward to even more of these days of getting to have just Will.

My mom came back over to hang out with Will so I could pick up Marcus alone. I wanted to be able to have a few minutes alone with him after his first day. As I was pulling up into the parking lot, I saw his class heading in from the playground. They were all walking in a line holding onto a rope with rings on it. It was the cutest thing ever. Back in the building the moms were peeking in the window again. I stole a glance and saw Marcus front and center during story time, completely captivated. Then I watched him get up, run over to get his backpack like he had been doing it for years, and then come back for a seat on the rug to wait for me.

I was greeted with a big hug and smile that almost made leaving him worth it. He told me about all the things they did today - coloring, sang songs, played on the playground, ate snack, and played with toys. I asked him if he met any new friends. He said he did. I asked if they had names. He said yes but wouldn't tell me what their names were. I asked him if he had a girlfriend yet. He said, "Uh huh!" I asked what her name was. He paused, smiled really big, and said, "It's Mommy!"

My little boy might be getting bigger but I love still being number one in his world.