This was me 26 years ago...

Junior started second grade today (with definite opinions about what he would wear. The days when I could pick out his school clothes are long gone.) This is a wierd mom milestone for me because although I have snapshot memories of kindergarten and first grade, second grade is the first year that I have detailed memories of. It is strange to look at how little I still feel he his and remember how grown up I felt then. It is the first year that I can relate on some level to what is going on in his head because I remember being that age myself. I remember discovering boys and who I had crushes on. I remember thinking the dumbest things were hilarious. I remember having one foot firmly in a world of my imagination and the other in a reality of really wanting to feel grown up. And at the end of the day, it really doesn't feel that far away. I know that in another blink of the eye, Junior will be sending HIS second grader off to school and remembering how he spent the summer before practicing his running ("because this is my year to kiss the girl I like and I have to chase her really fast, mom")and worrying about whether he would like his teacher and the fact that he doesn't know multiplication (despite everyone's reassurances that he doesn't need to go into second grade knowing it.)

I hope he finds good friends. I hope he likes his teacher. I hope that he is challenged and can find satisfaction and confidence in overcoming something hard. I hope that he will be able to grasp on some level what a great kid he is and how valuable to the world. I hope that as this first little bird of mine hops a little further from the nest that he likes what he finds. I hope he has a great year.

***By the way, for the record/sake of posterity, he chose strawberry ice cream (with no chunks) a bacon and egg sandwich, bacon and diet coke for his first day of school/choose anything you want to eat breakfast.