Bye bye summer!

Ohhhhh, summer vacation. When you’re a kid, it seems SO SO SO short. As a parent, though … not so much! As much as I adoooore my kiddos, three of ‘em at home 24/7 makes life a bit more chaotic. Working from home seems impossible, the house is a disaster zone pretty much all the time and when I’m not stopping to make breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks I’m stopping to break up arguments, clean up spills or find lost toys. Summer as a parent of three is, in a word, exhausting.

So as you can imagine, I was counting down the days ’til school. Today Roxy started first grade and Kai started Kindergarten (!!!!!!!!!) As excited as I was to get them off so I could actually have a somewhat productive day, as I walked Kai to class, all I could think of was how little he still is. How it seems impossible that he’s starting REAL SCHOOL already. If you know my Kai, you know how sweet and sensitive (and emotional!) he is. Roxy’s my sassy, smart, independent, six-going-on-sixteen kid. Kai, though … he still sneaks into my room at night to sleep next to me. He snuggles up next to me wherever I go and holds my hand every chance he gets. And holding my hand is exactly what he was doing all the way down the loooong hallway to his Kindergarten class. As we got closer, his hand squeezed mine tighter and tighter. I was ready for the meltdown, ready for the tears. Deeeep breaths, deep breaths. He’ll be fine. He’s FIVE! He’s ready.

But then … he didn’t cry. He said “I don’t want you to go” just once as he gave me a goodbye hug. I said I had to, but I’d see him this afternoon. And that was it. He kissed me bye and started coloring. And just like that, my baby was a Kindergartener. Oh, summer vacation. Now I kinda miss you