My BABY goes to school and wears cleats!

This week was a week of many firsts for our Owen. The two most important being that he started preschool (he misses the cut-off for kindergarten by just 10 days) and had his first soccer practice/game. Selecting a preschool for me was a huge ordeal. I should probably add an extra big THANK YOU here to all of my friends and family who had to hear me sort through my thoughts and feelings in regards to all of the options. Do you ever wish that you had fewer options for things? Finally I settled on a preschool that I feel totally secure in, both in the way I feel about how Owen will do with the other children and in the teaching style...learning through play. Owen doesn't know any of the other children in the class, but that morning he was so excited to go...I took that as a good sign and wondered why I had a sick stomach when he was all smiles. Jed gave Owen a blessing that morning to help him through the new school year, we got everyone dressed and out the door we went. Owen was a tiny bit timid about things at first, so I waited around for about 10 minutes while he checked things out. Once the teacher's timer when off, however, and it was time for "circle time" he said that he was ready for me to go. Davis and Kate thought that the school was too fun, so I was grateful that Owen didn't need me to stay very long or I am certain that Kate would have had that place turned upside down...she is such a little tornado. Driving away I felt so thrilled for Owen and grateful that I had listened to that voice inside my head, until I found the right fit for him. I also had a few tears in my eyes, I will admit. I had to be strong though as Davis was looking for reassurance that he would still have a fun morning without his big brother. When we came back to pick up Owen, three hours later, he said, "I am staying here forever!" Oh, I was so RELIEVED...he LOVED it. He later told me that the only boring part was "circle time"...okay, that is hilarious. He loved everything, but the really educational part. I'm not sure how he will ever reach his goal of becoming a "cowboy dentist" as he told me he wants to do, unless he learns to appreciate learning, but I guess we will take things one step at a time, right? :)
Then Saturday Owen strapped on his new shin guards and hand-me-down cleats (he was convinced that he needed "new" cleats until he learned that the hand-me-downs were the same brand as Daddy's and everyone knows that Daddy is the all-knowing soccer expert in our house)for his first real soccer practice and game. Last year he was in a month long soccer program at the YMCA (which we loved), but this is a league where they are actually formed into teams that play each other on Saturday mornings (the practice is from 9 to 9:30 and they play from 9:30 to 10:00...nothing too intense, but they do wear shin guards and cleats...there is the difference). For some reason this just feels like the beginning of his "big kid years". Oh, but Owen loved the soccer game and while he wasn’t the most aggressive kid out there, he was one of the "smiliest"…it cracked me up, he smiled practically the whole time.

So anyway, I feel a little sad that my baby is growing up, but really can't dwell on that too long. For one thing he would NOT like to be called my "baby" and for another I have two other little ones...there is no time to dwell on much of anything. :)