Wednesday was Danny's first day of school. He went to kindergarten last year for half days but this was the real thing with recess and everything. Which, by the way, was the only real thing he was excited about. For those of you who know Danny of course he had to have the hat on so I made him take a hatless picture too- just for me:) As I took the picture I thought he looked more like he was going to his first day of high school rather than first grade. He skipped the cute stage and went right to cool:)
We brought him to the playground and checked him in with his teacher (that is her in the background). Then we walked away. It was harder than I thought it would be. I just left him on his own in a sea of people to fend for himself. For the last 6 years he has been with me and I have been able to reassure, encourage, answer questions, whenever he needed me (for the most part). And now that phase is done and for the rest of his years with me he will be gone from me all day except for summer. At the same time I am so happy for him because he is ready to go and so excited to be doing new things. So excited, in fact, that on his second day of school he was up by six next to my bed smiling from ear to ear because he was going to go to school that day. By 6:45 he came back into my room to tell me he was all ready. Mr. Independent had gotten dressed, shoes and all and packed his back pack including making his own lunch!! I checked his lunchbox and he had made his own pb and j sandwich, packed it in his sandwich container, put ice water in his thermos, and packed grapes and a snack. All I had to do was add one more snack. He should watch out cause I could get used to this. We let him take the bus that day, which he won't normally be doing, but we wanted him to practice in case he ever needs to take it. He of course LOVED the bus ride. His first week went great and he loves going- for now:)
On Friday he had his first soccer game. Luckily he likes purple and doesn't yet think of it as a girl color, otherwise we would have been in trouble! Sorry for all the blurry pictures but he was running most of the time. He played hard and was always right in the middle of it all. They sat him out a few times because the poor kid looked exhausted and they wanted him to drink. At one point he took himself out (fighting tears I think) because #12 from the other team crashed into him and he hurt his back. He was very put off and made sure to tell his coaches a few times that it was #12. I think he wanted justice to be served and see the boy get in trouble. We told him that it's soccer and to get over it- in the nicest way possible of course:) He was confused on positions and seemed to be a little unsure on the field but played hard anyway. I sat there and was SO proud and happy for him. This is my boy who would hold our hands at 9 months (before he could walk) and kick a ball all over the house. When he first started to do imaginary play he would hold the door open to let all "his players" in the house. He would dress up and play basketball in the kitchen all the time. It is so good to see him finally be able to do "real" sports. He was made for it! (In case it is hard to see he is #6 in the pictures). Oh, and another funny thing. Danny is usually pretty quiet and well mannered when he is in new situations with people he doesn't know. So it was pretty funny to watch him on the sidelines. When they would switch goalies, he would stand infront of the coaches and BEG with hands folded to be goalie. He didn't get it this time but hopefully next game. Also, after sitting on the bench for awhile he would say, "excuse me...excuse me, can I go back in now?" They never heard him for some reason but he kept asking. Poor kid must have asked 20 times! It was funny to see because it was kind of out of character for him and much more brave than he usually is in new situations.
