Today was the first day of school in New York City. As always, we packed the school supplies, labeled and ready for turnover to his teacher. In the morning, we went to the assembly yard and found his new class and lined up. We waited.
In previous years, we would then trek to their classroom and deposit the additional supplies, listen to some welcome remarks from the teachers and then hurry back out and on with our day. Today, the teacher did us a favor and told us it didn’t make sense for us to go up to the third floor just to deposit what the kids could easily carry. She then instructed the children to take the extra shopping bags of supplies from us and off they went.
My boy is now in Fifth grade. Wow.
Of course, it’s not lost on me that he no longer wants to hold my hand nor kiss me or be kissed in plain view of his schoolmates. This, even as he refused to let me go when I had him in line with his friends. I guess there’s still that part of him which actually can’t let go of Mom. Thankfully.
He called me (one in around 5 calls before I finally reunite with him at home) and calls me”His delight.” Sometimes he’d say, “Mom, won’t you be a dear..” followed by some trivial request. He knows how to butter me up even if he knows he really doesn’t need to. It’s just the way he is.
I’m having one of those “I wish you wouldn’t grow up so fast” evenings. I’m really exhausted after a long day at work and I have forms to fill out for school. Later. Or tomorrow if I manage to haul myself off the bed early enough. (Where there’s a will, there’s a way.) Maybe it’s the glass of wine I had while having my spicy steak dinner. Whatever it is, I wish he’d always stay a boy… alas, that’s yet another facet of life I have no control over.
I must give in and relent. Go with the flow.
I was watching him watching something on his iPad earlier and I looked at him viewing it with rapt attention. Until he noticed me looking.. he thought I had said something and he took off his earphones. Nothing, I said. I was just watching my little guy and saying out loud, “Oh, how you’ve grown.”
Pinay New Yorker 