New shoes, big steps.

School, school, school. New shoes, new clothes, new teachers, new backpacks, and lots of excitement. The school year has begun, it is here. In the past two days, Matteo and Dominick have headed off to school.



Today was Dominick's first day of kindergarten. Yes, my baby boy is a kindergartner. He had no fear, no hesitation, and was all excited. We arrived at school a bit early so that we could say good-bye to Matteo, who started 2nd grade yesterday. We gave hugs and high-fives and headed towards the 'kindie-wing' of the school.

As we walked down the sidewalk, Dominick's feet barely touched the ground. He was in front of me, walking as though he was floating towards his line. I tried to get him to slow down, but he was not having any of it. He had this to say, "Mom, I'm too excited to move slow".




I attempted to keep-up, while Anna was holding my hand. I realized at that moment that I just wanted one more moment of feeling as though D just needed to hold my hand. When, in reality, at that moment, he didn't.

Dominick got right in line, smiled big smiles and gave me one last kiss and hug when it was time to go into class. He was just beaming with pride, confidence and excitement. I know that Dominick will hold my hand as often as he wants and needs to, but it's that concept of letting go wrapped around attending a big kid school that is so very hard for me.




Matteo is now a 2nd grader. I had the immense pleasure of walking him to school by myself yesterday. Don was working from home and it was a last minute decision of Matteo's to want to walk, so off we went. I was excited for him, wondering how it felt going back to school. For me, it felt so special to have that one-on-one time on his first day. Matteo appeared so very calm, yet had nervous energy that made him move like an Olympic speed walker on the way to school. I had to keep up with his fast moving legs!




Anna will jump into preschool next week. She is counting down the days and is quite ready for preschool. She was quite proud and excited to be a part of escorting Dominick to kindergarten.

Two big days done, one more to go with Anna next week.

On one hand, I'm so very happy for my little kiddo's who are so confident to head off to school. On the other, weepy hand, I'm a bit sad to see them grow so fast and take those big steps forward while leaving me a few steps behind.