My big boy has started school

Well the day I have not really looked forward to all summer has come and gone. It was this past Tuesday when Dylan started school. Wiat, let me change that, I guess the real day I wasn't looking forward to was last Thursday when he had orientation and I had to discuss with the teacher about his diabetes. That went just fine and the next day Dave and I sat down with the school nurse, teacher and principal of the pre-K program and showed them how to check his sugar levels. Luckily he is only there from 9:00 until 11:30 and the only issue would be to make sure he has his snack at his normal snack time. The teacher was kind enough to arrange the schedule so that snack time was at 9:45. And the nurse has experience with diabetes because there is a little girl in 3rd grade at the school that has it. So, after this meeting I was a little more comfortabel about him being away from me.

So Tuesday morning comes and I am excited for him but nervous at the same time. How will he be when I leave, will he wonder where I am, will he make friends. Dave took the morning off and we both dropped him off. As soon as we took his book bag off his back he went right over to play with the toys and didn't look back. We stuck around for a few minutes and then said our good-byes. He was really good about it. However, there were about 3 other kids in the class that were clearly not happy about the situation and their mom leaving them. I thought that I would get upset walking back to the car and on the drive home, but I was okay. I think I was more nervous; wondering how his sugar levels would be.

We went back at 11:30 to pick him up and the teacher said he was just fine. He told us he loved school. We checked him when he got in the car and his sugar level was just fine. So no worries. He did tell us that he asked the teacher where we were at some point during the day and that she told him we were right down the hall.

Today was day #2 and I was again worried how he would be after I had told him that I would be going home when I left but would be back later to get him. Once again as soon as the backpack came off he left me. This time there were only 2 other kids screaming. As I walked out this moring I was a bit more emotional; maybe because I didn't have Dave to talk to to keep my mind off of things, but it was definitely more upsetting for me this morning.

It's hard for me to accept that there is now a part of Dylan's life that I am not involved in 100%; that he will have experiences I won't get to see or hear. I am, however, glad we made the decision to send him at this age; I couldn't imagine the emotional wreck I would be if I waited until he was of kindergarten age (5) before sending him off.