Firsts

Bug slept over at a friends' house last night. It was his first sleepover, excluding two stays at Grandma and Grandpa's. We all missed him, and it got me thinking about what it will feel like as he continues to grow older and spend less time with those who love him the most. It made me want to go and get him and refuse to let him leave the house again, and I'm sure the family would have backed me up on it. Monkey-boy didn't want to sleep without his goodnight hugs from big brother. Kat didn't know what to do without somebody to annoy. She focused on me instead. Hubs kept waking up and asking me in a sleep dazed slur, "where'sh Bug? Oh, yeah, he's at whatshisbutt's house, ok-- sssnnnnnkkkkk".

Heaven help us when he grows up and wants to move out or go away to college. We'll be lost. Positively lost without him. I so hate these reminders that he's growing up. All of his firsts are my firsts too, and some of them are so much more bittersweet than others.

I didn't cry at his first day of kindergarten, but boy you should have seen me on the first day of 1st grade! I was a complete mess. Not only was it his first day of 1st grade, at a new school because we'd moved, it was his first time riding a bus to and from school. All week I had been drilling him on those all important details:
"What's your teacher's name?" "What's your classroom number?" "What bus do you take?" "What bus stop do you get off at?" "What's my cell phone number?" "What's your address?"

He had them all down pat. He was ready. I was not. I had to let him go anyway. We learned later that day that I had forgotten one all important question: "What's your name? first and last" His bus driver didn't recognize him when it was time to go home, and asked his name. He got scared, and only mumbled his first name. Apparently there is another Bug at that school, who just happened to be staying at school to wait for his mom. So my Bug got sent to the other Bug's babysitter's bus stop. Meanwhile, I'm watching all the kids but mine file off of the bus, getting more and more panicked. When I realized that Bug was not getting off that bus, I got on. Want to see a scared bus driver? Just get on her bus and ask her where your kid is. Needless to say, she got on her radio, tracked him down, and brought him back to me while I waited with my younger two. And now he is not allowed to get off the bus unless someone is waiting for him at the stop. They don't want to lose him again, after the talking to the office and the bus depot got from me.

Did I mention I don't always like many of Bug's firsts? They tend to be learning experiences for me as much as for him. Wonder what I'm going to learn when I go to pick him up?