My Kid is Growing Up

It seems like yesterday my son left the safety of preschool, and started Angier Elementary School.  It was yesterday.  It was yesterday that I was worried about the large class of 25, the new teacher and making new friends.  It was yesterday that we found out you needed glasses.  It was yesterday that you were telling me what the tooth fairy wore (a pink sparkly dress - even though it is Daddy who plays the part of the tooth fairy.)  It was yesterday that I signed him up for his first summer of Meadowbrook Day Camp.  It was yesterday when he asked to join Succariah, the Israel Dance Program.  It was yesterday that I signed you up for Hebrew School.

 It was yesterday that he entered the safety of Ms. Brody’s first grade classroom.  It was yesterday when he made his own Flat Stanley (based on the book Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown) in first grade, and it was mailed to my cousin, Jeff in Hong Kong.  It was yesterday that you wanted to be a tooth for Halloween.  It was yesterday that I made him the presidential seal birthday cake.  It was yesterday when you ran into a pole while flying a kite.  It was yesterday that he met Jason Varitek at his first grade end of year party.

It was yesterday that he entered Ms. Wigder’s second grade classroom.  It was yesterday that a chipmunk ran into his second grade classroom.  He went to the Chinese Cultural Center and made a Chinese lantern.  It was yesterday that he studied Ghana, China and Mexico.  It was yesterday that you joined the boy scouts and had your first overnight.  It was yesterday when we took you to the top of Mount Washington.

It was yesterday that he entered Ms. Powell’s third grade classroom.  It was yesterday that Ms. Powell instructed him on how to build a paragraph with an interesting first sentence, three sentences that contain details and the concluding sentence.  It was Ms. Powell who taught him about WETU’s and assigned him the New England Mammal – the woodchuck.  It was in third grade that he requested to learn how to play trombone and we found Aubrey Logan, musician and teacher extraordinaire.   It was yesterday that you joined the synagogue's youth group. It was yesterday when we took you to your first Red Sox game.  And after a really great, hardworking year, we went to Disney.

It was yesterday that he entered Ms. Bauer and Ms. Allen’s fourth grade classroom.  It was yesterday that my son built the pentagon for his Washington DC project.  It was yesterday that he became my grandmother for the immigration unit.  It was yesterday that I packed him up for his first time at overnight camp.  It was yesterday that we got his Bar Mitzvah date.

It was yesterday that he entered Ms. Wink’s fifth grade classroom.  It was yesterday that he was accepted into All City Chorus.  It was yesterday that he was accepted into All City Band.  It was yesterday that he attended his first Funtastic Friday as a Fifth grader.

It is today that he is leaving Angier Elementary and soaring off to middle school.  It is TODAY that he is leaving Angier and starting overnight camp for three plus weeks.  It is today that my baby is no longer my baby.   It is today that I have to accept that I have parented him through the infant, toddler, preschool and elementary years and hopefully prepared him for middle school and all the social events of middle school and beyond.