Holy cow. His baby brother and I took him to the school this morning, and he chatted the whole way. He was so excited. He saw his preschool friend outside and said “hi”. But as soon as we went in and rounded the corner, we saw kids and parents gathered around this carnival scene in the hallway, and his grip on my hand got tighter. He said he didn’t want to go get his name tag or his picture taken. But his future kindergarten teacher convinced him, and before I knew it, he was whisked away to the classroom he’ll see every day next year, and Ervin and I were filling out paperwork in the library  ((okay, Ervin slept and I filled out paperwork).

When we came back a couple of hours later to pick him up, they had done all kinds of fun stuff, including taking a bus ride around town, and they were having animal crackers and capri suns. He was giving his preschool teacher (who apparently hadn’t been informed by Henry of the baby brother) one word answers to all of her questions. And then, like magic, we left and walked out into the hall, and he started talking! He got excited again!

And I felt better about sending my oldest to the big, scary school.