Big head...little body: Hello Kindergarten

Well, the day finally came... I had to send my baby boy off to school. All summer I've thought about it. In the last week leading up to Malachi's first day of school, I've broken into tears over the thought of not having him with me all day. I couldn't sleep last night, because all I could think about was that my little baby boy is heading to school.
I tried to prepare Malachi for spending his days in school. I told him that he would be getting up every morning and he would go to school. He would eat lunch there and he wouldn't come home until the afternoon. "Yeah, Mom, I know," was always his response. This morning I thought for sure he would be nervous. But he wasn't. I made him whole wheat pancakes with strawberries for his special first day of school. Every few minutes I would ask him, "Malachi, how are you feeling? Are you nervous?" "Nah," he would reply. How could it be that I was the only one feeling this sort of separation anxiety?
Since we live right by the school, I was able to walk him to school this morning. He looked so cute in his little uniform. As we approached the school, we could see a line of anxious 5 year olds waiting to file into the school. We got into the "boy" line and I willed myself not to cry. Malachi just grinned and pointed out the fact that every other boy had a Spiderman lunchbox just like his.
I helped him get situated in his classroom. Once he put away his backpack and lunchbox, he sat down to color a picture of Winnie the Pooh. He chatted with the other children sitting at his table and suddenly the urge to cry had gone away. Although it's unbelievably hard to not be spending my days with the little boy who has been by my side for the past 5 1/2 years, I realized that this is the beginning of something great. I'm so excited to see Malachi learn in the next year. I guess Kindergarten is kind of like the first year a baby is alive. So much happens in such a short amount of time.
So I survived sending my firstborn off to school. It's a very bittersweet experience. I know that this year will be amazing for Malachi. And maybe next year when I send Aylah off to Kindergarten it will be easier... but I doubt it!