This is the last day of kindergarten! John and I went to the diner on the way to school today to celebrate with a big breakfast. He’s wearing his “class t-shirt,” the tie-dye that all the B-3 kids worked on earlier in the year. He’s excited to be a “Grader,” which means a kid in any grade from 1 through 12.

John would not walk into his classroom alone for the first few weeks. Now he fist bumps the principal on his way into school, walks around like he owns the place, stood in the front row for the kindergarten concert and is proud to have friends in every kindergarten class. He loves to read, he loves to learn, and he carries himself like a big kid. When we learned who would be in his first grade class, he was equally excited about the good good friends who will be with him, and the new friends who he’ll get to know better.

You would think that this would be a perfect occasion for me to get teary and melodramatic about how my little boy is growing up. But so far I’m not feeling that!  It was just a really fun year.

There are some hard things about the next 15 years. Someday, John might get his feelings hurt or be insecure about things he doesn’t do well. For this moment, I’m happy that he owns his little world. I’m proud of him, I’m excited for him, and I’m looking forward to whatever comes next.