Ryder Is Completely NORMAL

I get home from work today, and my freakishly tall husband asks me if I want to go to "Back to School" night at Goddard. He just dropped off all of his medical clearance forms, his emergency contact lists, and the long work sheet that we filled out that includes questions such as, "What is Ryder working on?", and "What does Ryder do best?", and "What does Ryder not like to do?"- and they asked him if we could attend. We had great fun filling those forms out, but it got us one step closer to the realization that Ryder will no longer be with me every single moment of every single day. So, since Ryder will be starting October 1st, this would be a great opportunity for us to personally meet his teachers, and ask about the curriculum- while they, in turn, can ask us about Ryder. We go.

But I'm hesitant. By now, you're already knowing how I feel- anxious, scared, sad, happy- just all together NOT looking forward to the separation anxiety that I'll NO DOUBT feel. And by now- you're probably sick and tired of hearing about it. I'm sick and tired of talking myself in and out of it, trust me. But..."back to school" night....=(. He's only a year and a half.....

It turned out to be a night that took most (if not all) of my anxiety away! We met the other parents of the kids in his class, and we met two of his teachers (3:1 ratio of kids:teachers). What we took away was that Ryder is COMPLETELY normal. Up until now, I thought that Ryder might be a little freakish, since he won't wear any other shoes besides his crocs- but WAIT- some of the other kids have the same freak issue. I thought he was a little freakish because he doesn't talk- but WAIT-most of the other boys in his class doesn't talk. I thought he was a little freakish because he hits me and pushes me- but WAIT- so do ALL the other boys- simply out of frustration that they CAN'T TALK. I thought he was a little freakish because he always wants to watch us cook- but WAIT- that's ALL that the other boys want to do. Weird. My son is completely normal. Thank god.

My husband and I worked out a system wherein he drops off, and I pick up. I was worried that when we drop Ryder off, he will kick and scream and yell and cry and cry and cry....which he will do...but not nearly for as long as I think. I decided I would be the picker upper, because if I dropped him off, I wouldn't be able to handle the sadness. After tonight though, I'm worried that my plan will back fire.

I'm worried that I will again be "no fun mommy", where I come to take him home- away from all of the fun.