Firsts ...

Yesterday was the first day of German nursery school for His Holiness. I was in no rush getting him there; we sat around the apartment watching Wallace and Gromit videos and ate breakfast twice. I finally got around to dressing him and getting our show on the road at about 10:30. It was snowing heavily when we left, so forcefully that I put the tent on HH’s stroller and there he sat like a head of lettuce wrapped in plastic, his hands folded on his lap and his feet tucked just inside the protective layer.

It wasn’t until we pulled into the lobby and began to unfold that I started to feel uneasy. We had visited the school twice before so I knew where to go. I took his hand and he held Berlin Bear in the other and off down the hall we went. HH didn’t say a word until I opened the classroom door and he saw the other children, then he began to chatter and make observations about the room, the toys and the other children. I spoke with the teachers for a few moments, made certain they had my telephone numbers and then I said goodbye to HH expecting a short scene where he tugged at my pants leg but no, nothing of that sort ensued. He turned and walked away toward a group of children without even looking back. As I left the building that sinking feeling I felt upon arriving settled fully in my heart and during the three hours he spent at school that morning, there wasn’t a moment when I didn’t miss him, when I didn’t want to run back there and scoop him up in my arms and hold him.

That evening I asked him about his day. The first thing he said was that he colored, then he told me about going outside and getting his shoes dirty. We talked for a while longer and then I asked him if he had cried at all in school and he said yes, when Papa walked away.