milestone: Sunbeams

my baby boy went to the Big Boy Class yesterday.

Sunbeams!

(yes, i took this pic with my phone with the sun behind,

so it's not my best photo work)

Here's the Story:

If you don't know Peli well, you may not know that he is quite

shy with new people, and he's very, very attached to me right now.

Part of it is that after 2 years of staying with my mom while I worked

in the day, he's had me all to himself for a year.

Part of it is that since having Raini, he's had the typical separation

anxiety and "sharing mom" feelings that many kids have after

another kid is born.  He'd been doing great in nursery, going

and staying on his own... until Raini came along.  Then he reverted

to not wanting to go, and not wanting to stay unless I stayed

with him.  So that's been a challenge for me, and something

I've worried about.  Yesterday was a day that has just been

LOOMING in my mind for weeks.  I kept wondering if we'd

be that family whose kid freaks out about going to primary

and everyone else rolls their eyes ;) ... and I wondered how many

weeks (or months!!) it would take for Peli to be okay with going to

class and staying and enjoying his time there.

Well, yesterday came and while Peli was happy and excited to

talk about going to primary, once the time came to get ready

to go to church, he shut down.  He didn't want to get dressed,

argued with me for approximately 42 minutes while I was getting

ready, then fought with Suka about putting his clothes on.

Finally, we actually opened the door and threatened to leave

him home alone.  Yes, we are mean like that.

That's when he agreed to put his church clothes on.

I just felt the looming cloud of darkness and tears that was

going to be our First Day of Primary.

BUT... after sacrament, they asked us to take the kids to

nursery cuz they were going to come get them and had some

special things planned.  They came in with crowns for each of them,

they took them into the big primary room and introduced them

each by name and sang the welcome song "hello HELLO" you know.

Then they sat down in the front row.

Peli grabbed my hand and wanted me to sit with him, but I told

him I was going to go stand in the back, which I did.

From the back of the room, I could see him holding his face

in his hands for just a couple of minutes.  I couldn't tell if he was

crying, or just shy and not knowing what to do.

But after that, he was just fine!  He was watching the "singing lady"

and the kids around him.  After a while, I left.

Later, I saw them crossing the hall to their classroom.

He wasn't freaking out.  He wasn't looking for me.

That's a good thing.

Then, at precisely 2:59, the classroom door opened and Peli

came out, crown still on his head, newly colored picture in his hand,

and big green treat bucket in his other hand.

He was given the assignment to fill and bring back the treat bucket

for next week... and he was EXCITED about that!

He told me all the things they did and that he got to play

with Joplin and Cassidy and Tanner...

I was sooooo relieved that everything went smoothly and

he enjoyed his big boy sunbeams class.

Then I cried, cuz my little baby

isn't a little baby anymore.