The Saddest Little Pirate

Do I go to Hell if I laughed at my son crying on the school bus this morning?

Really, I wasn’t laughing at him—he was very earnest in his tears—but I was laughing at the situation. We got to school this morning and sat around, waiting for the bus that carries him to the Primary campus, just like we’ve done all week. He waited as patiently as he could for his friend, Lance, who rides over with him. When Lance and his mom got there, the boys talked and Harrison showed his Show-And-Tell item (his Mickey Mouse ears—he had to bring something that starts with the same letter as his name, so he brought a hat). Then, my friend Mary, whom Harrison adores, arrived on the scene so he went over to talk to her for a minute. Shortly thereafter, the bus pulled up and all the high school kids lumbered off.

All this went without a hitch. No problems in sight.

However.

The five or six little kids started to climb onto the now cleared bus. When I bent to kiss Harrison and tell him to have a good day, he started crying. He climbed up on the steps of the bus, but he wouldn’t sit down so I had him give me one last hug before leaving, all the while crying and snotting and telling me he didn’t want to go.

Through all this drama, Lance was watching Harrison with huge eyes. He looked at his mom for confirmation that everything was all right, but her reassurance was not as convincing as my son’s blubbering, so he started crying. I didn’t notice whether the other kids were crying at this point—I was too busy snickering into my coffee cup and trying not to make eye contact with the other moms or we would have all had a full on belly laugh.

I don’t think he really didn’t want to go—I think he was just tired from going to school all week and it just kind of hit him all at once. Since I didn’t get any notes saying otherwise, I assume he cleared up pretty quickly and had a good day at school. He didn’t get any notes and his calendar (where the teacher makes little one sentence proclamations regarding his behavior on each day) was bare for today, save for a smiley sticker. When I picked him up at daycare after school, he rushed up to me and told me that he had missed me and so he had sat down to sing the Sad Song (not sure what that is, but it sounds pretty devastating). I think he’s just tired, like the rest of us. I’m sure that when his body gets used to the rhythm of the school week, he’ll be fine and dandy. Starting next week, he’s going to ride the bus to my campus in the afternoons instead of going to daycare (saving $200 a month!) and sit in my room the last 10 minutes of the day, so I think that will be fun.

All told, he had a pretty good week. We had a bit of a wobble there in the middle, but he evened out and did fine the rest of the week. My baby is growing up and becoming a full fledged Kindergartener. I’m of mixed emotions about that, but right now the balance is leaning more towards pride than sadness.