my 3-year-old has his own room. he just chooses not to use it. instead, he's moved himself in with his big brother. they sleep in the big double bed together every night and have been for about a year. my little guy's famous line is "i'd sleep by myself if someone would sleep with me." they lay in there and giggle and tell stories until they fall asleep, and in the morning, the are all curled up with each other.

anyway, they are pretty tight. the only thing in the world that can really tick off my 5-year-old is when his little brother is upset or hurt. he flies to defend him with a rage that always shocks me. if the two of them are fighting, and i step in to intervene, inevitably i end up the bad guy. they hug each other and talk about me like i'm not even there "she shouldn't yell at you like that. she's being naughty and i'm gonna tell dad..."

so i was worried about what would happen when my big boy went off to kindergarten. what would the little guy do all day without his brother? it's funny how life works itself out. my kindergartner is so pumped about school every day--he gets himself ready with an eye on the clock the whole time. he's very concerned about missing the bus, so he's out there at the bus stop a good ten minutes before he needs to be. the funny thing is, you can see the bus coming from about a mile away, and he could just walk out there and make it in plenty of time. but he's pretty serious about schedules, so he runs out and waits. meanwhile, the little guy watches him and waves. as soon is the bus is gone, he revs up. he's come to realize that on the days i'm not working he gets ALL THE ATTENTION to himself. every last drop. it's his time, and he is my little buddy. he loves to help me clean, shop, cook and the kid can swing for hours. on his preschool days, he's totally psyched to go to school too. he goes out and gets in the car even before i'm ready. i guess he grew up the same day his brother did, which really surprised me. there must be something magical about that big yellow school bus.

for those of you wondering how kindergarten is going, so far so good. i don't get a lot of the detail i want out of the day. he tells me his favorite thing is recess and that they get chocolate milk on friday. i ask him all kinds of questions, and he's pretty vague. he gets that from his father. so i'll wait for the parent/teacher conference with anticipation, to see how it's really going. is he a good boy? is he kind? does he have friends? does he pay attention? but really what i want to know is:

did i do an ok job????