First Day of 3rd Grade

Dear Henny, 
The years roll on and you grow...and when I say grow I mean you have grown 4.5 inches since you left school in May for summer break.  You went to bed last night with a headache and body aches so I checked on you while you slept to be sure you hadn't developed a fever and drew back for a split second when I saw your body.  Not because you were riddled with sweat or sickness but because you looked like a small adult sprawled there.  You are only 8!  But you fill the bed with awkward limbs flailed in bends and angles your baby body wouldn't have allowed, yet your space blanket is still keeping you warm rolled up in the crook of your arm.  You are stuck between ages of little boy and moving on to a more private life of your own.
So, starting 3rd grade came with many big changes for you. You are in a 3rd/4th grade classroom, which reunites you with all of the same 3rd grade buddies and back with the 4th graders you shared k/1 and 1/2 with.  You had slight anxiety surrounding the reunion as you forged a special friendship with a kid last year that you hoped could withstand the pressures of playing with your old best buddy in the 4th grade.  With great relief you volunteered at the completion of the first week that, in fact, you have all grown a little and there was room to play with anyone you desired with no problems attached.  How exciting that you're sharing more of your own initiative!  I felt so warm and happy last night when you brought me your assignment folder and explained to me what you had to do and how it needed to be done.  Your goal being 100 minutes of reading for the week, you had a plan on how you were going to do that and ended up reading way past your 20 minute a night goals yesterday, but I dare not tell you, risking hindering a repeat each evening.  

Another big move was leaving behind one teacher you spent 3 years with and another you spent 2 years with.  They were both such amazing influences on you and we miss them already, but happy to say you are going to gain so much from your three teachers for the next two years.  

We are so proud of you.  Your amazing sense of humor, your quest for the weird and unusual of the the world make you endearing to be around.  I am particularly proud of your personal sense of style which you showed off nicely the first day of school with a shirt filled with hot dogs.  Your sister, Hazel, is quite envious of your ability to go to school, next year you both will be there and I will feel lost for a little bit, the first phase of my parenting over. 

She misses you so much while you're at school and begs me to go and pick you up.  I feel happy when the time rolls around, too.  There isn't much better than that moment when our eyes are searching for each other, they meet and you skip along to my door and get in.  

Love, Mama