Maybe I'm just a little emotional but...

Was it wrong of me to burst into tears when Ethan came home today with his bookbag full of end of year stuff from preschool? I was going through his bag, as I do everyday, and we got to a bag that had a little book the teacher made. It started with a poem about how his teacher was returning him to us...I lost it...I cried. As we went through some of the things Ethan had drawn at different points through the year, I really saw how much he has grown over the past 9 months. (I find it symbolic that school lasts 9 months) We got to his class picture and he went through and told me all of his classmates' names. I looked at him and just cried more and just told him how proud I was that he worked so hard this year. Then he saw a tear stream down my face and said "what's that?". I told him "a tear, but it is a happy tear!" Then I smiled and hugged him.

I am so proud of him and all that he has done this year. This was all following a positive phone call from his teacher earlier today. She said that normally, they are lucky to get 1 or 2 words out of him at school and today it was like a light switch turned on. He was talking in full sentences and was going on and on about his weekend. I was so happy that I could barely contain myself. I called Matt right away and then I felt like I could not stop thinking about it, because I was so happy! He really does make me so proud to know that my tiny little miracle is doing so well and that he has accomplished so much in just 9 months. As much as the reality set in that my baby just finished his first year of preschool, I could not have been more proud of him than I was today. How will I make it through all of his other school milestones? I'm going to be a blubbering idiot :)

Perfect example of me being a blubbering idiot: I made a goodbye video for my students today and about halfway through I started crying as I do every year when I tell my students goodbye. I could have rewound the tape and started over, but that would not be the real me. They are not even my children, but they sort of become mine during the year and it is hard to say goodbye, even to the ones that challenged me, because they did just that, they made me a better teacher because of the challenge.

Mom and teacher, are they really different?? I don't think so.