big step

It’s official. I’m now the mommy of a toddler. It truly seems like yesterday that I was all misty eyed and overwhelmed with emotion as I carried and cuddled Cooper in my arms as we entered his infant classroom at daycare for the very first time.

And now, here I am, more than a year later, reflecting on the events of this morning … the morning I walked beside my little boy as he said good-bye to his infant classroom and hello his new room. The toddler room.

Aside from taking one nap instead of two and getting to go outside, the big leap, in my mind, is that Coop gets to wear shoes to “school” now. We got him a new pair last night to commemorate the occasion and, well, as a child who hates ANYTHING on his feet, wearing shoes all day is going to be quite the adjustment (on top of new teachers, new friends, new routines).

Before we even made it to daycare today, Cooper had managed to yank off one of his new tennis shoes and he was bound and determined to get to the remaining sock. He was kicking his feet a mile a minute when I went to get him out of his carseat.

I’ve been a little heart sick about how Coop would do today — especially with the shoes. I was worried that he’d kick them off so much (and have a subsequent meltdown every time the teacher had to put them back on) that she might just sell him on eBay before I could pick him up (a feeling I know all too well). ;)

I called earlier to see how my little shoe-loather was adjusting. His teacher said, “He's prancing around like he's king of the world.”

With his shoes off ... that's my boy. ;)

p.s. The first pic was taken today, on our way to Coop's first day (at 17 months) in the toddler room (shoes still on, but not for long). The second was when Coop was 9 weeks old and headed to daycare for the first time (socks still on, but not for long).