Motorcycle riding boys

Several weeks ago, Matt gave me the task to drive to Scottsdale and pick up a new, bigger sized motorcycle for Preston.  It felt weird to me to get him a bigger one.  He was definitely too big for the smaller oset and it was Porter's turn to have it.  But that is all I have ever seen him ride and I couldn't picture him on anything else.  I also thought that Porter was still too small to be riding a motorcycle.  Yes, he is amazing at riding his pedal bike, but I thought of all the time that it took for me to get Preston used to the oset and comfortable on it to go by himself.  I did not think that a 2 year old was ready for it.

We picked up the motorcycle and Preston was beyond excited and Porter was pretty happy as well.  He had been begging to ride Preston's motorcycle for a while but I always ignored the request.  He is TOO SMALL.  Probably because Porter is my baby and I want him to stay my baby forever.

The next day we pulled out the motorcycles and to my surprise, both of them were off.  No need for mom to help them. They were both begging for me to turn up the speed, and wanting to ride all day (even in the 110 degree weather).

Preston is a great rider, I was a little hesitant to let him go full speed at first, mainly because he had had a pretty good crash on the smaller oset just a few days earlier that spooked both Matt and I out, and he has no fear of turning or going fast.  When Preston takes a turn on his bike I feel like the bike is leaning all the way to the ground.  I have seen him do it thousands of times and he doesn't fall, but I still find myself holding my breath whenever he does a sharp turn.

The only conversation I had with Porter before strapping his helmet on and showing him how to turn on his bike was how to turn the throttle and how to stop.  He got on the bike, and he went.  I was slow to allow the speed but now he is at full speed and he is pretty darn good at riding.  He tries to race Preston but the poor guy doesn't realize his bike will never go as fast as Preston's.

Kindy-garten...I don't know if I am ready for this.

It is pathetic really.  Preston is 6.  We held him back one year all ready and you would think that the extra year would have prepared me for what is to come.  Every child goes to kindergarten and every mother survives.  It's not that I am sad to see him go and am having crying fits of having to say good-bye to him for  6 hours.  I love Preston, but he needs so much attention and craves social interaction. For him school is something he really enjoys.  The learning part...no so much.  So, why do I walk past the school supplies and feel my heart racing and start to feel like I can't breath?  Preston is a silly boy.  He loves to be the jokester, the class clown, the funny boy. For the most part I can supervise his interaction with people.  Play dates are kept short, preschool was only 3 hours. But 6 hours of kindergarten where I cannot intervene if need be, it just plain frightens me. For instance, the other day we were invited over to go play at someones house for a little bit.  I was talking to one of the mothers' and she was explaining to me her daughters TERRIFYING fear of dolls without heads.  Preston must have overheard the conversation and not 5 minutes later a girl is screaming in horror.  I turn my head and find Preston dangling a barbie with it's head off right in front of her face, with a smirk on his face.  Horrified myself, being brand new in the area, I immediately have flashes into what Kindergarten is going to be like.  Yes, as I think of it now I can't help but smile at the situation.  When I even explained it to Matt he let out a little bit of a giggle.  But, this is exactly why I am dreading kindergarten.

I don't feel like a very controlling person.  Actually I feel much more like I am a follower more so than a dictator.  But I have to admit, I was the mom who dropped their kid off early at preschool so I could talk to the teacher and make sure I knew just about everything I could about what was going on. And I was the there 5 minutes early to check with the teacher that the day went good.

So, how did the first day of this heart wrenching kindergarten go?  We were both excited, and I thought I could handle it just fine.  But, I was in no way prepared that you could not walk your child to their class room.  Instead I had to drop Preston off in the car drop off lane and was not allowed any further.  It was one of those hand reaching out good-bye's that you see in the movies.  My heart ached just watching him walk onto the school grounds all by himself, not knowing any other person.  I pulled away with tears pouring down my cheeks wondering why I was allowing this to happen. But at the same time so happy that it was happening.  Confusing.

Preston's day went ok, until after lunch he lost his lunch box and cried for the rest of the day.  When I picked him up that afternoon his teacher told me about the whole situation, and I tried to reassure Preston that they would find it or we could even replace it with the exact same one.  He only would cry and say, "but that one was special to me."  Sad, I know.  I was hoping his first day of kindergarten would be amazing. The next day he had zero desire to go to school.  I had to force him into the car.  I decided I would park the car and walk him to his classroom to talk to his teacher.  When we opened up his classroom door his teacher was their and had his special lunchbox right by her. Preston was so excited he forgot all about disliking school and has been enjoying school ever since.

At first Preston said he did not want to ride the bus.  I was ok with this.  I was a little worried about bus riding.  Preston later decided that he wanted to ride the bus and I found out it was only a 4 minute bus ride to school.  I agreed and now he is riding the bus.

Bus update.  all was good for the first week of bus riding.  And then one day at the bus stop I waited and waited watching every kid get off the bus.  Preston did not get off.  The bus driver was about to close the doors when I went up to her and asked if Preston was on the bus.  She called his name 3 times and nothing.  She then said she had to go and drove away.  I think I was having a small panic attack inside and I really couldn't process what I should do next.  A friend and neighbor helped me and we got into her car and started driving to the other stops while I sat on hold with the school.  They were trying to get a hold of all the buses.  The transportation department had all other buses pull over and do a check for Preston.  To my absolute horror, they returned to the phone and told me that Preston was not on any other bus. I felt like I had control of my emotions up until that point.  I broke down on the phone and I couldn't hold in my fears any longer.  Nobody knew where Preston was.  I was hoping that he was on a bus.  I so badly did not want to even think about him wondering around the streets by himself.  My neighbor took me home and I got into my car to check all the other bus stops that I knew of.  What felt like hours was really only 45 minutes, but not knowing where your 6 year old is for 45 minutes is the worst feeling I have ever encountered as a mother.  Finally, the school called and told me that Preston was on his original bus.  The bus driver went to park the bus for the day and found Preston on it.  When I was finally reunited with Preston he told me he was tired he fell asleep on the bus.  I tried with all my reasoning skills to convince Preston that we should go back to parent pick up.  He is convinced that the bus is the best and will only ride the bus.  No more falling asleep!

chicken nuggets and homemade swigg cookies-- trying to make this unhappy lunchbox losing boy happy.