Today is Hugo’s first day at school, proper ‘big’ school. How did he get to be five already? Where did those years go?

We have had the usual anxieties in the lead up to school starting (mostly mine … will he be able to open his lunch box? will he know to eat his morning tea at morning tea, and lunch at lunch? will his new shoes hurt? will he get lost? will he be happy?). On Monday he had his Best Start Assessment with one of his teachers (it’s a job-share position for his class), and I was waiting in the playground while he was inside when all of the older kids came out for lunch. It was chaotic, and all I could think was “how can I send him off on his own to deal with this?!” which is kind of crazy, because he was at børnehave in Denmark 5 days a week, and Kindergarten isn’t *that* different.

When we arrived at school this morning, we met his other teacher and he settled straight in and found an activity to do. Sophie on the other hand fell apart. She has been quite teary all week when we’ve talked about Hugo going to school, and today she was devastated that she couldn’t stay with him. It was really quite emotional In the end we decided to go and get a smiley face biscuit from the bakery to feed her grieving soul, which helped a little bit.

In a couple of hours we’ll pick him up again, and then we’ll come home and set up his facebook account* so he can keep up with all his new friends

* No, we won’t really set him up a facebook account. That was a joke.