Really? He's Old Enough?

I remember it like it was yesterday.

Josiah Paul Hefft was 9 pounds, 9 ounces, dwarfing all of the other babies in the nursery at BroMenn Hospital in Normal, Illinois. My claim to fame during his birth: I laughed all the way through it.

No, I'm not superwoman. [Superwomen are those amazing ladies who do the whole thing without drugs.] The anesthesiologist couldn't get my epidural to fully kick in, so he "did it up right" and I couldn't feel a single thing. I couldn't even wiggle my toes. Bless that man.

Josiah wouldn't really eat for the first 24 hours, which worried me a little [ok, a lot], but on the plus side, he slept all the time. I should have taken those God-given opportunities to catch up on sleep, considering I hadn't really slept much the week before he was born. But, good grief, I finally had my own BABY! I had to hold him and admire those cute little fingers and toes. I had to trace the beautiful curve to his chubby chin. Those were good days. [Well, except for the lack of sleep part and the crying part and the messy diapers part.]

I remember it like it was yesterday, which is why it blows my mind that my just-yesterday little one is now 5 years old and going to school.

His first day was Monday. He's normally an early riser, but we heard him up and at 'em especially early yesterday morning. He was overjoyed to pack his new backpack that Grandma Helmers had given him [even though in the Reception class all they bring is a snack] and get on the carpool bus to head to school.

I was nervous that he might be a little apprehensive, being that it was his first day and that he was starting class mid-year. But when the teacher rang the bell for class to begin, he buzzed passed me like I wasn't even there. Nope, he was definitely not nervous. I'm sure it helped that two other kids from our housing compound and another little girl we got to know at language school are in his class too.

I'm grateful that, at least for now, he's loving the idea of school. He has many, many years of school ahead of him.

But it still seems like just yesterday.