A milestone.....almost

When we take The Boy to school, we park and walk him right up to the classroom door, where the kids are waiting. We are not in the majority; many kids ride the bus or get dropped off on the sidewalk, so they walk in themselves. My opinion is that kindergarten is too young for this--their school is the "doors open right to the outside" kind with breezeways, not one building with classrooms inside. There's a lot that could happen between the car and the classroom door, and we often see that on our walks in.

Anyway, he has casually mentioned that some kids walk in by themselves, but hasn't expressed a desire to do it himself. He actually still holds my hand most of the time, which I keep waiting for him to give up. But I have to admit I secretly love it, knowing that it won't last.

So as we're driving in this morning, he says that one of his friends comes for school breakfast and walks in by himself. I ask if he wants me to drop him off, because I can. (As my heart breaks a little, silently)
He says yes, and then asks if I can park and just walk him up to the sidewalk.
I agree.
We park and walk up to the sidewalk, where I kiss him goodbye and he starts to walk down the breezeway.
I resist the temptation to pull out my phone and take a picture of my little boy growing up.
I also resist the temptation to cry.

About 15 feet away, he turns around, crying.

Evidently he's not quite ready to walk in by himself either. Whew.
We dried tears and walked in together. He recovered just fine, and once again, I managed not to cry.

Sometimes you're ready to walk right up to that milestone, look it in the eye, and say, "Maybe next time."