Only adults aelod if its importinte

Well, I'm in Tauranga, it is just after 9am and I have already been to the dentist, shelled out $96.00 for 20 minutes of nearly shaking his chair to pieces (and some x-rays I guess) and then drove back to Frank's and walked with Jake to school.

It's surreal coming back now. The landscape is so familiar, and yet it isn't home. It is like tuning in to a favourite soap opera after having a long break, and although the set remains the same, the actors have changed and you don't know the storyline. I suppose it doesn't help that Kelly isn't here, that there is a stranger living next door in mum's house with three daughters, and that Jacob grows about two feet each interval I am away.

Lauren and I got in quite late last night, and when I got inside everyone was in bed. Jacob's bedroom door was closed but there were some hand written signs posted on the outside. The top one says "Only fiends" and the bottom one says "only adults aelod if its inportinte". I had him up about it when I hopped in to bed with him this morning and he said that the sign doesn't count brothers and sisters. Phew! He's so cute and cuddly when I first arrive, and his eyes were still all squinty from sleep, and on the way to school he started sussing out how long I was here for and making plans for us for the weekend. We got to the road patrol crossing and his new entrant's teacher was on patrol, (he is Year 3 now). The teacher and I got to know each other quite well the year I was in Tauranga and it is always nice to see her, she's very "old-school" but so lovely. There's this shared understanding between us, and well, pride I suppose, at how far the little fulla has come. It chokes me up a bit when I come back now and he is busy getting his own breakfast and putting on his uniform unassisted (I have to applaud Grandma there) and then he charges out the door eagerly. When I think about how long we spent in that awful after-math period where his little heart would break and he'd be beside himself every school morning, not wanting to go, then not wanting me to leave when we got there, and pulling on my pants leg while his teacher bundled him up and told him to be brave and the other little kids sat there and looked on in horrified reverence. To be fair, others in his class went through the same thing and I think most of the little ones have rough mornings and don't want to be left, but for him it was just - more loaded, I HATED leaving him.

This morning we got to class, school bag and shoes came off, book bag went in to desk, (he has one of those desks where the lid comes up now - very grown up!) and then he was out the door in the direction of the playground. He stopped on the porch and waited for me, I got a big hug, and then he was off, no backward glance, no fuss. But I got an "I love you too" as he ran off.