It is Anant's third day at school today and I still can't believe how fast time has flown. My little one who has always been wrapped up the warmth and security of our embrace is now out there, alone, with neither his mother nor father to clutch him when he cries. It is overwhelming. While on the one hand I feel excited about the idea of Anant going to school all by himself, learning new things, making new friends and  becoming a confident young boy, the mother in me is nervous and anxious. I know he will cry, bawl and look for his Papa and me every second he is there. Everything so new, not a face that he knows.

But all our apprehensions get assuaged by watching him prepare for school! He is in complete love with his new backpack, his new 'tiffin' and all the paraphernalia associated with going to school! The whole time he's home, he just has to have his bag on his shoulders all the time, with the tiffin and sippy cup in it! Not for a second can you dare to take that off him! He's even filled some crayons in it! And then there are the narratives of what happened in school, what he did, how his "new friends" are, what the teacher said to him. The most proudly told and spirited account is of how he ate his tiffin all by himself, without anybody's help! The exuberance on his face and the glint in his eyes are a tell all and so comforting for the jittery, twitchy me! Is my little baby getting older already?

Its a new phase in our lives and just like a new pair of shoes, its going to pinch a little, leave us slightly edgy at first, and then, I know its going to be all hunky dory. I will be a less nervous version of me and Anant will not want to leave school and come back home! (Oops! I think that will make me even more anxious!! :D)