The Apron Strings Slowing Breaking

Earlier this week, we sent Daniel to his first day of kindergarten, and while I was far less vocal than my wife in terms of the depth of emotional trauma involved, I have to admit that it certainly pulled on my heartstrings a little. It didn't help that earlier that weekend when I was saving some backup files, I stumbled upon some videos of Daniel when he was six months old, barely able to crawl reaching for colored blocks, knocking them down and looking inquisitively at the world around him - which at that time was the living room.

Since there, he's sharpened that inquisitive mind towards trains, dinosaurs, animals and other things that catch the fancy of a typical five-year old boy. He makes witty and precocious comments, my favorite recent example being when Sarah and I are discussing the best way to get Sophia to stay in bed through the night, Daniel walked over with his cup of orange juice and with the seriousness of the National Security Advisor interjected with, "Listen, do you want a ruckus? Because if you make her stay in her room, you're going to get a ruckus. Then she'll wake everybody up." To which Sarah and I just looked at him with an incredulous look of "who invited you into the family governing monarchy"? The growth is physical as well - this past weekend the kid hiked up to the South Mountain summit and back down without being carried or pulled. Our little guys is growing up.

It also reminds me that not only is he getting wiser and capable of making his own decisions, he will be less "captive" to our influence. And while I don't find myself or my wife infallible, I pray that he would make right decisions and that he would have a heart which would reflect God's own and be able to filter that which is right and that which is wrong, no matter what his peers might think.

There will be other milestones going forward, and with each advancing milestone - whether it be sleep-away camp or college - the separation anxiety is just going to get worse. For us, that is.