Grady's First Day

Today was Grady's first day at his "bigger and stronger school." He coined that phrase last year when he went to Learning Ladder during my long term sub position. Noone knows why, that's just Grady. We really had to pump him up to go. Everytime we asked him about it, he said he'd just stay home with Mommy instead. Uh-oh. So, we bribed him. It's true. Todd went shoe shopping for himself, and stumbled across some light-up Sketchers that Grady thought were THE MOST AWESOME THINGS ON THE PLANET. Todd made a deal: shoes, for excitement. It worked. Grady pulled on his backpack and grabbed his lunchbox this morning, only to attach himself to my leg when we got to the school. I hate that. hate hate hate that. I was able to pry him off and send him on his way to the playground, but my day was tainted with worry and guilt about how his day was going. Again, he's not pumped about going tomorrow, so I'll have to begin the bribing process again. In my head I know he needs to go. I can't have a crying kindergartener on my hands, but in my heart it's still hard.