rites of passage

We're one step closer to kindergarten in the house. Today poor Owen had to go for his shots, four of them, before starting school next Thursday. He was such a trooper. I had him wrapped in a bear hug while the nurse did two shots in each arm. He didn't let out a yelp. But once it was over the tears just overtook him, the heavy price of all that bravery. The lady at the front desk gave him such a sympathetic look when she saw how upset he was. She asked him about starting school but he wouldn't even respond, and he's normally pretty chatty if anyone pays the least bit of attention to him. But by the time we got to the elevator it was all behind us. I let him and Oona celebrate with a massive dose of chocolate for breakfast. Strawberry milk, chocolate croissants and chocolate chocolate chip cookies at Whole Foods - the other people surrounding us must of have thought me a most indulgent and insane mom. Now we just await an assessment for his kindergarten readiness on Friday. Hopefully by then they'll let me know just who his teacher is, what time he needs to be at school and how much money he needs to buy lunch. I'm between books so I was reading a recent issue of Time about the state of education for gifted students (which is mournful). Here's a link if you want to see how badly we're failing these kids