Kees and Mommy Day

I have been planning for Kees' school days since before he was born. He was due September 1st and there was no way I was going to let a couple days separate me from a bit more freedom. 5 years ago when it came time to deliver my baby I set the date in August so Kees could go to kindergarten in September of 2010. The problem is now that the time is here I knew he wasn't ready for all day kindergarten. I am sure he would have been fine but I felt strongly that being older in your grade would be an advantage to him later. When he gets into high school I want him to be a leader, not a follower, and being older can help.

When I was planning for the current year I set Kees up in 3 days of after care and a couple play dates per week. This way I have lots of time to myself. We have been in school for over a month and now it is me who isn't ready for him to go to school full time. I realized after a month of lots of time to myself that I was really missing my Kees time and I needed to do something about it. He's my last baby and I need to spend time with him, just him, while I can. I canceled his Wednesday aftercare.

Today was our first Mommy and Kees Day of the year. Kees was so excited and I was too. Our plan was to go to the zoo. The weather dudes tell us this was going to be the last 70+ degree day this year so I felt I needed to take advantage of it.

I picked up Kees at school and he was so excited to have me all to him self. We stopped at Starbucks on the way home. He ordered his own beverage and then slid in a mini doughnut. Sly little guy. We chatted a bit and then went home to pack a lunch. We quick, packed up and went to the zoo.

When we walked into the zoo Kees asked, "Can we go over there mom?" pointing at the mountain goat. And I said, "It's just you and me. You can go where ever you want." That made him really happy and he skipped. He skipped all day. It was so dang cute! You could tell he was really concentrating on his skipping. It was as if he had read how to skip and then was following the directions to the letter. "Lift the left leg and hop on the right. Then, lift your right leg and hop on the left. Repeat, repeat, repeat and so on." He made me smile all day. I was really breathing him in and enjoying my sweet, precious boy.

When we stopped for lunch, I spread out the blanket and got out our food. Kees ran all over the place. The zoo is setting up for Zoo Lights and Kees was chatting up a few of the workers. "What's in that little house? I like the big candy canes. Where are the hard candies?" He was adorable. Later we laid on the blanket and laughed. I tickled him, he would escape and almost immediately come back. We packed up and wandered through the rest of the zoo.

As we walked, we talked about what we would do next week on Kees and Mommy Day and how great today had been. I hope this is the first of many more fun Kees and Mommy Days. I am going to savor my last baby as much as I can while he'll still let me.