"Sad day" for Spencer

One thing you should know about Spencer---he hardly ever cries. Whenever we hear him cry, we know to come running because he must be terribly hurt.

He's just a tough kid.

So when he came to me this morning with tears in his eyes saying he wanted to have an "absent" day today, it had me concerned.

After many questions, I determined that nothing profound had happened last week to keep him from wanting to go to school, he just simply wanted to stay home. And I know having an absent day from Kindergarten every once in a while isn't a bad thing...

BUT (he doesn't know this part yet)

he's flying to Utah next week with Grandma to go see his cousins for six days...so you see, he can't have an absent day this week. He needs to save them. (We can't wait to surprise him!)

So instead of granting him his wish of absence, we spent a few minutes snuggling in bed (fully dressed for our day) talking about how much fun it'd be to stay in bed all day and not do our work (his work: school, my work: laundry, his siblings) and just have the pizza guy deliver us pizza right to our bed. Maybe one day we'll have to do just that. But for today we decided that he should go get smarter and I should do his laundry so that his friends don't call him "Stinky Spencer" (he thought me quite hilarious for coming up with that one)

So me and the troops walked Spencer to school (all the while tears streaming down his face) where I told Mrs. Brown he was having a "sad day" (his words, not mine) and I kissed his little face and told him I loved him. I watched him walk away with his classmates all the while waving, exchanging blow kisses and thumbs up signs.

It just about broke my heart and the lump in my throat is still here. Being a Mom is not for the weak.

Today when he comes home (in just 2.5 hours) I plan to have a treat waiting for him. I love that on the cusp of turning six, he can admit (quietly) that he still needs his Mommy. And this makes me feel so good, cause man alive, do I ever need him.