Well, our Christmas vacation is officially over:  Benjamin went back to school today.  Leading up to today, he was really looking forward to going back — he wanted to see his teachers and his friends, he wanted to ride tricycles in the garden, and play with the train set at school (which, I think, is pretty much like ours but without a Liam around to destroy his progress).  He was really excited to tell everyone, “Happy holidays and happy new year!”

But, of course, when this morning came around, he didn’t want to go.  He wanted to stay here with me & Liam.  We cuddled on the couch for a few minutes before he got dressed, and I reminded him about building a train set without Liam’s “help” — that changed his mind again, and he was ready to go back.

I miss having him here.  Thinking solely of myself, it’s my preference to have him here, at home, with me.  I like having him around, I like his company, I love watching him and Liam together.  Of course, he’s only gone for about 4 hours — I still get lots of opportunities to do and see all of those things.  But still, I miss him.

I’m still agonizing over the decision to send him to school.  I still think all of our reasons are valid (getting to play with other kids, getting some practice being a little independent, getting an amazing opportunity to learn German that will go beyond any other way he could learn it) but he’s so little, and he doesn’t always like school.  He likes his teachers, he likes the kids, he likes to play and read and draw, but he misses us.  I miss him, too.  I’m sad that vacation is over.