For their birthdays, both Sam and Zach wanted soccer jerseys.

Given how many jerseys we have in this house (a small fortune for sure), Rob is an expert at finding exactly what they want and gets it delivered right to our door.

Zach has been anticipating the arrival of his jersey – and begging to wear it as soon as he gets it rather than waiting for his birthday. On Friday, the kids came home for lunch since both Rob and I were working from home. Zach, anxious to get back to school to hang out with his friends after eating lunch, left early – just a few minutes before the fed ex guy came delivering the shirts!
Sam also wanted to go back early, so I took him and decided to seek Zach out in the crowd of kids to let him know his jersey had arrived!

I found him, tried to call him over (without embarrassing him), and told him. He seemed less than enthused, acted all casual and really brushed me off. Gone are the days when his eyes would light up when he saw me:(

So I left the school ground and started for home.

About a block away I heard, “Mom, Mom”! I turned, and there was Zach running after me – pretty excited about the jersey. He wanted to run home to try it on and wear it to school just for the afternoon. I teased him saying he didn’t seem so excited when I told him about it in the school yard – in fact he brushed me off! He just smiled and excitedly put the jersey on, and proudly wore it to school!
I guess that is how it is going to go. The push and pull of a child growing, trying to become independent, but still coming back when no one is looking.