Highlights from tonight:

We went to the New Families dinner at Jack's future preschool. It was nice, a potluck buffet, great enchiladas and lemon bars, a terrific storyteller... and this whole room crawling with little KIDS. My baby is one of those kids now. It was sad and joyful at the same time to see him jumping right in and playing with the other toddlers.... he is so grown up and though I am sad my baby is gone it is exciting to see the kid he is becoming. He really enjoyed the storyteller, gradually abandoning the coloring he was doing and moving slowly toward the circle of kids who were listening. And when the storyteller asked the kids to gather around, to see what happens when "mean juice" (vinegar) mixes with baking soda-- well, didn't my boy just head right in to the inner circle, leaning in on his knees to get a close as he could, sharing smiles with the kids on either side, saying "Do it adin!!" to the storyteller. I felt this amazing surge of love and pride for him, watching that. It doesn't take much, huh?

In other news, Jack can apparently now make the "j" sound. He no longer refers to himself as "Dack". Its just Jack now. Cool. But I am melancholy thinking about how much I am going to miss his funny toddler-speak....

Overheard from the back of the car on the way to preschool: "You remember, mommy, you remember how to make 3? (three fingers up). See? I be three too, Daddy! I getting to be 3. When I am 3 I go to preschool and I go to preschool now!"

Jack has it all figured out.