Jeffrey Friedl's Blog » Growing Up Quickly: Off To First Grade On His Own

Growing Up Quickly: Off To First Grade On His Own

by Jeffrey Friedl Tue, April 14th, 2009 10:09am JST (15 years, 6 months ago)

NOTE: Images with an

icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.

Headfirst Into His Future -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 — full exif
Headfirst Into His Future

It's a Big Step -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 175 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/2.8, ISO 640 — full exif
It's a Big Step

And Just Like That He Was Gone -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2009 Jeffrey Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm — ¹/320 sec, f/2.8, ISO 220 — full exif
And Just Like That He Was Gone

We all took the bus together last Thursday to the Anthony's first-grade entrance ceremony.

On Friday, his first day of school, I rode the bus with him.

On Monday (yesterday), he rode the bus himself while I followed along on the scooter “just in case”, as we had practiced during spring break.

Today he went on the bus all by himself.

March	25th,	2009	Ice Skating, Shopping, and an Important Bus Ride
April	9th,	2009	Anthony Starts First Grade
April	19th,	2009	Cherry Blossoms in the Rain at the Heian Shrine
April	23rd,	2009	Simple Bamboo Fence
May	18th,	2009	Ishigaki Day 2, Morning: Pineapples and the Tamatorisaki Lookout
June	29th,	2009	They Grow Up So Quickly (but are still a bit green)
October	9th,	2009	Anthony Coming Home From the Bus Stop
January	1st,	2010	Our 2010 New Year's Card
February	24th,	2010	“Wild Boar”, Free Audio Book by Anthony Friedl
March	21st,	2010	Anthony Finishes First Grade
April	5th,	2010	Anthony Growing Up: the Tipping Point
March	7th,	2015	Anthony Graduates from Elementary School

You can submit a comment below | Posted under: Japan, Parenthood | Comments via RSS | Trackback

All 7 comments so far, oldest first...

Wow, does that tug! Especially the photo of Fumie watching the bus pull away.
I hold onto my little ones and keep trying to freeze these beautiful moments now into my memory. I know that they will pass the infant & toddler stage soooooooo fast. And in no time at all, it will be MY little boy headed onto a bus. Or HIS child…

— comment by Marcina, USA on April 14th, 2009 at 10:43am JST (15 years, 6 months ago) — comment permalink

Jeffrey,
I always enjoy your posts, plug-ins, and the perspective you bring to your home life. This post is very emotive and personal. Thank you for sharing.

Robert
San Antonio, Texas

— comment by Robert K on April 14th, 2009 at 12:22pm JST (15 years, 6 months ago) — comment permalink

Does this now mean daytime party-time for mom and dad? 🙂

— comment by Steve Friedl on April 14th, 2009 at 10:01pm JST (15 years, 6 months ago) — comment permalink

Pretty nice shot of your wife.

A big step of your son, a wonderful moment of your life!

Best Wishes.

— comment by Campbell Soup on April 14th, 2009 at 10:31pm JST (15 years, 6 months ago) — comment permalink

I have to agree about the shot of Fumie watching the bus pull away. Tugs at a parents heart strings.

But of course, that’s what we raise them to do. It just doesn’t make it easier when it happens.

Nice shots.

Chris

— comment by Chris on April 15th, 2009 at 12:31pm JST (15 years, 6 months ago) — comment permalink

Nice shots. I have to agree about the wistful picture of Mommy. Even without seeing her face, we can feel it.
Just checked the metadata for the time the shot was taken (7:09 a.m.), to see if Anthony might be passing our place (bus 5 stops right in front of our building) around the time Greg gets on his kindergarten bus. Looks like Anthony is probably going by as Greg eats breakfast. Elementary school is the big leagues. I also checked for Anthony as three (!) buses went b while I was waiting for Greg’s homeward bus (2:35- 3:05), but didn’t see him.

Hah, yeah, when we rode together for practice, I’d tell him every time we stopped in front of your place that “that’s where Greg lives”. They’re still not doing a full schedule.. today he’ll go by at about 1:45 or so. On the way back, he sits near the front of the bus, usually immediately behind the driver. —Jeffrey

— comment by nils on April 15th, 2009 at 11:59pm JST (15 years, 6 months ago) — comment permalink

I love this picture, if I where Fumie I would be in- “un mar de lagrimas” – as we say in spanish wich means -“in a sea made of tears”-.

Beautiful, beautifl, Thank you for share this moments!

Griselda, Arlington.TX

— comment by Griselda Nishikatsu on May 23rd, 2009 at 2:41pm JST (15 years, 5 months ago) — comment permalink