"Okay, Little Man. Are you ready for school tomorrow?" JJ asked, tucking Henry into his Lightening McQueen bed.
"Yes!""Okay! Do you want to practice?"
Henry nodded. He was so excited about school starting the following day that JJ knew he wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon.
"Okay. Which bus is your bus?" JJ quizzed.
"Green circle!"
"That's right! What's your teacher's name?"
"Mrs. Langer!""And what are Mommy and Daddy's names?"
"Mommy and Daddy," Henry giggled.
"Nope. Try again," she smiled.
"I don't know…" Henry said, wrinkling his nose.
"My name is JJ and Daddy's name is Will. Right? And your name tag is in your bag."
"The horsey one," Henry added. "Now, can I hear story time?"
"You bet," JJ said, climbing awkwardly into the tiny toddler bed beside her son, where they read her own childhood favorites, There's a Wocket in my Pocket by Dr. Seuss. Just like JJ, Henry was scared of the vug under the rug.
"Good night, buddy, I love you," she said kissing his nose.
The next morning was a blur. Henry rushed through eating his Honey Nut Cheerios and dressed himself, putting his shirt on backwards. He absolutely would not let JJ touch his hair. She fixed his shirt and made sure he had everything he needed. Then, he got on the bus with the picture of the green circle in the window.
JJ tried her best to focus but it was all she could do not to ask for personal time when Garcia elbowed her in the round table room and showed her the most recent tweet from something called preschoolgems. She wanted to be there when Henry got off the bus at 11:30. With her luck, she'd be on the jet or in some other location.
"Henry's in preschool…" she said, smiling.
"Oh, no way! He started already?" Garcia exclaimed.
"This morning… I can't wait to see him when he gets home. I wish I could be there when he got off the bus."
"Good thing Will's got a camera," Garcia said and gave JJ's arm a squeeze.
When JJ got home, exhausted, she stopped by Henry's room to give him a kiss goodnight. He stirred and wrapped his arms around her neck before he fully woke up. He felt warm and soft and smelled like Johnson & Johnson's big kid no tears shampoo. His favorite CARS pajamas were fuzzy against her cheek.
"Mommy…" he whispered.
"Hey, did you have a good day at school?" she asked, kissing his forehead.
"Yeah."
"Yeah? What did you do?"
"We talked about favorites and when we're big and learned all about in the class. I'm gonna be a police like Daddy," he said. "And be like you and catch all the bad guys."
"Wow, that sounds like a big job," she said, crawling into bed with him and sharing his tiny pillow. "When you do all those things can I help?"
"Yeah, but first…you have to go to preschool…" Henry said, nodding off in her arms.