"Are you sure he'll be okay, Will?", Emma asked, "He's only three years old, and he's pretty small for his age. What if he's not ready for this? Do you think we should wait until next year?"
"He'll be fine, Em. I promise you. Loads of kids start preschool at age three.", Will assured her.
"I know", Emma paused, and then began to speak in a hushed tone so Caleb wouldn't hear, "I just get worried that somehting will happen. And what if you or I won't be there in time. And this will be the first time that he's away from one of us for this long of a time... Or, what if he-"
Emma was interrupted by an ear piercing cry from Brooke in the backseat of the car. Brooke was small, even for a four month old baby. She had sandy blonde wisps of curly hair, and brown eyes. She always seemed so innocent, until she began to cry.
"Caleb, do you know why Brooke is crying?", Emma asked Caleb, who was sitting in his booter seat.
"No, mommy", Caled replied as he played with his new, toddler- sized backpack
Emma reached back to give Brooke her pacifier, but all she did was spit it out.
"Caleb, honey", Emma asked, "Could you give Brooke one of the toys back there, please?"
"Mommy, daddy didn't put any of the toys back in the car when he cleaned it yesterday", Caleb said.
Emma gave Will a look, and he sheepishly grinned in return. Brooke continued to cry for the next ten minutes of the drive.
"Will, would you take Caleb in to his classroom? I'm going to try to calm Brooke down, and I'll be there in a minute."
"Sure, Em", Will replied, and then turned to Caleb, "Are you excited for your first day at preschool, Caleb?"
Instead of answering Will's question, Caleb looked up and asked, "Daddy, when I get home, can I tell you all about it?"
Will chuckled at his son as he unbuckled his seatbelt, "Sure, little man."
Caleb walked over to his mother, who was bouncing Brooke on one hip, and gave her a hug, "Bye, mommy"
Emma kneeled down until she was eye-level with Caleb and gave him a big hug and kiss, "I'll go to your classroom to meet your teacher as soon as Brooke stops crying. Okay, honey?"
"Okay, mommy", and with that, Will and Caleb were off. Emma watched as they walked along, towards the school building. She couldn't believe how much Caleb had grown. She couldn't believe that he was already going to preschool. It seemed like yesterday that he was first beginning to crawl. Emma looked down at Brooke, who had finally stopped crying. She looked so much like Caleb. They both had Emma's eyes and Will's hair. Emma secretly wished that her little girl would stay that way, as she went after her husband and son.