September 2025

Sheldon sat in the living room, meticulously packing supplies into a pink backpack covered with rainbow-colored stars. Amy stood at the edge of the kitchen, watching this for the third time in as many days. "Sheldon, she's got everything from the supply list. You checked each item off as it was purchased. Why do you keep checking her backpack?" Amy finally asked.

"I'm just making sure she's all set for tomorrow. I don't want her to be missing something because it was left sitting next to her backpack in the morning."

"You're nervous about her starting school and this is your way of coping, isn't it?"

Zipping the backpack closed, Sheldon set it by the door so it would be ready for the next morning. "I'm not nervous about her starting school," he insisted. "Maybe a little scared for her, but not nervous. What if she's like me and doesn't make any friends because she's so much smarter than everyone else?"

"Iris has no problem making friends. She loved everyone at daycare and preschool. She's smart, but I'm not worried about that being a problem for her. She's going to the same school as Jacob. He'll look out for her," Amy tried to calm him down. "She's really excited about starting school tomorrow. Please don't freak her out because you're freaking out."

"I'm not freaking out, Amy. I just don't like that she's growing up and won't just be across campus from us anymore."

Amy smiled, "I know all about your trip across campus to visit her every day on your way back from lunch. The afterschool program at her school is great. Penny and Leonard have only said good things about it. We've got nothing to worry about."

"I guess you're right. I'm going to find Iris and call my mom. She wanted to talk to Iris before she starts school tomorrow."

Amy was woken early the next morning by a tiny hand poking her arm. "Momma. It's time to get up for school," Iris said in an attempt to get her mother out of bed.

Scrambling to find her glasses, Amy groggily picked up her phone to check the time. "Iris. It's 4:53. It's not time to get up yet. Why don't you come back to sleep?"

"I'm too excited to sleep. I want to go to school."

"Sweetie. School doesn't start for almost three hours. That's almost as long as two movies. You know we don't get up before Daddy's alarm goes off. It hasn't gone off yet, so it's not time to get up. Climb up here and go back to sleep," Amy reached to pull the four-year-old into bed with her and Sheldon.

An hour and a half later, Sheldon woke up with a small foot in the middle of his back. He glanced at the time and decided to get up for the day. Amy woke up as she sensed him moving. "When did she join us?" he asked, pulling the blankets back up around Iris.

"A little before five. She was very insistent that it was time to get up for school. I think saying she's excited is an understatement. I'll let her sleep a little longer. She doesn't need to be up for another half an hour to get ready," Amy also got out of bed and tucked the blankets around the sleeping child in the middle of their bed.

"First day of school!" Howard exclaimed, setting his tray on the lunch table. "I'm so glad this summer is finally over. The kids were starting to go stir crazy from being home all the time. How'd Iris do when you dropped her off this morning?"

Sheldon swallowed the drink he had just taken before answering, "She did really well. We got her settled and she never looked back as we were leaving her classroom. We saw Penny dropping off Jacob, so Iris was telling the little girl next to her that she knew a kindergartener. Amy was worried that I was going to have trouble when we dropped her off, but she was the one who was crying by the time we made it back to the car."

"Penny was the same way last year. That's why I let her drop Jacob off this morning," Leonard chimed in. "Iris is going to have so many stories about school every day. Jacob was telling us new things about school, even all summer. It really is cute to see how excited he gets about his friends and when something new suddenly clicks and finally makes sense to him. It's like this tiny human you've been responsible for for the past four years is now their own person with a life separate from you."

"My mom said the same thing when Iris and I called her yesterday. I can't wait to hear Iris's stories. Amy and I are leaving a little early today to pick her up. We're going out to dinner to celebrate her first day of school," Sheldon shared.

"My teacher is really nice," Iris shared after they had picked her up from school that afternoon.

Amy replied as she drove through Pasadena to The Cheesecake Factory, "That's great, sweetie. What are you going to be learning about this year?"

"Um, we're going to learn the alphabet, but I already know it. We're going to write our names and learn about counting, and do lots of art projects. The teacher said we're going to use paint next week! I'm really excited for that."

"It sounds like you're really excited about everything. Did you make any friends today?" Sheldon hesitantly asked.

Iris nodded from the backseat. "Uh huh. The girl who sits next to me is my best friend. Her name is Emma. I saw Jacob when we were playing outside. He's got a lot of friends, too. They let me play with them until we had to go back inside with our classes."