"Let's go," five-year-old Leo pulled on his sister's arm in the direction of the door.

"We aren't going to be late. Daddy is never late for anything. He won't let you be late for your first day of kindergarten," Katie reminded her little brother on what was also her first day of second grade.

Leo stomped his foot at her before running up the stairs to find their parents. "I want to leave," he stated, finding Sheldon and Amy collecting their things in the master bedroom.

"We're coming. Do you have your lunchbox from the fridge?" questioned Amy, following the boy downstairs.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he picked up his lunchbox from where he dropped it on his way to find Sheldon and Amy and repeated, "Let's go."

The family loaded into Amy's car with Leo eagerly watching out the window as they drove towards his new school. It didn't take long to reach the school, but Leo grew impatient as Amy searched for a parking spot, finally finding one down the block. "It's not always like this, Leo. Remember how last year we'd wait in the long line of cars to drop off Katie?" Amy asked, waiting for a response before continuing. Seeing her son nod his head, she finished her thought. "Starting tomorrow, we're going to wait in that line to drop you off with Katie. We're only going in with you today to help you find your classroom."

"Okay," the kindergartener skipped ahead of his family, looking back every few feet to make sure they were still following him.

"Leo," Sheldon called his son's name as they approached the kids waiting outside the school and knelt in front of him when his son turned around. "I want you to know how proud I am of you, starting school today. I hope you have a great day. Do you remember what we talked about last night?"

Leo nodded his head, "Uh-huh. Say please and thank you. Wait for the teacher to pick me to say anything. And have fun. Can we go inside now?"

Sheldon stood while answering, "Sure, let me check that your sister's okay." Turning his attention to his daughter, Sheldon shared similar sentiments to what he just expressed to his son. "I can't believe you're already starting second grade, Katie Beth. I know you have a lot of friends, but remember to include everyone when you're playing at recess. You're gonna have a great year, aren't you?"

"Yep. Can I go find my friends, now?" she asked, returning the hug Sheldon wrapped her in.

"Go. Remember, Penny is picking you and Leo up after school when she picks up Rory and we're having dinner at their house."


Amy slipped her hand into Sheldon's after leaving Leo's classroom, walking back to the car. Giving his hand a small squeeze, she looked up at him and smiled, but didn't say anything. He returned the squeeze and smile, also remaining quiet. Relaxing into the driver's seat, placing her hands on the wheel, Amy let out a sigh. "Our baby is in kindergarten, Sheldon."

"He's not much of a baby anymore, and hasn't been for years."

"I know. Pre-k was rough; he was never as excited to go as he was this morning. I thought for sure there were going to be tears and kicking and screaming that he didn't want to go," Amy thought aloud, steering the car to CalTech.

Pondering what his wife said for a moment, Sheldon found the words he was looking for. "He's grown so much in the past year. He still prefers to be by himself, but he's better at expressing what he wants to people other than us. His teacher seems to have done her research and is on board with whatever will be helpful for Leo."

Opening her mouth to respond, Amy was cut off by her phone ringing through the car's Bluetooth connection. "Hi, Max. Is everything okay?"

"Hi, mom. I just wanted to check in. I'm guessing you and dad just dropped the kids off at school?"

Amy nodded her head, even though her son couldn't see it. "We did. Leo was excited, he was ready to go before anyone else. He told us we needed to hurry up because he wanted to leave."

"Leo asked as I was helping him get dressed if he could call you. I told him it was too early to call this morning, so he's probably going to want to call you tonight," shared Sheldon.

"That's fine. I think I'm spending the evening studying, so FaceTiming Leo will be a nice break. Just text me first so I know I'm at a good stopping point. I gotta go, my class starts in a few minutes and the professor locks you out if you're late."

"Bye." "We'll talk to you later," Sheldon and Amy talked over one another to say goodbye to their son.


Amy looked at her phone that evening, hearing her text tone go off. "Hey, Leo, do you still want to talk to Max? He just finished dinner and wants to talk to you." The boy ran to his mother, reaching his hands out to take her phone. "Press the green button when you see Max's face," she directed him.

Squealing excitedly seeing his brother's face appear on the screen in his hand, Leo started pounding his finger on the screen, growing frustrated it wasn't working. Amy reached over his shoulder and pressed the button for him. "Max!" Leo screeched when Max greeted him.

"Hey, buddy. How was your first day of kindergarten?"

"Good," the little boy answered. "I sit on a yellow circle on the rug and my name is on the table."

Max smiled through the screen. "That sounds exciting. Do you know anyone in your class from pre-k or are they all new kids?"

Replying, Leo quietly said, "New kids. Come home and play?"

"I would love to come home and play, but I've got school and my school is far away. Remember how long it took to drive me here last week?" Max reminded his brother. "I have to take the train to come home. Maybe sometime you can visit me at school and take the train with dad."

Leo doesn't share his father and brother's affinity towards trains, but perked up at the idea. "You too."

"Maybe. I'll talk to mom and dad about it and see what they think," he offered, knowing Amy was nearby and listening to their entire conversation. "I've got a few days with no classes just before Halloween. How about I come home then and help you pick your costume? We can play the whole time I'm home. Well, us and Katie. We don't want her to feel left out, do we?"

"No," Leo shook his head. "Play with everyone. I want to be dinosaur."

Max chuckled, having known what Leo would want to be for Halloween. "We'll find you the best dinosaur costume ever. Tell Katie to think about what she wants to be. We can help her find something, too."

"Okay."

"I think it's probably about time for your bath, isn't it?"

Leo looked at Amy, who nodded her head. "Yeah," he answered.

"I love you, buddy. Have a good night," Max told his little brother.

"Bye," Leo passed the phone back to Amy without ending the call.

Accepting the phone, Amy flipped it around in her hand so it was upright and said to Max, "Thank you. I'll talk to dad about him and Leo taking the train down to see you some weekend. I love you."

"Love you, too, mom. Talk to you soon."