Will you be my trail buddy?

"Guess what?  Today I'm going to go on your hike with you."

"Why?"

"Because parents were invited to come and be trail buddies for the day."

"But, I'm supposed to go hiking with just my teachers, not you."

"Well, I just thought it would be nice if I came.  I thought you might feel sad if the other kids' parents were there and you didn't have your mommy or daddy there."

"Ok.  But, next time can I just go by myself again.  Without you."

Oh my little Mr. Independent.  He is going to be the kid that asks me not to come on school field trips.  And when I go anyway, he will probably request to be in a different group.  No big deal.  I'll just win over all his buddies with my awesomeness and then when we get home he'll tell me what a bummer Mrs. Smith's group was and how he wished he would have stayed with me instead. ;) 

No one would have guessed that C and I belonged to each other.  With the exception of the times I pulled him off to the side of the trail and told him to keep his hands to himself.  Those two girls standing next to him though...we totally bonded.  They were tripping all over their scarves and I showed them a neat trick to keep it from dragging on the ground.  I'm confident that I totally impressed them and they went home that day wondering who that super nice, super cool lady who came on their hike was.  (Because you know they had no idea I was C's mom) ;)

It was fun to get a little glimpse into his nature school world.  Can't wait to see how excited he is when I sign up to be a book buddy.  Ha!