Gifted

Day by day trickled by and seasons changed. Charlie was growing bigger every day as was his long time friend Sam. Both of them seemed to have inherited their father's growing gene, who are the tallest two members of the friend group, making it unsurprising that both Charlie and Sam had exceeded the average height for their age group. So, when the time came for them start attending preschool, which they were early with to begin with, they looked like they were about to start kindergarten instead. For both mothers and both children, the first day was an exciting day but a day they got through without any hick-ups. Each of them dealing with the early start of this next phase in their own way.

Though they would be starting at the same time, the reason for the early admission into preschool differed between the two boys. Jenny wanted Charlie to attend as early as possible so that he could properly develop his social skills to prevent him from having to stay behind a year later on. This concern came from the certainty that he would be allowed to skip grades once he would start attending 'real' school and most kids that were allowed to skip had trouble adjusting later on because they lacked the time to work on their social skills. In some cases they would be kept behind for a year during later stages of their educational path, making their initial skipping of a grade become void.

In Elizabeth's case, she had her hands full on Sam. He was a very chatty and happy child and in constant need of a playmate. Having social skills that exceeded his age, he was perfectly able to make friends and be entertained by them. But she couldn't exactly leave a child his age to roam around on his own. So, she felt that having him start preschool early on, would benefit all of them. Sam because he would get plenty of opportunities to make friends and find some candidates for playdates, her and nick because it would relieve them of some of the Sam entertaining business and friend-making chaperoning.

Once the two boys, who were enrolled into the same preschool and ended up in the same class, got past the scary first day, they started liking it more and more. Even Charlie got more used to being among strangers twice a week. Surprising all that knew him on how fast he was able to accept this new normal. For both families more time freed up with the boys being away for a few hours two days in a week. But especially for the grandparents, who were the ones that did most of the watching during the day, noticed this change. Especially in Jason and Jenny's case Susan had been the one doing a lot of the watching because the two of them were both out of the house for more than forty hours a week.

Though instead of the grandparents being happy, they quickly started to miss the lost time with their grandsons. Each of them already dreading the moment that they would be going to kindergarten and their time together would be reduced even more. From here on out, with each next step in their grandsons' lives, their time with them would get reduced further and further. Making them want to savour these moments even more instead of considering them a bother. But as it was for their grandsons' good, they kept these sad feelings inside and focused on the good. Among which were the cheerful stories the boys brought back home and their happy smiles.

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From the first day of preschool to the first day of kindergarten. It seemed to have come in flash. Which was indeed the case as the two boys were each gifted in their own ways. Allowing them to start kindergarten just six months after they had started attending preschool. So, when Jenny started her last year at med-school, Charlie and Sam started their first day at kindergarten. Jenny was in full paparazzo and fangirling mode when she went to drop her son off with Jason. Making use of them being extra early, taking the time before the crowd of other parents and children got here, to take as many pictures as she could. Where preschool was more of a necessity for his own good, him advancing to kindergarten so soon filled her with feelings of pride more than anything.

As usual Jason just let her be while shaking his head in amusement while this was going down. Even playing along when Jenny wanted to have pictures of him and Charlie together and one with them as a family. Despite the many pictures she had taken back at home. Charlie was wearing the adorable kindergarten uniform of his school and had his darling little backpack on his back. He was looking at Jenny like his dopey, aloof self even though she was convinced he was nervous on the inside. Because although both of the boys would be starting kindergarten, Charlie would be starting out in the second year of kindergarten right off the bat. Meaning he would be in elementary school starting next year at the age of only four. Three years before his age. Though he was allowed to skip kindergarten altogether, Jenny and Jason had decided against it as they already knew he was intellectually gifted. The reason for his early attendance of preschool was so he could develop his social skills more and skipping most of preschool and all of kindergarten would defeat their initial purpose.

So, while Charlie was waiting to enter another new environment just after he had accepted the first one, Jenny was trying to accept how her little boy was growing up way too fast while being so impressed with him at the same time. Jenny was just about to take another picture when a few familiar faces started approaching them. These faces of course belonged to Sam along with his parents. They were approaching the front gate of the school and once they had all greeted each other, the two boys went inside while holding hands as both mothers' hearts melted. They couldn't imagine being able to witness something more adorable and wholesome than that but with all the other parents around, they tried to contain themselves. Sharing their excitement with each other after they got in one of their cars while going through the many pictures on their phones.