Turns out we're not the only ones experiencing some abivalence these days. Last night was Sunday, and during Baxter's bath I asked him how he felt about going to school the next day.

"Pretty okay," came his tentative response. Compared to his customary enthusiasm, this seemed like faint praise indeed.

When I gingerly probed about his feelings, he confessed that the kids don't play with him during recess. Or maybe they do; his story kept changing. He was pretty insistent that the kids who play basketball at recess don't really let him join in and that when they don't, he goes somewhere else to play by himself.

Now, Baxter playing by himself is a sight so rare that when it happens at home, I'm apt to dance with joy. But the thought of Mr. Social alone on a playground full of kindergartners makes me pretty sad.

I assured him that if he kept inviting kids to play with him, he'd soon make some good friends. And I'm sure he will. And I'm sure that my concerns are overblown and unnecessary. But still, when you hear about you kid getting ignored by other kids, it stings.

And then I think about switching him to a new school and having him go through new-kid syndrome just 10 days after he started kindergarten. Half of me says, "Poor kid...How could you do that to someone who's not even five." The other half says, "He'll do fine — the kid makes friends at the airport baggage carousel."