Summer is coming to an end

I'm up late on Sunday night, thinking. In just a couple days our nearly 6 year long summer will come to an end. No not an actual 6-year long summer, just the freedom that comes with not having kids in school. We will no longer be able to just take off for a quick midweek vacation. If I'm running late in the morning, I will not be the only one who suffers. And this is just the beginning.
When Big Dog starts school, our comfortable pace, our "we're not really morning people" family will have to change. I'm not sure I'm ready for it, but I know he is.
Big Dog has always been a quick learner, fascinated by numbers and letters and the amazing patterns they form. He reads and tries to decode words. He counts, already to 100 and beyond. I asked him what he was most excited about as he heads to kindergarten. He said "I want to learn more math. And learn to count to the very last number!" I had to explain there is no last number, that numbers go on forever. He looked slightly disturbed by this fact. "You mean they keep going, like this," making a spiral with his index finger, "Going round and round and round?" "I guess so," I said, watching as his brain had it's first tango with the concept of infinity.
Since the play dates and the pot luck he's been ready to get to it. I'm not sure he really understands the difference between his preschool and the new world of kindergarten, but really, did any of us? I hope the reality of it meets his high expectations and I worry that it won't. But he's a great adapter. He'll make the situation work, he'll even find things to love. And who knows, I may be wrong, it just might be wonderful. It just might match what he's been dreaming of. All I know is that my fingers are getting all cramped up from keeping them crossed so long.