Monday, August 8, 2011

The Close of Summer



It's almost summer's end and already many of my friends' children are headed back to (or are already in) school. This will be such a different school year for us as my oldest is about to enter full day kindergarten.

KINDERGARTEN.

I really thought that I was okay with this. After all, my babies had been in day care for part of their infant lives. They have had babysitters and grandparents watching them. They were left overnight before they were one so my husband and I could get away for our anniversary. Even when he started preschool we were all excited to see Chandler head to his little class.

Now ... well. It's different. Does anyone else agree with me?

Going to full day kindergarten is going to break up our little gang. For five years we've taken mid-morning walks, exploring the natural world, making up stories and having pretend adventures. We've lounged at the coffee shop, chatting over our cups of hot coffee and cocoa respectively. We ran around like crazy people at the almost-empty zoo on Tuesdays, making animal calls and pretending we could talk with the animals. I suppose it wasn't really pretending since some of them spoke back to us. No more pre-school skating at the roller rink together. No more story time at the library.



Strangely, my keyboard is wet while I'm typing this. Hang on while I get a paper towel...

I guess what I'm trying to say is that kindergarten is breaking up my family! There, I said it. Stupid all day kindergarten that my son is so incredibly excited about. Dumb kindergarten that I couldn't possibly compete with on any level here at our boring house. Stupid time. Stupid growing up.

Clearly I have yet to grow up.

It will be very different this fall, with just my daughter and I bumming around town. She missed her brother terribly when he went off to preschool and that was just for two days a week. She'll be in preschool this fall as well and doesn't really want to go. Would I be a bad mother if I held her back a year?

Oh, I would? Dang.

September will come and we'll be a party of two instead of a party of three. I supposed us girls will just have to drop big brother off at school and drown our sorrows in a good cup of cocoa. Yes, that's it. We'll stick together, even if it's only for one more year.

On the path...

1 comment:

Cheryl Arkison said...

My guess is that you are probably not alone. But I can't count myself as the same. I am thrilled that I've got a kindergartener this year. I struggle to keep up with her and I'm looking forward to a direction for some of her energy from kindergarten.
Hang tough. You'll have some special moments for sure with the little one.