School started one week ago today. For ten whole years I’ve had at least one small person in my care for most of the week. So, this is strange and uncharted territory as I enter into a new season of parenting school-age kids.
Of course, this picture had to pop up on Facebook this morning to remind me where we were five years ago today when the now 5th Grader started kindergarten and the now 3rd Grader was preparing to head to preschool:
On that same day five years ago, the now Kindergartener was there at the drop-off in her car carrier with the “lovie” of her choice in hand: a toothbrush.
From a very early age she has been her own person. If only she was still so serious about dental hygiene…
Just in case the passage of time doesn’t feel fast enough, one can always count on social media or the camera roll on the phones we carry in our hands to be there with its visual reminders. Indeed, time flies and will “hop” right past us while we spend our days wishing for the next season and stage to get here.
And, that’s exactly how I’ve arrived at the bittersweet place I am today. Part of me is sad to watch all three girls independently hop out of the van door and walk into school each morning, yet I’m so glad we survived the baby/toddler/preschool years and have made it to the threshold of this new season. It’s a strange mixture of relief and anxiety and a myriad of questions that come to mind…
Will the mistakes I made these past ten years mess them up?
Did I do enough with that time?
What now?
Who am I ten years later?
What is my new role as these girls need me in new and different ways?
Who are they becoming?
And even… What am I going to be when I grow up?
I don’t yet have good answers, so I’m doing what I always do in times of stress. I’m starting a new project: painting a room. It’s therapeutic. And, I can think of no better way to counter the strange silence of this house in the mornings than to turn a room upside down and paint a design on the walls.
While I’m over here taping off walls and rolling paint, the girls seem to be enjoying their teachers and getting used to the routines of a new classroom and a fresh school year. The Kindergartener was shockingly nervous on her first day and a little sad about making the adjustment to all-day, real school. She pointed out that the building was huge and she might get lost. Fortunately that hasn’t happened. And, in fact, she seems to be liking all the exciting new subjects and activities coming her way. One of her favorites so far is Spanish. This is the paper she brought home yesterday:
Me: Oh, this looks fun. Do you remember what this word is you learned today?
Her {in a convincing French accent}: “BONJOUR!!”
Me: Umm, I think this is “Hola.”
Her: Oh. I forgot. But now when people from China come over to our house, I can talk to them!
That would make for a very confusing conversation with any of our international houseguests. But, at least she has great enthusiasm for conversing with people from all over the world.
The Kindergartener was also excited to tell us at dinner the other night about some drama she got to witness on the playground. Apparently one of the boys in her class was throwing mulch at some of the girls when the teacher blew a whistle and yelled, “NO THROWING MULCH!!”
She’s fascinated by the use of the whistle, and I’m just wondering where this brilliant idea has been these past ten years?? I could have been blowing a whistle all summer long.
whistle
“NO HITTING YOUR SISTER!!”
whistle
“EVERYONE IN THE CAR NOW!!”
whistle
“NO WATER BALLOONS IN THE HOUSE!!”
whistle
“NO GYMNASTICS ON MY BED!!”
whistle
“WHO GOT INTO THE EYE SHADOW?!”
I may learn just as much as she does in kindergarten this year.
Ha! I can’t envision you with a whistle haha!! I remember dropping Jody off at U.T. School of Home Economics’ Pre-School Care, when he was 3 years old. (I enrolled him when he was 5 days old). Before I could get to my car, he had already “flunked” sand box. He had managed to throw a handful of sand in another boy’s eye, and the R.N. was skillfully removing it with a coth dipped in water!
As if that weren’t bad enough, before the year was out he and another boy locked their principal out of her office! I won’t tell you the rest….But I am very proud of him today! He is a wonderful Christian Gentleman and so much fun to be with !