Interweb-type folks:
Tomorrow is the Younger's last days of preschool. For realsies. I have been driving one child there every week for five years and now that bandaid is going to be ripped off. What was that...sounds of sobbing coming from my general direction?
No ma'am. No sir.
I'm not a weeper when my kids reach their little mini milestones. I sure do love 'em, but I also love watching them develop and grow more than I do love reminiscing about the days of yesteryear.
Por ejemplo. When I think about how many fewer tears we resolve on a daily basis, I rejoice. When I realize that I haven't torn my hair out over the smears of pasta sauce that missed the bib (i.e. LESS STAINING), I sing the praises of any and all. And, when I hear my children telling each other how annoying they're being (and why...!) rather than hitting or screaming because they have words now, the hallelujahs bubble forth.
Of course we have work to do. Of course they're still in progress. But, ohmyword, I love that they're growing up.
I also love that I wrote the last check for preschool. And that I don't have to drive across town back and forth and back and forth. And that I don't have to make so much polite conversation with other moms who assume I'm all bleary teary eyed like they are. (I'm pretty lousy at polite conversation and will inevitably say something that makes me sound like a blundering dolt.)
I'll say it again: No ma'am...no sir.
However. I don't really like Kindergarten. I don't like that all-day K is the only option anymore and that we have to remember when "red day" is. I don't have much in common with other Kindergarten parents, it seems, and I'm practically grinchy about Kindergarten graduation. For the love...
The Younger is pretty stoked about joining the Elder at school next year, and what is probably one of her worst kept secrets, the Elder echoes that sentiment. I'm already starting on packing all of those lunches. (No, I'm not. Maybe I should?!? No, I shouldn't. But I wish I could.)
There's a reason we only have two kids: I can't handle the thought of packing more lunches every day. Oy vey. (True story: There have been multiple times when the boy and I say "Hey, we should take the girls to do ___ for the day," but then I immediately think "Nah...that means someone (usually me) has to pack lunches for everyone. Pass.") Everyone has their struggles.
But there's someone who's not having the struggles, and that is the Younger. She's fantastically excited about tomorrow because TALENT SHOW and END OF SCHOOL PROGRAM. But after that razmatazz, she's just stuck at home with me. She better enjoy her last day. We all will.
