Finally! . . . And Yet Too Soon?

It is 10:25am. The house is dead quiet. Normally, I would worry about such an occurrence, but today all four of my family members are accounted for. PJ is sleeping peacefully after a fitful night, DH is down being productive in his office, and the Bubbs and Simster? They are in PRESCHOOL!

Here's a picture of them today before heading out. Today was the Bubbs' first day of preschool. I'm doing a co-op with her with 7 other moms. We each take a week and do the theme etc at our house. This means I will only be teaching preschool once every 10 weeks (a couple of the moms have more than one kid so they will teach more than once). She has been waiting and waiting for this moment...
I think she will do fine and have fun. She's well-behaved (most of the time) and she already knows all of her letters and numbers and can sound out 15+ words.

Mr. Sim actually started preschool two weeks ago (one of the reasons the Bubbs has been anxious!). He is in a preschool with three other kids run by two of my friends (-> I pay them). I was a little nervous about it because he is the youngest by five months and the other three are all girls. I thought he would be rowdy and hard to manage (like he can be at home). But here are some pictures from his first day...
My friends say he is doing fine; that he listens and pays attention and does a good job drawing his letters. Whew! The funniest thing is that whenever I pick him up at the end of the day, I ask "What did you learn in preschool?" His answer is, without fail, "I dunno." This is his answer to many things right now ("Why did you smack your sister?" "I dunno."), and we all know he is learning and he's having a grand old time.

But me? I have been counting down the days until this moment since the first time the Bubbs shoved Simster's head into the ground when he was like a month old. Some peace! Some quiet! Time to do what I want for once! Could these kids please grow up already?! And now, with the Bubbs almost 4 and barely waving goodbye when she joined her friends this morning, and the Simster 2.5 going on 6 and chattering away about his preschool, I am a little sad. I had a friend over the other day who also has three young ones and we were talking about how people say to enjoy these moments because the years go by fast and all of a sudden they're grown up. She read somewhere someone say "The years do go by fast, but a single day can last forever!" I'm feeling both today. I'm thrilled to have my kids learning, picking up on so much and being so excited to discover the coolness of knowledge. But there's a part of me that is sitting here in the quiet, missing the pitter-patter of two-year-old Bubbs and six-month-old Simba. Life as a mother, right? Last night DH gave the kids father's blessings before they started the "school" year and I cried. I was picturing the Bubbs at 17, asking her dad for a blessing before she starts her senior year. Hopefully recognizing this new chapter in their lives will help me cherish the moments more. And probably by the end of the day, they'll be back to fighting like usual. :)

Oh, and not to be left out - here's some pics of PJ with her mommy and daddy at the park last night for FHE. :)


Comments

Kodelle said…
Sometimes a few hours can last forever. They look so big with their backpacks. They all (mine included) need to stop growing up so fast. I want them to be little longer.
Anna said…
You kids are so cute!!! They do get too big too fast, just think maybe your baby won't have to worry about weight when she get older.