I sure miss being with my baby girls every day. I miss just hanging out, “being”. And I miss all the fun stuff we did, the
little treats we worked into our weekly routine, and the on-a-whim stuff we did
when the mood struck.
I miss them so much it physically hurts sometimes. But they are in kindergarten now, and I am
working. Ages and stages. I know it’s all part of it. And while I love-love-love seeing them grow
(and I’m enjoying being back in the corporate world), I sure miss our carefree
days together.
Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve gotten to have some
super-sweet fun together…even taking their kindergartener status and my work
schedule into account.
A couple of weeks ago, I got to attend their class
picnic. They ate their lunches outside,
and then the parents got to play with the kiddos on the playground. The girls were so excited to see me there, and how
precious it was for me to be with them in their [new] element.
Last Friday, I spent a couple of hours with them during
their Field Day. I worked my way back
and forth between the classes. I cheered
on their fill-the-bucket races, laughed at their hula hoop relay, and relived
parts of my childhood Field Days as they engaged in a voracious game of tug of
war.
And yesterday I took a vacation day to accompany the
kindergarten classes on a field trip.
The girls had a blast, and so did I. How very thankful I am to have been there
with them.
For weeks now, they’ve been talking about riding the bus…and
on the INTERSTATE, they recently added.
HA! After that adventure, they
kicked things off at the park. My A’s
class had been grouped into partners, and A took that very seriously. She held R’s hand most of the day. I sometimes walked along, holding her other
hand, and other times I followed behind, taking some pretty adorable pictures.
I attended the animal show with A’s class, and it was
incredibly adorable to see the kiddos try to answer the zookeepers’ questions
and ask questions of their own. Then I
went with A to feed the lorikeets. I was
amazed how brave she was!
From there, I switched to hanging out with B’s class for a
while. We walked through the bird area,
and I ate lunch with B’s class, and then with A’s. I did some running back and forth between the
classes, trying to divide my time. I was
with A’s class for the sheep herding demonstration, and then I hurried to B’s
class to walk through the kangaroo area.
It was pretty steamy by the end of the trip, and I was tired and
thirsty, but it really seemed like the time just flew.
I loved seeing the girls with their classmates…walking along
and holding hands with them…and seeing the delight in all the kiddos’ eyes as they
experienced new things.
After the field trip (and tie girls' ride home on the bus, where A was all too excited to tell me she fell asleep!), I picked the girls up after school and we headed to Panera, what used to be a weekly hangout for us. How wonderful it was to just “be” there, too…me, sipping my coffee, and the girls sharing a cook…talking about stuff.
These last couple of weeks were just what my heart needed.
3 comments:
AWh, what a lovely post. Adapting is hard. And I too absolutely love this last picture.
Love that you took that vacation day and had time with them!
Are you taking time over the summer too - do you still have much of your 3 weeks left?
Thanks for your comment on my similar post. I've had that post in my head for several days now and then I read your post yesterday and was like, "oh my gosh, me TOO!" I was meaning to comment but you beat me to it. Anyway, thanks for the encouragement. It's hard, but we will get through it.
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