Fall Brings Change

I dropped the children off at daycare for the last time the other day. I've been driving to that daycare two days a week since the business opened in January of 2010. It is the end of an era for us. I was a little sad to say goodbye to all of the wonderful teachers that helped care for my little ones when they were little. In general I think that daycare teachers are under-appreciated and underpaid. Good daycare teachers are amazing.

We attended the preschool orientation at our local school district. Ava will have the same teacher Michael had last year and he's moving up to the pre-kindergarten room. It's only a half-day program. They're there for less than three hours. I want them to go mostly for the social connections with other children their same age. Also, it gives me some time to work on some projects that have been on the back burner for a while. I have mixed feelings about it though because I'm still strongly considering homeschooling beginning with Michael's kindergarten year.

Mostly I'm just resistant to change. I wonder what it will be like. Right now, several days a week are "home days" where the children and I have a relaxed rhythm to our day. Beginning next week I'll be dropping them off and picking them up from school on weekdays. Three days a week we'll have an additional after-school activity (speech twice for Ava and gymnastics once for both of them). The rhythm of the days will change. Some people love change. They find it stimulating and exciting and look forward to it. I like routines and familiarity. I'm sure that in a few weeks we will all settle in to the new routines and I'll look back at my current unease and think to myself that it was unnecessary. Somehow, knowing that still doesn't help my mental grumbling now.

I hope all of you weather your fall changes well and enjoy your new routines and adventures.