School Daze

I am not a morning person. Never have been, never will be. I don’t talk to anyone until I’ve had copious amounts of coffee, and even then I’m a little sketchy when attempting to carry on a conversation. I wait until the very last minute to get out of bed, then spend 45 minutes hounding the girls to get dressed, eat their breakfasts, and brush their teeth so we aren’t late for school. However, I seem to have spawned a child who IS a morning person. A very cheerful, singing at the top of her lungs type of morning person. I have no idea where she got this particular affliction. And now that she’s in kindergarten, it’s getting worse. Now when she gets up, she doesn’t just come into my room and crawl in bed to cuddle with me, she is dressed and ready to go, wondering when I’m going to take her to school.  On the first day of school, the child was up and ready to leave at 6am. (School doesn’t start until 9.) And that enthusiasm hasn’t flagged at all.

For years I have been alternating between looking forward to and dreading Maya’s first day of kindergarten. I worried about her immunosuppressed state and about all the germs that she could come into contact with and what that can lead to for her. (Yes, I know living in a bubble isn’t possible. That doesn’t mean I don’t think about it every once in a while anyway.)  Also, that day has always signified the fact that she will no longer be my baby. It was hard enough when Laely went to kindergarten, I didn’t even leave school grounds before I was crying. (And this year when I dropped her off for 3^rd grade I’m happy to report that I didn’t cry. AT ALL. So there.) However, on Maya’s first day she was so damn excited that I didn’t want to start bawling and ruin it for her as I walked her up to the school. So I waited until I got to my car. I drove the short distance home, went straight to her room, sat on her bed, and had a nice little breakdown. Then I painted my hallway orange and mowed the lawn. (What? I needed to do SOMETHING and drinking that early in the day is frowned upon.)

Fast forward to mid-October (seriously, where in the gay hell did this year GO?) and all seems well. Both Spawnderellas are happy in school and both are in Girl Scouts. (No, I am not nor will I ever be a Troop mom. No sir. Not gonna happen.) And I’ve found that I enjoy having both girls in school. On the days I’m off work, I find myself being able to sit in relative silence. And by sit I mean do laundry, clean the bathrooms, vacuum, mop, work on schoolwork and write, along with going on 3+ mile runs. (Glutton for punishment, perhaps, but those jaunts do keep the anxiety birdies at bay.)

I’m trying really hard not to focus on how life keeps moving forward at warp speed. Soon we’ll be facing a new year, which will lead to yet another spring and summer…then another school year. Next year, Laely will be in 4^th grade and will go to school much earlier than she does now.

I’ll probably just have Maya wake her up.