Time keeps on slippin'...slippin'....slippin'

Well, today was my last performance as Helping Parent at J's preschool. I think I was more emotional about it in advance...I didn't think twice about the finality as we left the building. I may have even forgotten about it at that point. In any event.

Now that I have had a few hours to look back (wow, I know - HOURS - now there's some perspective), I realize that today's experience reinforced the feeling I have had for weeks, and that is that J is completely and utterly ready for kindergarten. You wouldn't think that revelation would be so monumental, but it was. Much of the underlying stress of every day for me over the last year has been the concern that she will completely fall apart for one reason or another when she goes off to school full-time. Am I still worried about the long hours, bus rides, and the fact that I am no longer The One To Guide Her In All Things? Absolutely. But as so often happens, she has shown me that she is ready for the next developmental step before I was ready.

Mostly I see that she is ready because she is bristling over her world as it is. Yes, that sounds a lot like the way many women feel at certain times of the month. But seriously. She HATES the outfits I pick out for her and the choices I give her for drink with dinner. She wants to ride K's scooter without her helmet and pads. She insists on trying foods she hasn't liked in the past to make sure she hasn't begun to like them (can you believe that?!). She wants to pour her own milk, and does not want me to cut up her spaghetti, thank you very much. She rearranges the furniture in her room (well the chairs anyway) and the stuff on her bathroom vanity with an eye for design. "Mommy! Doesn't this look much prettier?" I swear, next week she'll be asking to practice driving a car.

She can smell independence coming, and it smells better than COFFEE ICE CREAM.

This is a nice item to add to my list-of-things-to-be-thankful-for tonight at bedtime.