In many ways, yesterday was my last day of being a SAHM. I was already some kind of freak hybrid SAHM, what with my graduate studies and my work-from-home job. But today, the balance shifted: Magdalena started school.
They run on the British system here, so KG1, as they call it, is the natural (though not compulsory) entry point for a 3-year-old. Magdalena has been waiting for this day for months and months - I don't know that I've ever seen a child as READY for school as she was this morning. She knows the drill from watching Miriam, of course. That's how it is for a younger child. They grow up faster than the older child, in some ways, just because they know what's out there.
Now that both of my children are going to school every day, you might think I'd get down to the business of eating bon-bons on the couch while watching soap operas already. (Hahahahaha, because actually, I've never met a single SAHM mom who does that.)
To be honest, I wish I had maybe a few weeks to do that - well, not that, but something like reading books and catching up on all the British period dramas I've missed and organizing every cabinet in the kitchen and maybe taking a nap every once in a while.
However, guess who else starts school today? Me. Well, technically I don't have class until Tuesday, but in the meantime there are books to buy and tuition to deal with and I got a fellowship so I have to figure out how to work those hours into my schedule and oh, also I might teach a class this semester. So just as the heavy-duty mothering tasks are somewhat reduced, the other aspects of my life are ramping up.
It's the very definition of bittersweet. I knew the day where I sent my youngest child off to school would come, but it wasn't until very recently that I realized it was coming now. That at this very moment, some one else is taking care of and teaching my precious children, even as other people - adults, colleagues - are asking for my help and hard work, and paying me for it.
So, yeah. Bittersweet. People always talk about the "seasons of life" and I feel like maybe the leaves are starting to change color at last.
They run on the British system here, so KG1, as they call it, is the natural (though not compulsory) entry point for a 3-year-old. Magdalena has been waiting for this day for months and months - I don't know that I've ever seen a child as READY for school as she was this morning. She knows the drill from watching Miriam, of course. That's how it is for a younger child. They grow up faster than the older child, in some ways, just because they know what's out there.
Now that both of my children are going to school every day, you might think I'd get down to the business of eating bon-bons on the couch while watching soap operas already. (Hahahahaha, because actually, I've never met a single SAHM mom who does that.)
To be honest, I wish I had maybe a few weeks to do that - well, not that, but something like reading books and catching up on all the British period dramas I've missed and organizing every cabinet in the kitchen and maybe taking a nap every once in a while.
However, guess who else starts school today? Me. Well, technically I don't have class until Tuesday, but in the meantime there are books to buy and tuition to deal with and I got a fellowship so I have to figure out how to work those hours into my schedule and oh, also I might teach a class this semester. So just as the heavy-duty mothering tasks are somewhat reduced, the other aspects of my life are ramping up.
It's the very definition of bittersweet. I knew the day where I sent my youngest child off to school would come, but it wasn't until very recently that I realized it was coming now. That at this very moment, some one else is taking care of and teaching my precious children, even as other people - adults, colleagues - are asking for my help and hard work, and paying me for it.
So, yeah. Bittersweet. People always talk about the "seasons of life" and I feel like maybe the leaves are starting to change color at last.