I'm very much still in the preschool stage of things so this change of seasons, from summer to the inevitable fall is not quite as dramatic for us...we'll still have a few more weeks of lazy days outdoors, swimming pools, riding bikes and blowing bubbles to do as care freely as we like.
Ava is, however, starting preschool in just four short weeks, so that will be a change of pace for us. She will be going Monday, Wednesday and Friday...and as much as I am not looking forward to the hectic pace of those three mornings a week I think it will be a good precursor (for all of us) to the inevitable kindergarten (GASP!!!!!!!) that will follow next year.
If there is one thing I have learned most significantly as a parent, it is that things are always changing. Your kids are always changing...from nursing infants, to smiling babies, to curious toddlers to crazy pre-schoolers...and it happens way quicker than you'd ever think. In some ways it has made me want to be more controlling and on top of things because I often like to know what is coming around the corner...if I plan now, I often think, I'll be able to manage the chaos that is likely just around the bend with potty training, or terrible twos, or the giving up of naps, or any of the other inevitable milestones.
In other ways it has made me a much more lenient and flexible person because I realize that I have WAY less control over things than I'd like to imagine...like when Ella refused to go potty and then just decided one day she was potty trained.
Like the way Ava has slowly drifted out of taking daily naps and I've had to adjust to a new schedule.
Sometimes I have no control. Or, at least WAY less thank I'd like to think. They are also little humans with preferences, and the ability to make decisions and ideas about how they'd like to try to do things. As a parent it is my job to curtail their requests and desires and whims sometimes, and to simply let them be at other times.
So, here I am, blogging quickly from my bed while Ella sleeps and Ava plays quietly in her room. The new routine is that Ella goes down for a nap, I spend some quiet time in my room either taking a short nap or reading or writing and Ava plays quietly in her room. It's good for all of us...Ella needs the sleep, I need the break (and sometimes the sleep!), and Ava has learned to creatively make up games on her own with her dolls and her games and her puzzles in her room.
Seasons change. Our kids change. We change. It's a good thing.
Change brings growth. Change often IS growth.
It's kind of like the Japanese Proverb I found online...
"The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists."
I'm going to work on being bambooish today.
This is hopeful, but also sad...I don't like to think about my babies growing up and leaving me. ;)
ReplyDeleteI like your quote. Thank you. e.
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