a new era - tess goes to daycare!

well, here i sit in caribou coffee, in the middle of the morning, with no child running around my feet, tugging at my legs, or fussing because she's sick of being here. i have been looking forward to this, and to having time to blog, and to tess getting enrichment with friends of her own age and other adults who know how to teach her things for so long, and i won't have many days that i can do this, since she'll just be a tuesday/thursday daycare kid, and i'll be working those days, but i just wanna run back to bright horizons and pick her up! i know it's a great place, and i know she'll do great, and i know i should just enjoy it! but... my baby girl is growing up! ::sniff::

last night i ran out to walmart in the middle of the night to pick up supplies for her "school" like diaper rash cream and sunscreen (both of which we have, but i needed to get more to keep there), and i realized this is the beginning of a new era. following rules of a school, having two sets of supplies, writing her name on everything, having to drop off and pick up on someone else's schedule, eat on their schedule, sleep on their schedule, "no toys on the climber", take turns, "mine" and "his" and "hers", oh so many changes for my sweet girl. i hope she's not overwhelmed. i hope her sharing, caring, giving attitude doesn't change from these kids pushing her around, and i hope she loves spending time with her teachers... but not more than she loves spending time with me! but i hope she doesn't have separation anxiety! oh the concerns that run through the head of a mother.

i honestly have peace, though, that everything will go just great. these thoughts that flit through my mind are covered by the belief that God has a hand in all of this, and i trust Him with my girl - she is His, after all, and though i can't comprehend it, his love for her is greater than mine could ever be. i know His hand has been in all of this because of how it just fell into place. i interviewed, was offered a job, found out about an opening at daycare, got the hours i wanted at work, got the first month's tuition together, and got her all enrolled just as smoothly as it could have been. and last year, we were looking at waiting up to 8 months just to get her in any spot, let alone a part-time one!

well, i guess i should be somewhat productive during this time off that i have before starting near full-time work next month, so i'm off to catch up on my reading for the mission trip i'm going on to cherokee in two days! until next time :-)