Wednesday was the day that I'd been dreaming of for a while. We registered Thing 4 for kindergarten in the fall!
She received her 4 shots the day before saying, "This is the BEST day of my life!"
"Why, Honey?" I asked.
"Because I get shots!" she replied.
Who was I to squash her enthusiasm! Although I did let her know that they do sting so she wouldn't be completely unprepared and her bravado lasted right up until the actual time to get the shots. She was going to go first (Thing 1 was also due for a shot) and get a sticker for every shot she had to do. As soon as we walked in the shot room, Thing 1 had to go first. Thing 1 showed no fear and didn't even flinch. I explained that the shot nurse was AWESOME and super fast and she'd been giving the shots to all the siblings since Thing 1 was a baby! Thing 4 wasn't buying it. I still think she may have been fine had her natural curiosity not got the better of her. I couldn't keep her from watching! So when she saw that little drip of blood from the 1st shot, she LOST it! Shot Nurse was super speedy as usual and administered 2 shots in each arm and had super cool band-aids in place in record time so I could begin the calm down. Anyone else notice it's not as easy to calm a 5yo after shots as it is to calm a baby? I cuddled, I rocked, I soothed with soothing words and nothing was working! I tried the sticker bribe. Nope, she no longer cared about getting those 4 stickers. We finally had to leave the shot room stickerless with a wailing 5yo. I think I prefer it happening the way I did it when I was 5. I wailed and howled like I'd been mortally wounded until I received the shot at which time the shot was not nearly as bad as I had imagined and I quieted right up when it was all done. Thing 4 wailed until we arrived home...a 20 minute drive! She still has on 2 of the 4 band-aids!
Alright, back to the registering. Hubby and I made a big deal out of it and he came home for lunch. We went to the school and signed our youngest daughter away (it felt like it after filling out all that paper work!), took some pictures (most of which she's clinging to Hubby's leg) and then took her out to lunch at a place of her choosing (which began as McDonald's but we'd managed to change her mind in the time we filled out the mass amounts of paperwork...it was still her decision LOL).
I thought I have some mixed feelings about all of this. After all, this is my youngest. I've had a child with me at home for 15 years now. But the only expression I could come up with was FREEDOM! I'll have to see if I feel the same way in the fall when Thing 4 will actually be out of the house. Maybe half day kindergarten was designed as much for the mom as the child. A slow breaking of the physical bond that we've shared for 5+ years. I do know that once they leave this house for school, they're never quite the same. They meet new people, exchange new ideas, and start to shape how they'll view the world as individuals. They no longer need us parents as much and become more independent. So, again, we'll see how I do in the fall. I'll let you all know if I actually shed tears or if I still feel the elated sense of freedom!
Hi! How darling...and a very bittersweet moment/period for you, as I recall from many years ago (OK, not that many, like 15...dear Lord, that's a lot LOL). My two sons were a year apart (and the younger had been sick for quite a while), so I had them start pre-school at the same time. It was quite an adjustment for me to suddenly have them out of the house for several hours a day. And, yes, they definitely "change" after that. Not necessarily a bad thing, but as a mom, it's a weird thing to see, in your little ones!
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Kristin :)
Keenly Kristin