Last week was hell. Fiona had such a hard time going back to school, at a new school, in a new town, with new kids. It was just everything catching up with us I guess. The move, the lazy summer ending abruptly for them, and not soon enough for me. But I was thrown. Really thrown. Fiona is my child that is fine with joining in! Makes friends everywhere she goes and never cares to be left without parents in a new situation. This is the kid that told me to leave already at co-op at 2. And suddenly she is anxiety ridden. Afraid all the children hate her and never wants to go to school again.
I was going to write that last week was the hardest week Iv ever had as a mother. But then I stopped and thought of that statement. And realized that I have thought that before, many times before. There was when Fiona was a tiny infant with colic and cried for about 9 months, 9 months that I didn't sleep and worried I never would again....but I did and its all a vague memory now. Or when I was potty training Fiona when Elliot was only a few months old, spending my days sitting on the bathroom floor reading potty books to Fiona while nursing Elliot. That seemed endless....but she did get potty trained, and it didn't really take as long as it seemed to take! I could go on and on about thrush, broken toes, 3rd degree burns, and the common flue. But the point is that things change constantly with children. And there is light at the end of those excruciating tunnels.....eventually.
Today dawned with a smiling 1st grader who went to school without complaint. And ran off to class with a little smile on her face. And this Mama breathes a deep sigh of relief and hopes we have passed that milestone in the road.
