The Po Show

The End of Summer

School started for Matthew yesterday, and Tessa had her meet(s) and greet(s) with her new teachers today in preparation for starting next Tuesday. Poor thing has so many new names to remember, with two new teachers in Pre-K and three new teachers in nursery school. She keeps getting confused as to where she'll be going, when.

Matthew started off the year in a fabulously positive way, and I'm so relieved. His new teacher just came back from a 4 year childcare leave, which is why I couldn't find her listed in the district website anywhere. But she has a slew of experience with special ed classes as well as regular classes and she seems absolutely wonderful. Matthew's aide from last year is with him again, which was probably the most encouraging element for him. This morning at drop off he was confused as to which line he was supposed to stand in (the kids were sort of milling around and the lines were getting merged) and when I offered to help him figure it out he just said, "No, you can go. I'll just ask Ms. J." Ah, the thrill of obsolecence :).

For weeks now I've been telling people how I just couldn't wait for school to start. I'd hear other mothers talk about how sad they were that summer was ending and I felt like the world's worst mom because I was SO looking forward to school starting, so I'd have some time to myself. It was an insular summer, with much of the time feeling like it was just me and the kids, and it was wearing.

Now of course, since I can just never be happy, I'm feeling all wistful that my children will be away from me for large chunks of the day. Tessa kept talking about wanting to start school too and I kept trying to convince her of how nice it was for us to have a few more days together.

Poets and writers liken summer to childhood, and perhaps this summer was a time for me to be child-like with my children. Though I bitched endlessly, felt overwhelmed with their constant demands, and yearned desperately for adult time, me time, there was truly goodness to the summer and being so immersed in my kids.