Change is in the Air

Change is in the air. I hope I'm ready ...

My little daycare world has become pretty stable and predictable these past few years. Those who joined our family settled in and stayed. That is an incredible gift in my world of little people.

It has been two years of growing pains. We ebb, we flow and we grow. There have been challenges, oh so many challenges. But yesterday afternoon, as I sat on the sidelines and listened to my three "regulars" sitting in the sandbox and playing with cars, shovels and creating their own little sandy worlds, my heart was full and content as I listened to these 2-1/2 to 4 year olds work out their disagreements with words.

Granted, that was a golden moment. Life isn't like that all the time. There are tempers and short fuses and frustration levels that sky rocket in the blink of an eye. But to be honest, these little guys work out a lot of little issues on their own. Some days better than others but considering their ages, they are amazing little people and we have built ourselves a pretty happy little family here.

Things are changing as I write.

One of my little guys became a big brother four weeks ago. He still came full time for the first two weeks. The past two weeks, he has come three days out of five. I've noticed some change in him as he transitions into his changing world. Tears come easy. His fuse is non-existent many days. Sometimes I think he is rebelling against a world which does not revolve solely around him. But yesterday? He was in the zone. Co-operating, sharing, being kind and Mr. Manners and such a gentleman as he played. It was heavenly.

One of his playmates is a four year old little girl who has been coming here since she was two. Her sibling is scheduled to arrive September 1st so she is only going to be here one more week and then she is moving on ...

This family moved out of the neighborhood over a year ago and still bring their daughter here.They decided to continue to bring her here despite the distance. She has a good friend here who travels across the city to come to our daycare as well. Yes, we all kind of like to keep things the same as much as we possibly can.

My little girl is looking forward to staying home with her mom and new baby. She will start pre-school about a week after her baby sister or brother arrives and she is looking forward to all of these new and exciting events in her life.

And it doesn't sound like my four-year-old's friend will be coming much after her friend leaves either. She will also be starting pre-school and have her own life outside of daycare. Daycare won't be the same without her friend here.

Which means there will be a hole in our world here. It will be filled by a little one-year-old girl. A little family member in training. And potentially, we may also have a little four-year-old Spanish speaking little girl join us as well. There will be a lot of adjustments for all of us.

One month from now, we should be starting the transition. One month to adapt to the changes which will start to happen around here. One month to enjoy the "same old, same old" before old becomes new and we begin again.

Change is good. It is a sign of growth. Life never stays the same no matter how hard we try to put a cap on things so we can savor the moment we are in for as long as we can hold onto it.

I'm grateful for the moments where I simply sit back and breathe in the good stuff. I have wasted too many moments being frustrated over little things. We all do. It is our nature. Perhaps that is necessary so we can appreciate the little things that truly make our world go 'round.

Be grateful for the frustrations. We need to contrast the hard stuff to the easy stuff so we can sit back and inhale life when it simply unremarkable.

Change is in the air. I think I'm ready.