At Kiddie Kollege Preschool, the children learn a prayer that
begins with that line.
Before I had children, I was sentimental. Once I had them, I began my descent into a
puddle of my own tears. I suddenly
understood the “stay little” wish. I counted
my blessings that they were healthy and growing, but the growing happened at
warp speed!
When Rafe, my firstborn, went to preschool, I was the
nervous, self-conscious mother. His
Kiddie Kollege experience was wonderful for him, but I couldn’t relax. Was I doing everything right? (Um, no!) Was I sending the right snack? Was he
on track with learning? (Um, yes, thanks to director/teacher Ginger Brooks and Sonya Walls -love you!) First
child syndrome, right?
Sophie, my middle child, is finishing her last year of
preschool tomorrow. Mrs. Brooks has
become like family to us. We love her dearly.
The other teacher, Emily Edwards, is so precious and also has a God-given heart for
nurturing and teaching them. We’ve come
to love her too, in just a year of knowing her. We had the opportunity to know
and love Leigh Ann Thomas as a Kiddie Kollege teacher too.
I’m having a really tough time with this whole Sophie-being-finished-with-Kiddie-Kollege. I didn’t have such a difficult time with Rafe. Not because I love him less, I just didn’t
GET IT. I didn’t truly grasp the concept
that when kindergarten begins, they’re
not really mine anymore. I don’t get to
snuggle on the couch and watch Sesame Street.
I don’t get to feed them lunch and tuck them into their little beds in
the afternoons. Whoever said, “The days are long but the years are short,” was
NOT joking.
I’ve been blessed with a job that allows me to work from
home. It makes for some wild days, because aside from two hours a week, I’ve always
had at least one of the littles home with me. Bryce greets the crew at
Huntsville Event Magazine on Skype every Monday morning during our production
meeting. So don’t get me wrong. It’s not
all rainbows and unicorns at home with my kids all day. It’s messy and loud and there’s yelling and
tears, and that’s just me! But through the chaos (and there’s PLENTY of chaos) of,
“Don’t touch that,” and, “PLEASE, PLEASE STOP WHINING!” and, “Ok, I’m gonna be
on the phone for about five minutes, please don’t do anything crazy,” while
someone inevitably follows me around sobbing at top volume, I’ve enjoyed being
at home, watching them grow and hearing their comedic pronouncements.
When big school starts, someone else spends the entire day
with my babies: teachers who will be kind, or not – they’re human after all (we've never had this experience, for the record,)
children who will say things that will hurt them, situations when they’ll feel
left out and less than and homesick.
Such is the nature of life. They
can’t grow into human beings who can love, nurture and serve others without
these experiences, but it still hurts – them and me!
This mama’s heart aches at sending her little blue-eyed girl
with the wedge haircut and the giant hair bow to kindergarten in the fall. She's frankly not too thrilled about it either. She's mourning her last day at Kiddie Kollege. I KNOW I'll
see her dimpled cheeks elongate and lose their baby plumpness. With Rafe it was
such a surprise, the face changing, but now I KNOW. My heart cracked a little when we dropped him
off at kindergarten. I was relieved (for
him) and admittedly sad that he didn’t ask for us to stay longer, rather, he
was excited to begin a new adventure. But
now I KNOW. They lose their tiny perfect
baby-teeth and the enormous replacements change their appearance, packing them
up for the road to adulthood much too soon. The sorrow is different this time,
because Rafe was the first one and I didn't know how drastic it would be until he was in kindergarten. I KNOW she’s leaving that sweet, baby world of innocence. Because I’ve already lost Rafe to the rigors
of big school, I get it now.
I can’t even contemplate when Bryce, my baby bird, will fly
the preschool coop, have his last Kiddie Kollege program and repeat those
oh-so-final words: “In years to come, you’ll hear from us, and be amazed at our
knowledge. Just remember where it all
began, was here at Kiddie Kollege.”
Y’all! I realize I
sound like a crazy person – and hey, if the shoe fits… This is just preschool! The puddle of tears will drown me by the time
they graduate high school and I have to contemplate them MOVING AWAY!
Thank you Ginger Brooks for making Kiddie Kollege “the world
so sweet.” I wish all their future
teachers could love them as much as you have and do – and Rafe’s teachers have
been precious ones who loved him,(Melissa Bartlett, Amy Beck, Amy Graves and Anna Leigh Battles) with no exceptions! But I’m so thankful that all my babies had the treasured
opportunity to spend some of their first school mornings with you, learning
facts and prayers and songs, finding out how to function in a classroom,
learning discipline and most of all, being loved by people who share the love
of Christ in their vocation every day. I
thank God for you and for Mrs. Emily, and for the fact that Rafe, Sophie and
Bryce’s journeys all began at Kiddie Kollege.
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