I've been knowing #1 for a while now, I suppose, but it hit me hard when Wyatt and I were walking out the door for our first day of "school"/work, him with his little puppy backpack and matching lunchkit, me running behind him snapping pictures. It's hard for me to believe that he is almost 16 months old - he shouldn't even be big enough to carry his own backpack - and there he goes wearing it proudly, toddling off to go meet his new school friends. While I love every second of watching him grow up and learn new things, and I couldn't be more proud of the little thing, some days I wish just a little that I could swaddle him up like I used to and rock him for more than 10 seconds before he's off and running. And yesterday I was just sending him off to daycare... heck, not even sending him off, I was going to be at the same place as him all day! But before I know it I'm gonna be packing up his car and watching him leave for college! Ok, ok let me not get carried away here... he's 15 months old. And it's daycare. And it was so, so, SO cute. See for yourself.
Now for lesson #2 - I have never in my life heard the words "I need to go potty" as many times as I did on Tuesday. I promise you I spent close to 85% of my day taking various children to the bathroom. A class full of potty trained or nearly potty trained children is a blessing and a curse. It is nice to have a break from diaper changing all day (although, there are still a few incidents and when they happen they're much, much worse than a baby's) but it's almost just as irritating to have to help kids pee all day. I think that most of them just like to go cause they get to wash their hands when they're finished which means they get to play with the soap. Also irritating/entertaining is that the great majority of them strip their pants and underwear completely off when they go to the bathroom and then run out half naked to tell us that they're done. WOW. Never a dull moment.
It also gets really old saying, "No, so-and-so, we don't take toys from our friends. Now give so-and-so the ball back and say you're sorry." Talk about a broken record! Thankfully, these kids are pretty darn cute and say and do lots of sweet stuff in between potty breaks.
All of this said, I think I will really enjoy my new job - it's a good break in our regular routine, gives Wyatt and I both something to do a couple times a week, and allows us to put a little extra cash in the bank. But it is also a wonderful reminder of why I became a high school teacher and not a kindergarten teacher. Not that high school students don't often act like 2 year olds, but at least they don't need help going to the bathroom and they can blow their own noses... most of them anyway.
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