There’s nothing more rewarding as a mother than watching your children flourish. Each stage brings new adventures, deeper conversations, richer connections. Whilst growth is an inevitable part of having children, I still struggle letting go and accepting the constant change.
I picked Roo up from nursery for the very last time this afternoon. His preschool days have come to an end and we are moving towards school life come September. Uniform, school dinners, whole days apart and a fixed routine during the week for us to adopt. Forgive the cliche but it seems like only yesterday I was sat in a chair in our old apartment cradling him in my arms, nursing.
When I picked up his preschool scrapbooks this week, they were filled with warm moments; making patterns driving a toy car through sand, dipping his toes in paint and walking along a large roll of paper leaving traces of his toddler footprints, painting a sunflower on craft paper… He looked so little and fragile in the pages staring back at me, his blossoming into a schoolboy snuck up on me when I wasn’t quite ready for it!
While he was in nursery this afternoon, Indie and I went to buy her first pairs of knickers. “I’m not baby I’m bic gurl” she tells me, countless times a day. A reminder if ever I needed one, that she too is moving forward towards greater independence. The potty has been taken down from the loft and tomorrow there will be no nappy after breakfast, and probably my fair share of floor mopping through the course of the day. She’s ready… I think and if she isn’t we’ll hit pause for a few weeks and try again.
It’s moments like these I am grateful I keep this record of their childhood. The years since I became a mother softly documented in this space with pictures that transport me to ordinary moments in time I might otherwise have forgotten.
I am ready for the long summer break, time with the two of them together and no need to be anywhere. Slower, simpler days filled with play, fresh air, picnics and catch ups with friends to ease our way into the school year gently and ensure we are ready when that time comes.
These pictures were taken last month, during our visit to Devon. I’d forgotten about them until I went through my editing the other night. They make me so happy.
Leave a Reply