And just that like our Preschool Days are Done

Today Little Man follows in his sister’s footsteps and has his very first day in Reception. He is so ready for school and so excited about it. He knows so many other children, he knows the teachers and he has been there every single day when we have dropped his sister off. He has been waiting for this moment for months – if not years.

But today also marks the end of our preschool days. The baby days are long gone, the toddler days are a distant memory and until today Little Man was still a preschooler – not quite a school boy.

Over the last years since LP has been at school Little Man and I have done so much together which stopped mostly when he started nursery last year. But, we would still have afternoons together, having lunch and watching Thomas movies.

But this summer was like the old days, having Little Man by my side again and LP there too. It was so nice and we made the most of all of it – from holidays and big days out to quiet time at home, baking and doing crafts. We had the best summer.

And each day of that summer took us one step closer to school and one step closer to growing up.

And now my Little Man is all grown up – just like Little Pickle before him. I have two fully fledged school children and I couldn’t be more proud.

It has been amazing to watch them grow over the last years. To watch them learn to crawl, learn to eat, learn to walk, learn to talk. To see them go from squishy babies, to toddlers with that toddle waddle through to being proper little people who could have conversations with you, who have their own personalities and their own likes and dislikes.

I feel so privileged to have been by their side from birth, through the toddler days and the fun of the last few years. We have done so much and we really have focused on having as much fun as possible – I knew the time for learning would come later and so we have had adventures, taught the children manners and life skills like putting shoes on and aside from that have crammed in as much fun as we could before we lost them to a cycle of term time and school holidays.

And now we are here. The jumpers are soft and new, the shoes are shiny and LP and Little Man are going off to school together for the first time. They are ready and they are so excited.

But it doesn’t stop me feeling sad. I’m nostalgic for those preschool days that have been and gone, that finished just yesterday. But, I knew that this time would come and I just hoped that when it came Little Man would be ready. And boy is he ready!

So I won’t be sad that those times have gone, I’ll smile because they happened and hope that Little Man loves school just as much as his sister.