Goodbye Summer {The Ordinary Moments}

I have already written about our amazing summer, about all the great things we got up to in August and shared a Me & Mine photo that summed up the summer too. But now, two days before LP goes back to school, and just over a month before Little Man starts preschool, it feels like not just the end of the summer but the end of an era too.

This summer has been incredible. We have managed to cram in so much time together – as a family and just time with the kids. They both seem to have grown so much, learnt so much and blossomed so much over the last six weeks and it has been just so nice to have them by our sides for a good chunk of time again.

I know that at this point of the holidays many parents are itching for the children to go back to school but really I’m willing each day to last as long as possible, each lazy PJ morning to stretch out into the afternoon and each day trip to last that much longer.

With just two days left until LP goes off to Year 1 I am feeling quite sad that our days will be spent apart again and I will once again have to squeeze quality time with LP into that small gap between school pick up and bedtime.

But when LP walks through those school gates again, no longer one of the littlest and instead a fully fledged school girl, I will hang on to those days I have with Little Man, those days of him and I and all the adventures we can squeeze into those six hours each day.

I love those days with Little Man. He has been my sidekick since he was born, no childcare for him just him and I, him and Daddy or him and Nanny. We all love having him with us – to chat to, to play and to make us laugh.

But next month Little Man goes off to preschool. He’ll have his first experience of childcare and he’ll go off to play for three hours every morning. He’ll play with sand, in the water table, on ride ons and he’ll do so many jigsaws.

He’ll play outside in his favourite wellies and will come home with a grubby face and paint on his clothes. He’ll hang his bag on his peg, put his name on the board each day and put his drinks cup in it’s special place.

He’ll make friends, he’ll talk to new people and he will have so many new experiences. He will have such a great time and I am so excited for him and this new chapter in his life. I know that he is so ready for preschool.

But in a month I’ll be saying goodbye to my little friend each day. I’ll be giving him a hug and kiss and walking away from the school, childless for three hours each day. It will be the first time I haven’t had children with me, regularly, since LP was born and it will be a huge adjustment for all of us.

But, this is the next chapter for us and as summer draws to a close so do those baby days. The days of having the children at home, of snuggling on the sofa watching movies in the afternoon and of picnic lunches on the rug. Our days will all involve school and it will be the start of something new.

Goodbye summer, you have been amazing – and goodbye baby days too. We are now onto our next adventure – with school days and term time stretching ahead of us.