Off to School!

I would be completely remiss if I did not blog about my Madelynn starting school - 5 Kindergarten - this week.  I have been putting off writing about it, thinking about it too much, because in my brain that somehow makes it more real.  It is so bittersweet.  I. SENT. MY. BABY. TO. SCHOOL!  Seriously!  I swear I just gave birth to her yesterday!  Yesterday I was just struggling with PPD and wondering if I would ever sleep again!  Yesterday I was nursing her around the clock and cuddling her while we both figured out our new lives.  Yesterday she was a beautiful little 7lb 12oz baby who was utterly and completely dependant on me.  Yesterday......

But no......my Madelynn just went off to Kindergarten - all day long - and she is so amazingly smart, and kind, and funny, and beautiful - and she absolutely loves school!  When I picked her up on the very first day she protested, saying, "Mom I don't want to leave!"

I often call my children MY children - MY Madelynn, MY Isabella - but I realize more and more each day that they really aren't MY children.  They belong to themselves and they belong to God, and my 2 greatest and most important jobs are to first give them roots and then give them wings.  That is hard for a mother (or at least a mother like me) to admit, let alone be fully comfortable with.  Everything in me wants to hold onto them tightly and never let them go.

But I watched my little girl spread her wings a bit this week - and oh are they glorious wings - full of love and light and energy and creativity!  I guess I spread my wings a little bit too because I was able to let her go with just a few - OK more than a few - tears.