So we got thrown a little curve ball today; after expecting to have to wait until September for Sophie to start nursery, we got a call from the nursery we applied for (perfect at about 5 minutes walk away, 20 minutes if walking with a three year old obviously) to say that as term doesn’t start until a few days after her birthday, she could start after the Easter holiday. Not entirely sure how they’ve worked that one out, but OK!
The lovely woman on the phone obviously translated my bewildered half-sentences and silences as “erm, crap, I have no idea now, I’ll have to get back to you” as she interrupted me to tell me she’s got a space for her whichever term I choose and I can have a think about it and call her back, which although I was sure we’d choose the Summer term, I definitely needed the time to put the phone down and come to the realisation that Sophie would be ‘growing up’ a few months earlier than I had in my head.
When Sophie was born I couldn’t even think about the time she would be old enough for nursery and school, and of course as time has gone by I’ve grown more accustomed to the idea while still knowing I’ll be a gibbering wreck the first (second, third, fourth etc) time I walk away and leave her behind. Last September a little countdown clock was set off in my head as it was now a whole year until she would be starting nursery. Every event would be the ‘last before she left me’, I had another annual pass for the zoo to make the most of our last year of full days together and I thought it’d be nice for her to start in September as she’ll get one full year of nursery before starting reception. I’d have a few months with her and the new baby before having mornings alone with the new addition, a few months to get used to having a little one around before needing to do school runs, to remember how to survive with a newborn.
While these seemed like positives before, the new positives seem even greater, whereas I was briefly worried that we’d be throwing ourselves (and Sophie) in at the deep end by sending her a term early. I’ll now be (hopefully, he may come early though!) a few weeks into the drop off/pick up routine and a few people have told me how a new baby just seems to slot into an existing routine, and I’m hoping that’s the case with us as for the last 18 months at least, Sophie and I have spent most mornings chilling in my bed until around 8:30-9am, playing, watching tv, talking, which is wonderful but sounds like a nightmare to break out of after you add a newborn into the mix. I’m looking forward to mornings being one-on-one time with the baby from the start, of course after Damien goes back to work and life goes back to ‘normal’. A few hours each day of bonding, feeding, maybe just doing absolutely nothing, without having to join in a tea party with my boobs out (for the baby, not that kind of party) or wipe a bum other than the newborn one.
All of this sounds great and I called the nursery back as soon as Damien text me to say go for it, but the main thing I’m looking forward to is a few hours each morning during the last month of my pregnancy to REST. That’s right, folks, from 29th April at least 4 out of 5 mornings please direct all correspondence to my bed.
To the next step!