It feels like i’m starting all over again…

This summer Shaun’s little sister and soon-to-be husband moved out to the town we live in.   They have a 5 year old girl who use to be in day care during the day, but would be starting school this year.

They checked on prices for before and after school programs and the prices were just crazy.  I offered to watch her before and after school since I was lucky enough to be home anyway.

I’m sort of a creature of habit. I do the same things every day and change sort of freaks me out.  Because I had so much help when I needed it, this was my way of putting that good Karma and ‘pay if forward’ stuff out there.
Last year my kids figured out how to get up, get dressed and make my life easier in the morning. It was the first year I that I didn’t feel like I was going to run my kids over in the car once they hit the crosswalk to go to school.  Last year was good, and this year was going to be a walk in the park.  Then I signed up for Jess.  She’s a redheaded firecracker.
Some of you remember, I mentioned in passing, that I had been involved in a hit and run.  I didn’t want to make a big deal about it and freak people out…but it totally trashed the back of my minivan and I couldn’t drive it anymore because it broke the brake light that coudn’t be put back because of the structural damage…and I looked ghetto. REAL GHETTO.
You wouldn’t think that would be a big deal if you had any idea of the many different ghetto cars my mother was forced to shove us kids in, but it bothered me.
I finally decided to take it in to find out how much it would cost to fix.  FIVE GRAND to fix it.  I don’t have 5 grand. We took my van in to CarMax and they gave me a great price so I bought a Ford Windstar…and then brought it back the next day because IT SUCKED.  I am now in a minivan that looks JUST like the old one I had, except it’s a ’01 and it has power everything.  I love it. It’s better than the newer one I had. It fits all the kids and Jess.  Yet it brings me back to ‘creature of habit’.

There is a huge, huge, huge age gap between 5 and 8.  It’s only a few years, but I had forgotten how much attention a 5 year old needs.
Every morning Jess gets here and we take Shea and Alyx to school and then come home, crawl back into bed and watch “Dora” and “Blue’s Clues”.  (I can sing the ‘mail song’ PERFECTLY)
The strange part about my starting over, is it is EXACTLY what I needed.  It forces me to get out of the house in the middle of the day to drop off this little brat and get back out and pick her up. It forces me to change my morning schedule of CNN to Nick (please tell me if something important is going on in the world, because I don’t get to watch ANY news anymore!!)

It wasn’t the best time for me to restart being a ‘little kid mom’ again, because of the meds…but it’s good.
Now, I just want to say…for all you parents with 5 year olds and you’re like, “Oh man…I feel it.”   Just know that in a couple years, it gets easier and just enjoy this time because even as painful as it is to have to hang outside the classroom and listen to little kid conversations, mingle with other parents that are snooty & watching cartoons instead of news.  It goes by fast.

I’m lucky enough to get to do this all over again without more stretch marks, labor and changing diapers…and those horrible years before you get to 5.