Melissa's Place

Good-Bye

It's strange to live the significant moments in your child's life with more emotional awareness than them. For instance, a baby's first birthday or Christmas is far more exciting for the parents than the kid, right?

Today was one such an occasion. It was Cole's last day at Beth's home daycare. He has been there for over a year and a half, since he was nearly one year old. Now he is two years and seven months. When I first visited Beth's house, he was four months old (a month older than Amelia is right now). In Beth's caring hands, he learned to sign, to babble, to talk, to run, to climb, to slide, to swing, to talk, then to talk in full sentences, to count to ten, to identify colours, to sing, to dance and to share. How on earth do you thank someone for that? How do you thank them for being trustworthy and capable enough that you'd leave your baby with them the first time you were ever away from them for so long? How do you say good-bye to Beth when your son has no idea how much he'll miss her.

I tried to get him to hug is friends, Madden and Evander. He said he was angry, but I don't think he meant angry. I think he meant he felt sad. And Beth gave him a big hug. As we walked away, she and I were both blotting our eyes. Cole called good-bye over his shoulder at her in a casual way that could have meant it was any other day, but then, he looked at her a little longer and while he held tight to my hand, he called good-bye to her one more time.