Embracing Life

One of the writing prompts today over at Mama Kat's is "It happened at daycare".  Oh the stories I have... I'm grateful to the twins' daycare because they started the potty training process and worked really hard with the twins to get them to where they needed to be.  However....I wasn't always grateful.  I'm cheating a bit and posting something that I wrote back in 2010. (Don't judge, life is crazy these days!)  It doesn't completely fit with the title, since the point of my story is what happened to me BECAUSE of daycare, but you get the idea. The post was titled: " Thank you Daycare ". I've copied it here for your reading pleasure.  Last week, the twins moved up a classroom at daycare, to the 2-3 year old room.  This is also known as the potty training room. However, no one told me this. On day one, they were put on the toilet about 4 times to start intense potty training.  They also sent home their pack of their ...

Imagine driving past a park one chilly November morning as you are headed to drop your kids off at school.  The sun is just bursting out of the clouds, and the cold frost twinkles on the grass. You pass a park and see a minivan. It's side door is open, and overflowing with open boxes and bags of clothes.  Two small children play on the swings in school uniforms, as a woman picks up the picnic table and walks to the garbage can with the remains of breakfast. A man walks out of the park bathroom with a pile of clothes in his arms. You think to yourself how odd it is to see a family at a park at this time of morning.... especially on such a cold morning. Then it hits you. The boxes and bags in the van are the family's entire belongings.  The children are spending time playing in the only backyard they know. The woman served her family breakfast on a cold metal picnic table. The man had washed up and changed for work in a park bathroom. Over and over, this scene re...

Now I'm not saying I was a goody-goody-two-shoes when I was growing up, but I can say that during the first 13 years of schooling I had (K-12), I got in trouble ONE time. I was in fifth grade and rolled my eyes at the teacher. I had to write my name on the board. My mom was upset, and made me write an apology letter to the teacher. (Which didn't prove at all awkward when I ran into her years later, as she teaches at the college I now work at!) Connor, I remember, had to move his magnet from green TWO times the entire first year of school. The twins, on the other hand, appear to be on the fast track to detention. (If kindergarteners had detention, which they don't. They do have a colored-clip system where they start on green, and can move to yellow, orange, and red.) Nine days of school, and Keira has moved her clip THREE days so far.  Yesterday, she even moved to orange, which warranted a 5 minute time out. Colin has only moved his clip twice, or so he says.  It...