The wheels on the bus ...

Biscuit has known the song about the wheels on the bus going round and round for a long time now. But today, he experienced that round and round firsthand.

Biscuit went on his first field trip today. The kids in his class went to a pumpkin patch at a church about 3 miles from day care.

Let me have a quick pity party. All day, I felt a little pang in my gut knowing he was having a new, fun experience that I wasn't any part of. I know that's probably selfish on my part, but I've been a part of all the new and fun experiences he's had so far. Now, it's like he has this whole part of his life that doesn't include me. 

It started when we enrolled him in day care. I've read and heard all the arguments and pros and cons for and against kids being put in day care. But for me, I knew that's the way it would be. Being an older mom, I had been working for a long time before I even thought about Biscuit, and I knew when he arrived that I wanted to keep working. I also knew that financially, if we wanted to keep our current lifestyle, I would have to work. I realize how lucky I am to even have a choice, and I haven't regretted my decision. Plus, I think about how Biscuit has grown and learned since he's been in day care, and how much he's enjoyed it, and I know it was the right decision for us.

But every once in a while, for just a minute or two, I wonder what it would be like to be with him more.

And then he sits at the table, and in a voice that's so excited it exaggerates his stutter, he tells me all about how he got to ride a bus today. And they didn't have car seats. They had big-boy seats with big-boy seat belts. And the pumpkin patch was at that church like you're coming home from my old day care.

And there were two old lady stories.

Wait. Old lady stories?

Yes. Two stories about two old ladies. One of them swallowed a bat. And then she swallowed an owl to scare the bat. And then she swallowed a goblin to get the owl. And the other old lady, I don't remember what she did.

And they had lots of pumpkins there. They had big pumpkins and medium-sized pumpkins and small pumpkins all over the place. And he thought they were going to get to pick out their own pumpkins, but those people picked out pumpkins for them. And they put tape on the bottom and wrote their names on them, and they could take them home tonight if they wanted to, but they have to bring them back tomorrow because they're going to paint them.

Whew! It made me tired just hearing about it!

So despite the feelings of guilt or jealousy about Biscuit sharing these experiences firsthand with other people, I really love having that moment when I see the whole thing filtered through his eyes and his words and his personality.