Transitioning

Teddy will soon be "transitioning" into the toddler room at daycare. Today at drop off I was presented with his "transitioning" schedule. Over the course of two weeks (since he is there only part time) he will spend increasing amounts of time in the big boy toddler room.

As I waved bye to my little guy, blew him a kiss, and stepped into the sunshine with these papers in my hand I found my stomach in knots. Ohmygosh a new room! Kids that are bigger and older and stronger than him. Kids that he doesn't know. Teachers that have never met him. Toys he has never seen before. A routine that will be imposed on him. I won't be able to be with him during these few hours of "transitioning." He will have to do it on his own. I was near tears as I thought about my little boy, alone in a big new world.

It got me thinking about all the coming transitions to which I will witness in his life. Next week he will step into a new room in the day care. In a few years he'll board a school bus. A few years later he'll drive away in one of our cars. A few more years and he'll graduate, ready to take on a big new world.
 
This is how a mom's heart spins - from the toddler room to dorm room all in a millisecond. And each transition will be increasingly his own. I will be more and more in the background, a cheerleader in the shadows. It's times like these that I am reminded - I carried his heart. He twisted and rolled inside me. I kept him safe only as long as it took to allow him to enter a big new world. Like probably all the other mothers out there, I just hope the world is kind to him.