Today I dropped my daughter off with the childminder for the first time ever for. It's a new era (although it doesn't feel shiny yet). It made me really sad this morning. I don't feel ready to part with her. With my son, I had 11 months off work, so he was 11 months old when he went to the childminder and I felt ready. I was ready to go back to work and felt he was old enough and ready to go to the childminder. She has four other children which she looks after (as well as her own) and he is now the only boy. This time round though, I start university in two weeks, so maternity leave finished a week ago. My daughter is six months old and will be (just) seven months old when she starts going three days a week.
She's going for one day this week and two next week before going full time (three days a week) the week after that. I know that it's different from last time. I know the childminder well, her brother is there so it's not all going to be new to her. She will have a great time mixing with other children (there are two other young girls). Maybe I am anxious because it is all change in my life. In two weeks I embark on a journey in which most people will be a decade younger than me. It is not the safe return to work I had originally intended.
It's 10.30am already and I still don't know what to do with myself until I pick the pair of them up at 4.45pm. I'll make a start and put the kettle on with the words of the song still traipsing through my head, 'So prepare for a chance of a lifetime. Be prepared for sensational news. A shining new era is tiptoeing nearer...Be prepared!'
