Summer's End

image from Pinterest

The signs are all there, this last week both of my babysitters left for college and tonight at Target the school supply lists were out and giant pencils were hanging from the ceiling.  School starts here in one week and Mothers day out starts in two weeks.  The warm weather will stick around a little longer (ok a lot longer)  but the summertime fun will be over very soon.  

Tonight as I was packing our bags for an afternoon at the pool tomorrow I was reflecting on the summer and how sad I am that it is almost over.   My toddler isn't in full time school but does go to Mothers Day Out 3 times a week.  So this summer she has been home a lot more than she will be this fall.  I loved every moment and while more time together has meant being more creative with work,  I think its worth every minute to start building summertime memories.

I have seen something in the blog world the last few weeks that really bothers me,  it seems that many mom bloggers are ready for school to start again and have written long posts on how ready they are for  for their kids to get back to their "jobs" of going to school.   This seems to follow the trend of recent posts extolling how its ok not to love to every minute of whatever stage of life you and your kids are in today.  And I get that,  the days are sometimes hard and long but I worry that by being so honest and focusing on our current feelings about that day we are diminishing the importance of truly savoring the moment.   Lets also remember that the Internet is forever,  someday your kids will read that post and their summer memories will forever be stained by your rant about needing to be alone. I also don't think that those mom's don't love every minute with their kids its just that I don't want to focus on the hard days.  I want to remember all the things that made this summer special.

• Trips to the "animal zoo" 
• Super hot days spent in the museum 
• pool days and splash parks 
• family trips to get "ice cones" with daddy on super warm nights 
• nice long naps after afternoons in the sun 
• lazy mornings of Disney Junior 
• the Library and the used book store 

I get that I may not always feel this way,  there may be a time where I long for the long summer days to end and for her to be back in school.  I have learned not to ever say "I will never...."  when it comes to parenting (hello,  Netflix at a restaurant)  but I do hope that I will stop to remember each and every summer and all the little things that made it so special.  I'll be honest...we need more structure that what we have had this summer but I am choosing to remember that this is a season and one that will end way sooner than I am ready for it to end and so today I am going to soak in the last two weeks of the only summer my baby will be two.