Bittersweetness

Today was Mary Wade's second day in Mother's Morning Out at McEachern Methodist. Up until yesterday, only a handful of people have ever kept her for Wade and me, and most of them have been family. Even though we knew SHE needed this, WE weren't entirely ready for it. Yesterday morning when I dropped her off, she was sobbing and I thought I might not be able to leave her. I just knew she wouldn't make it a half an hour, and I told her teacher I would be sitting in the lobby with my cell phone if she needed me to come back and get Mary. After about 45 minutes, I had not heard from her teacher, so I snuck back to her classroom to peek in. She was doing just fine! She ended up staying until a little after noon and I (along with EVERYONE who knows Mary) was shocked! This morning, I took her back, and she was equally upset when I left her, but she settled down and was just fine for the rest of the day. This afternoon when we got home, I was watching her play and it felt like she'd grown up so much in just a couple of days. She suddenly seemed so independent and so BIG! I felt like she changed so much in those few hours that we were apart and it broke my heart a little bit. I am happy because this is a huge milestone for her, but I'm sad because I can't keep her from growing up.