As I pulled away I wondered how many more such chapters would open and close in my little baby's life.
Just 4 months back I was in a crisis mode: Suhaana's nanny was leaving (effectively for good) and in my opinion she was too little (15 months) for going to a regular day care. Realizing that may be the only option I was already taking day care tours although still not comfortable with the idea.
And then, I got a reference from a friend of mine; who's friend has a home day care. And the next four months were the most fun period. The little girl made new friends. And most unexpectedly, I made a really good friend too. So many-an evenings were spent at the pretext of picking up Miss Suhaana; but then staying longer while we talked over masala chai and snacks! To say that the tea was fantastic and the company even more endearing- would be a gross understatement. I looked forward to spending that half an hour every evening away from both work and home in an escape that can only be provided by a good friend. And we'll talk about what happened during the day, just everything under the sun.
Meanwhile the non-adults would continue with fun of their own: the lady's two daughters and Suhu would be busy with their own activities.
Her daughters are probably the most well behaved, soft spoken, smart and cutest girls ever! The older one is 10. She is smart, sweet and paints really well. The younger one is 4 and she is also very smart, very friendly and very sweet.
Suhu and the girls would be busy with their fun activities; and every day when I would turn to Suhu and ask her "Shall we go home?", she would immediately give me her to-the-point, unequivocal reply "NO". Every day I would be met by formidable opposition (read: angry crying and throwing of arms and legs) against been taken home. My only weapon: "Papa must be waiting for the little girl, don't you want to meet him?" Grudging acceptance - these games may have to wait till tomorrow.
Lately Suhaaana would call the day care lady (no names for privacy) as Mumma! It was funny and cute there were more than one Mummys around!
But now the day care lady is going to move out of state; and even though I found an alternate place for the little girl- it will never be quite the same. Every morning when sitting in the car seat, Suhu calls out the names of her 10 and 4 year old friends! And today when I with Suhaana went back to my day-care-lady-friend for good-byes, it was hard. Hard thinking I would not see her around. And harder thinking the kids wouldn't have each other around and would miss each other a whole lot. Suhu was calling out the names of her friends all the way home - as I'm sure she'll repeat them tomorrow as Papa is taking her over to the new day care next morning.
Life moves on.. And this begins the journey our children would go through for the rest of their lives - moving in and out of new places/things is never easy. But if you think change is hard wait till your kids have to go through it- that's so much tougher.
Today when Suhaana figured that we're leaving and we may not see the lady or come back to her house perhaps, she held on to her hand and didn't want to let go. Crying proceeded, as I'm sure there were tears on either side. I could have cried too if I wasn't too busy being the parent and saying it will be okay! Yes, this is definitely harder! But the last few months has been a really good time and the little girl will undoubtedly remember her older friends for a long, long, long time.
