Farewell, Sunny Days

Tomorrow is the kids' last day at their creche. They both started there last August, and while there's probably not a perfect childcare situation that exists, we were all very happy with the place, and the people who cared for them there. Both of them love going there each morning; there have never been tears or sadness when we left them there. They've made friends that we talk about all of the time at home, and some that we even see at the park nearby. Paddy has learned to sing loads of songs, but his favourite is You Are My Sunshine. He and Trish, one of the women who works there, sing it together. Síofra is well prepared for school in September, and much of that is due to her work at the creche.

We would have been happy to keep Paddy there, but he got a place in another local, community creche that is subsidised, and costs less than half what this place does. So this decision is really about economics. The price of childcare here is insane; for the past 12 months we've been paying 1 1/2 times our mortgage in childcare. It was a killer, but come September we'll only be paying 1/4 of what we are now. So, in theory, we'll be rolling in dough. Yeah, right.

It's 9:30 pm and the apartment is about 101 degrees...not because of an Irish heat wave, but because I've got the oven on cranking out 24 cupcakes for the kids to take into school tomorrow, for their farewell party.

It's kind of sad to say goodbye to all the people at Sunny Days (the name of the creche is "Sunny Days" in Irish), but there are exciting times ahead, with new beginnings for the kids. Another lesson in letting go, and moving on.