Thankful? You bet! First in a series.

I should write so much more often. I know. Tonight, though once again, midnight looms and I am far from my bed, I feel compelled to share.

I keep few close friends. Sadly, few close friends live anywhere close. Two of my oldest best friends, live in the U.S. One is in California and the other in Indiana. These are the sorts of friends that you truly just pick up where you left off with. It doesn't matter that I have no clue how the past few months have been, in minutes in we are in sync. We are all moms now. Much of our conversations are about the kids.

Yesterday, my Indiana friend was here with her four children. She is a truly SUPER MOM. She had the four in just over three years. The oldest is 18 months older than the next two, identical twins. Then 13 months later, another was born. Now they range from 8 until 11, it's not any easier, just different. She volunteers in all their classrooms, she shuttles them between several sports, several arts classes and tutoring. She helps with their homework and the insane number of doctor appointments they have. All of them have asthma and bad allergies. A cold is never just a cold with any of them and at any given moment, one is usually on antibiotics. She is also insanely good at keeping a clean house, a clean car and spotless kids. Her children are the most polite and well mannered kids I have ever met. They are so well spoken, too.

SO of course, I was SO honoured when she showered me with praise after their visit. She told me I was doing a GREAT JOB with MY kids and that I should be proud. She said they were beautiful and great kids. Her children were complimenting my 4.75 yr old DD on her vocabulary!

I do appreciate the compliments. I do try. I speak to them about larger issues and ideas than maybe I even should. I try to teach them to think - not just absorb. Be proactive and not just reactive. Be kind and treat others as you would want to be treated. Sure I try, I think most of us do. But I am not a teacher, I am not with them for six or eight waking hours of the week days.

I MUST give credit where credit is due. First of all, I was blessed with highly intelligent and intuitive kids, with amazing lateral thinking skills, caring hearts and a natural sense of fairness. (Not that they have that on display for me all the time!) I have a DH who is a fantastic father and teacher, who can play bad cop if really needed but gives them so much cuddle time, warmth and security. I am so extra blessed that my own mom sees my kids, nearly every day. She imbues them with her strength and no nonsense attitude, delivered with love and affection. Her home provides peace for them in more ways than I have time to write here. I am thankful for all of the aforementioned.

But I especially want to thank all the daycare staff, in the two daycares my kids have attended. I want to thank all the camp staff at the various camps my son has attended.

The politeness, the sharing & compromising skills, the playground & social skills, the keeping your voice down skills - even their diction, is better, because of ALL The fabulous support my children get at their daycare and camps. The staff show more patience and more constant energy than I could dream of. I go all weekend, it's true. When the kids are home for two days or more, I am beat -can't lie about that. I have high energy, high maintenance kids who need a lot of stimulation, a lot of exercise and a lot of just about everything.

The daycare staff in general, are just awesome. The coordinators and directors who hire them, are awesome. I love how there is always a good cop and a bad cop in each room. Someone has to play the heavy, just like at home. I am thankful that they do their best to support us when special needs or issues come up. We have seen them accomodate not just our needs, but others as well. They have rallied to improve a situation and better the quality of care even further. I am super thankful that our daycare has such amazing facilities on site! They take my children to swim, on their time. They offer extra programming such as studio dance and art and yoga, on top of the dance and art and exercise they already do with the kids. The Sensory diet is super awesome at our daycare. They also have so many events and bake sales and older kids around for after care and it's one big happy, multicultural deluxe family. We LOVE IT. Thank you.

I am thankful for a few special staff over the years who went the extra mile, to get on OUR side, to advocate and nurture even more than I expected they would. I am thankful for staff my child asked to visit even on the weekend, when their caregiver would mind front desk at the community centre the daycare is housed in.

To all the great daycare staff out there, if nobody else says thank you, hear it from me. YOU ARE SO IMPORTANT to the kids in your care- and their families. You become their family. Do not take that lightly. We, the parents might be scrambling in and out, scattered, tired, distracted and may seem to not notice you at all. We do. We appreciate you, your patience, your creativity, your spunk and your hard work. We are ever thankful!