chapters closing & new adventures

When Ethan was born, it felt a little like starting over. None of my friends had children yet and once my husband went back to work, it was Ethan and I, just the two of us. All on our own. I'm a socially awkward, antisocial-by-nature person but even so, those days spent at home got old real quick. As soon as Ethan turned two months old, I popped into our local My Gym and signed him up for a mommy and me class. It was our first mommy and me class. A chance to play (or, well, talk to other adults while the babies slept on blankets) and get out of the house and explore this new world together. Sure, we attended some other storytimes or music classes here and there over the years, but our weekly My Gym mommy and me class -- that was our thing. As Ethan got older, we were bumped up to different levels but, still, never missed a week (I mean, so long as no one was sick).

Our weekly My Gym mommy and me classes began on September 1st, 2011. And they ended yesterday, August 11th, 2015.

First My Gym class swing

Last My Gym class swing

Ethan has officially graduated from mommy and me classes and is now in his first ever independent class at My Gym. That means I now sit on the sidelines and watch Ethan interact with his classmates and teachers (I'm not very good at that). I feel silly for how sad I felt yesterday as I watched Ethan play through his last ever mommy and me class -- I mean, he's still going to go to My Gym every week. He's still enrolled in an independent class. I'm sentimental as it is (alright, that's an understatement), but it was still very much a chapter closing. Regardless of whether or not we ever have more children, yesterday was still the very last mommy and me class that I would attend with Ethan. He was my first baby, my first mommy and me classmate and, yesterday, that chapter closed. There will be no more mommy and me classes in Ethan's future.

Of course, having the ability to watch my beautiful son grow up and blossom into the sweet, wonderful boy that he is, it's an honor. It's an honor that I don't take lightly. Watching him thrive in his independent classes, well, those are new memories to be made. New happiness, new friends, new memories. One day, too, that chapter will close and I'll be back in the same place, wondering where the time went. For now, I'll soak it all up as I hope I did these past four years -- Ethan's entire life so far -- in our mommy and me classes. Longer than he was bottle fed, longer than he slept in a crib, longer than he was in diapers -- we did My Gym mommy and me classes together. (Hey, these things are hard for a sentimental, emotional sap!)

Yesterday the mommy and me chapter in our lives closed, four years from where it all began. Four years. Ethan's entire life so far! I waver between super irrational sadness, nostalgia and then happiness when I think back to all of our time together. I know, this is only the beginning. Only the beginning of classes and lessons and chapters closing and chances to say "where did the time go?"

Here's to independent classes and new adventures.

And being the longest running My Gym members in the history of My Gym, because that's a record we're working on.