But then I sat down Friday morning to start filling out registration paperwork. I went to write the word “kindergarten” and it suddenly hit me like a tons of bricks that HOLY SHIT MY KIDS ARE GOING TO KINDERGARTEN. Yep, burst into tears right there at the kitchen table.

(What, you mean YOU don’t text photos of yourself crying to your spouse so that he/she can share in your sorrow over fleeting childhood?)

Everyone tells you it goes by fast and I’ve said before on this blog about how it goes by fast but MAN it goes by so fast. Their newborn days seem so long ago but also like it was just yesterday, know what I mean? Henry and Eleanor are so curious and creative and I love seeing them master new things and grow and become people I love to hang out with. But I’ll look at them this week and suddenly my brain gets all-caps screamy KINDERGARTEN KINDERGARTEN KINDERGARTEN and then short-circuits trying to comprehend that my little kids won’t be so little for very much longer.

This “let them grow up and leave” thing is the hardest part of parenting for me. I won’t be a helicopter parent in the sense that I think Henry and Eleanor need to learn to deal with mistakes and rejection and all the yucky stuff that can happen in adulthood (we’re definitely not an “every kid gets a trophy” kind of family). But I can absolutely 100% guarantee that in thirteen years Henry and Eleanor will be at college, slowly shuffling down the Quad while I cling to their legs shrieking “MAH BAAAAAYBEEEEES.”

Luckily I have seven months to get my act together, but in the meantime, pass me that box of Kleenex, please.

And took silly-face self portraits!

And whined about popcorn until Mom and Dad bought us some!

And made up “jokes” then texted them to each other!

And I think some people were playing basketball, too?