We were put on notice today that Riley will be moving up from the infant daycare room to the toddler daycare room. I realized that while the transition for him might be tough, it may be harder on me.

For the last 12 months I have taken Riley to daycare in the morning. Every day I say good morning to Carol and chit chat about the weather. We discuss what we did for the weekend and she might mention how long Riley’s hair is, in an obvious reference to our lack of parenting. Many mornings Riley runs up to Carol to greet her and begin the morning Cheerios routine. The other morning he came in and hugged her leg. She smiled and commented on how hard it is to see kids like Riles grow up and leave the room.

For most of his time at daycare Riley has been the gentle giant of the room. He’s been a big kid all his life and his classmates have been mostly girls. He stands out in the room. He’s the tallest, biggest kid around. Now, he’ll be in a group of even bigger kids where he is just one of many “big guys”. Riles has never been a violent kid. He’s never bitten anyone but has taken his fair share of being bitten. I worry that the change in classmates will force Riley to act out in ways we aren’t used to.

It’ll be tough for the next few weeks. All of the sudden the $50-a-week savings doesn’t seem worth it. I’d rather Riley continue to stay who he is. But, I know if there’s one thing that is certain it’s that he will grow up.