open house/farewell

 

Charlie kicks back at Papa's office.

Charlie's world shifts to Somersfield.

But his heart is still Tina's.

A final sticker for staying dry through nap time.

 

 

 

 

We stopped briefly at Dad's office so Mama could each breakfast and Papa could finish some work before embarking on a watershed day:  Charlie's Somersfield orientation day (where he spent a couple of hours there to sniff around before spending the whole day there) and his last day at Baby Jail.

Charlie's last day at Baby Jail.  Wow.  When you look at your kids, you pretend to yourself that you were responsible for everything that they are - every word that comes out of their mouth, every action they take, the manners they may or may not have, the spectrum of their entire personality.   It is just pretense though.  We're a much smaller slice of their lives than we let ourselves believe.  In between, there are hundreds of people donating little bits of themselves to the building blocks of these kids' personalities.
A huge part of Charlie's personality comes from one Ms Tina - Charlie's second Mommy.  Ms Tina and Charlie developed a bond that seems to have transcended their nominal school rapport.  And we couldn't ask for much more.  The beginning of Charlie (and probably beyond) will always be shaped by their friendship and the time he spent in her charge.
We will miss Baby Jail for many reasons.  Charlie, you were really happy here - take it with you if you can.  You had a great, loving bevy of kids and teachers here.  As they kept telling us, the place should be renamed "Everybody Loves Charlie".  But we'll miss Ms Tina most of all.