My first field trip as a mommy

I remember when I saw the sign-up sheet at Maya’s daycare, it read:

Castle Room Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch.
Tuesday, October 18.
Please leave your car seat so we can install it in the van.
Van will leave at 8:45 AM and will return for lunch.
Please send $5 if you would like your child to get a pumpkin.
We would love to have parent volunteers to take pictures and join in on the fun. 

What? Her first field trip? I mean, of course, I want her to go. She can’t miss that. But someone else is going to drive her there?

I signed her up and I got back into the car and called Preston, “Maya has a field trip next week. The sign-up sheet says to just leave your car seat…”

Preston said, “well, maybe you can go with her. And, you can just drive her.”

Hmm, so he wasn’t so sure about it either. Then it was decided, I would just take off half a day from work, drive her to the pumpkin patch and then drop her back off at daycare for lunch and a nap, then I would go back to work.

Except yesterday at work I had gotten a bit busier than I planned… So, I would get to work at 7:00 AM, leave work 8:20 AM so I could make it to her daycare at 8:45 AM, then drive her to the pumpkin patch (which was 30 minutes away), then drive her back to her daycare and then turn around and drive back to work for the rest of the day.

It would be fine. I had it all planned out.

Then, I picked Maya up from daycare and I told her how I was going to meet her at her daycare and we would follow the van out to the pumpkin patch. She was excited, then she looked at me all serious and said,

“Why can’t I ride in the van with my friends?”

Oh man.

“Um, well, wouldn’t it be fun if I just drove you?”

When Preston got home I explained the situation. I said, “Alright, I think I just need to let go, I can’t baby her forever. Maybe we should just let her decide?”

I mean, in her almost 4 years of life she’s only been in the car with 3 other people driving, and it was family: Preston’s mom, my mom and my sister.

And, this is school van for goodness sake, they drive kids to and from middle school every single day, and field trips happen all the time.

With a lump in my throat, I asked her, “Maya, would you like to ride with Mommy to the pumpkin patch or in the van with your friends?”

Her eyes lit up, “Yea! In the van with my friends!” And then she immediately said, “BUT, I want you to come?!?” I told her, “yep, I’ll just meet you at the pumpkin patch.”

So, this morning Preston dropped off her car seat, I went to work and Maya rode to the pumpkin patch with her friends in the school van.

When she saw me walking up to the van, she was so exited. I almost teared up when she yelled, “MOMMY!” from inside the van.

How did she grow up so fast? I’ve never enjoyed my first field trip as a mommy so much!