"Grown-ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them."
Antoine de Saint-Exupery-The Little Prince

Friday will be my very last day interning for Child Development.
I absolutely love my children, but every time I start talking about them, I can feel people losing interest.
So I stop.
I do this a lot.
It leaves me with not very much to talk about.
Because a lot of the things that make up my life don't really interest other people.

But I digress.

The most recent site I was interning at is different from the prior ones. It's a daycare "with an emphasis on learning" rather than a school. The children are younger and the "teachers" [read:babysitters] are overworked and underpaid.
When I first got there, I was appalled. I was placed in the youngest age group because nobody else would volunteer, [for good reason! The entire group was crying when we got there.] and I was pretty much dreading the experience.
And it was hard.
And it was heartbreaking.
Because no child wants to be left in a daycare.

Over time, I came to love the children.
[I still don't love the facility, but that's ok.]
They can barely say their names, but I know them.

I know that Isabella loves feeling pretty. That if she's ever crying, playing dress ups will help. She loves the pink knitted scarf and likes to tickle your face with it.

I know that Druv is very aware. He wants the classroom to run smoothly, and he wants to help. He can be a bit of a tattletale, but he's only trying to help. He sees everything. If he's crying, you have to distract him by asking him what color different blocks are.

I know that Hayle is severely attached to her blanket and the doll with the missing eye. She screams easily, but that's a learned defense mechanism in a busy daycare. When she's happy, her smile can turn your world upside down. She's beautiful. She hates getting her hands messy, and has little patience for art projects.

I know Bryan wants attention. He is our little troublemaker. He hits and bites and grabs, [all of which is acceptable at home, and even positively enforced.] but he's also loving and sweet, when he wants to be. He has a hard time understanding social cues and directions, but he's always seeking approval and validation. He seems bewildered half the time that the other kids avoid him.

I could write pages, but I can't imagine anyone actually read all of this anyways.
The point is, you don't always have to talk to know someone.
Or love someone.

"The language of friendship is not words, but meanings"
- Henry David Thoreau


I'm going to miss them so much.