Oh the Guilt!

This week we started having a sitter come and watch the kids for a few hours in the morning so I could go and do some work. Erin comes at 7:30 AM and stays until 10:30 AM. I thought this was the best possible time. I could get some work done and all I would really miss was breakfast and a little PBS kids time. Alexandra has been having a really hard time with it. She cried on Sunday night when I told her and then last night she cried again. She says that she doesn't love Erin, that she loves me and wants me there. What do you say to that? I told her that I love her and that I would be back before Lunch and then we would play on the swings and the sand box and read books. Nothing seemed to work. Then I pulled a rabbit out of my hat. I told her in a month or so she'd be going back to school three days a week and that while she was gone I'd be gone too. Then she got really, really excited. She kept saying, can I go tomorrow, can I go tomorrow? I told her no in a month but then she said something pretty amazing. "After that I go to the big school with the big doors and play on the big playground". She must be talking about kindergarten. She's a year away and she's already excited about going to the big school. Pretty amazing! So, I saved the mommy guilt for another issue. Although I have to admit when she is crying I keep thinking to myself, Is this really the right thing to be doing but in my heart I believe it is right now!