Farewell to Kindergarten

I feel a little weird about no longer having a kindergartner. I'm not altogether sad about it except that I know Mam will be lucky to get a first grade class as fantastic as her kindergarten class. They really were a great group of kids. Six of them won't be joining her in first grade, either because they need to repeat or because they're going to school elsewhere. I'll miss them.

The presentation of kindergarten diplomas came the day before the last day of school because they spend that last day at the park (a different park from the one the other kids go to). I rushed from a rare business meeting for the occasion and was happy to find that I hadn't missed a thing.The teacher said something sweet about each child as she handed them their diplomas. She managed to hold it together, but I think most of the audience was at least a little teary.I suspect this teacher knows how lucky she was with this class and she'll miss them too, at least a little.

I joined a few other parents and went to the park early on Wednesday to hold down the spot for 80 kindergartners to take over. We spent much of our time hanging donuts for the traditional donut-eating contest.Before the kids were allowed near the 60s-style donut curtain, there was a whole lot of other fun to be had.But the donut-eating contest/game (it's not really a contest) is the best part of all. Not only do the kids get to eat a donut each, but it's one of the best kids' photo opportunities ever.And finally...This alone makes me a little wistful about having no more kindergartners.

Once the slightly-organized chaos was over, each class met with their teacher for one last goodbye. Mam didn't really want to pose for one last photo with her first elementary school teacher, but in the end, you can't even tell. What a great year it was!

Another Year, Another Kindergartner

Scrolling back through the posts I've written this summer, it's painfully obvious just how busy we were. I try not to write much when there's nothing much going on, but that was rarely the case. This is perhaps the first year both kids will really remember the summer...based on how old they are. I hope they remember it fondly and not as a mishmash of dizzying, but fun experiences.

School started so early this year. It wasn't even late August yet. But then, something had to curb my need for overscheduling, I guess. And I was so excited to see Mam off to kindergarten, with the expectations that she'd be very, very happy there and I'd be happy to have the kids in the same place.

Before the big Wednesday first day of school, Mam had a lemonade social at the kindergarten where she got together with her future classmates and got to meet her new teacher. After all that posing at Disney World, Mam was happy as a clam to pose with her latest princess. Looks familiar, doesn't it?This one, she gets to keep visiting for the rest of the year. And she'll only have to compete for attention with 19 other kids rather than a whole theme park full.

The teachers took all the kids in the classroom to read a story and left the parents out on the playground. Since we were a couple of minutes late, Mam wasn't sure what to make of that, but I got away with escorting her halfway into the classroom...just enough that she could see that she knew other kids in there...and then quickly making my way back out.

Tuesday, I took the kids to my hairdresser for haircuts. Smunch's hair had been cropped so short during the summer, that I just had her tidy it up so it would grow out nicely. Mam, on the other hand, said emphatically that she wanted her hair cropped up to HERE! (with her hand up above her ear). I refused, but she had it cut as short as I was willing to go. I really prefer the long hair, but not the long hair-combing battles, so she gets her way.

Wednesday finally came and I had the kids dressed 'just so' and ready for their first day. Cute clothes, new backpacks, new lunch bags, combed hair, brushed teeth. Mam was excited. Smunch seemed happy, but very slightly apprehensive.The whole family took the short walk to the kindergarten yard, where Mam immediately ran off to play with her friends, including her Sarah who is in her class for the first time this year. After a few minutes, the bell rang and Mam flew past me, "Bye, Mommy!" she waved as she joined the line.So very, very different from her brother. She trotted happily off into the classroom with barely a glance behind her.

We wandered over to the "big kid playground" where Smunch quickly found his line and stood in it, still looking slightly anxious.But it all went away when he met his nice, new teacher. She's quite fabulous, I hear. My interactions with her to date would certainly suggest that's true. Very, very nice with a great reputation.I'm happy about his teacher and about the kids (and parents!) in his class. It's shaping up to be a really good year and in the end, he seemed happy to be off to second grade.Second grade. That used to sound so very old!

And I went off to the Welcome Back Coffee to overvolunteer myself for yet another year. I avoided becoming anyone's room mom, but signed up to help the room mom in both classrooms. I'll be in Mam's room weekly to help out and may be taking both classes to the library from time to time. I'm looking forward to it.

What I didn't realize is that while everything is new and different for the kids, it's really kind of new and different for me too. The volunteering hasn't really kicked into gear yet, so I'm feeling a little adrift in a big sea of parents and kids. All the same friends are still there, but we're all doing different things with different routines than we had last year. I'm hoping that as soon as things firm up a little and I'm getting into the classroom again, I'll feel like I've got a "place" there. Until then, at least my blog is up to date.

It's now Monday and the fourth day of school for both kids. To my great relief, they seem to be getting happier and happier with school. They're both happy to go and happy to stay. I don't know how it could be going better. This is the first year it's actually been easy!

Another Day at the Park

Although Mam was done with school, there was just one little item of business left on Monday this week. Park Day. Our family has been at the same preschool for three years now and I think I've posted about Park Day each time. It's such a fun time for the kids, although I have to admit that after three years, some of the same old, same old is getting a little ho hum for me. Such as the giant, inflatable worm that eats and then poops children.Obviously, Mam is having a grand ol' time. I think she ran around in circles being eaten and then pooped at least a dozen times before she abandoned the worm for the bouncy house carousel.

I'm not complaining. Although I was slightly bored, it was fun to watch Mam run around enjoying all the different things. This is actually the first year she's gone all by herself. Smunch has always been there with us before...two years ago as the graduating preschooler and last year as an afternoon kindergartner who had a free morning to join us.

This year, the bubble station was of particular fascination. I think she went back several times, even though I urged her on to some of her other favorite activities.She had fun throwing rings around floating critters and getting to choose a prize for no real accomplishment in particular.She had a grand ol' time fishing with a magnetic and picking a prize for a fish successfully caught.She got a balloon animal. In typical Mam-girly fashion, she requested an orange snake. But, at the next station, where she had her face painted, she duly requested a pink unicorn on her cheek.She dug for buried treasure in buckets of sand and added a pile of trinkets to all the junk I was already trying to juggle. Too bad I won't be at this event again, or I'd write myself a big reminder to bring an empty bag with me...a bag for all the things I will surreptitiously try to sneak into the garbage can in the next month or so.

Mam also paid a visit to the "pocket lady" and picked out her favorite prize of all...She ate popcorn and Otter Pops. She visited with all the friends she ran into. In general, it was a very happy time. Of course, it's also a time for bittersweet goodbyes. Here she is with her favoritest teacher of all.Because Mam was enrolled in two preschool classes this year, Mam had six teachers and as far as I can tell, she loved them all. Looking at the sweet photos of her with them, I realize I loved them all too. I didn't full appreciate why some of my friends were having such a hard time with their youngest leaving preschool. Sure it's a little sad, but they're going to KINDERGARTEN! Maybe part of my excitement has to do with the days when I didn't think she'd ever make it to kindergarten. Or maybe my friends were just more sad because they'd had more years to absorb what a wonderful place this preschool really is. The director can be a little strident at times, but her love of children is unsurpassed and her ability to hire fantastic preschool teachers is really unbelievable. Not only have we never had a bad teacher there (and we've had 11 different ones in 3 years with the 4 classes the two kids have been in), but the teachers don't leave either. Although these are teachers who probably see 80 kids every week, they always knew who she was...including many of the ones who weren't her teachers. Even the office staff knew Mam by name...long before they knew my name, I might add. And they have a way of making you feel like you'll always be part of their family, no matter how old your kids are.

In so many ways, it's a magical place. I hope Mam looks back on it that way too.

Preemie Mom Confessions

It's been a long time since I really thought about being a "preemie mom". Because I'm able to forget most of the awful stuff that happened at the beginning of my kids' lives, I don't dwell on it. Better to work on the problems than linger on the potential causes for those issues, I say. And, the truth is, I've found that words are wholly inadequate to describe those days. There's no way to convey to someone with no experience just what it was like. None.But every now and then, there's a day that takes me back to some of those really bad times...not necessarily in a bad way, but in a contemplative sort of way. Yesterday was one of those days.

Yesterday, we went for our conference with Mam's preschool teachers. This is the conference where they discuss your child's readiness for kindergarten. "Do you expect any surprises from them?" Daddy asked on our way there. "No," I said. "But then, they wouldn't be surprises if I expected them, would they?"

There have certainly been surprises along our way to this point. Some of them very bad, some of them not so bad, some of them fantastic. At moments like this, where judgement (no matter how kindhearted) is going to be passed on one of my children, I often remind myself how far they've come. It plays out like a movie...with flashbacks in muted colors, but with strong emotions still attached.

[FLASH]
Me: (in a hospital room, waiting not-altogether-anxiously for word about my baby girl, whose delivery was so scary, I didn't dare ask about it) What were her Apgar scores?

Disembodied voice: Zero, two and six.

Me: Huh. I didn't know you could be alive with an Apgar of zero.

Dawning realization...She wasn't.
[FLASH]
Mam's teacher: She traces and cuts with scissors very well, she knows all her letters, she writes her name...

[FLASH]
Neonatologist: She has a small bleed in her brain. There isn't anything we can do about it. We'll do another ultrasound next week to see if it's gotten better or grown. As long as it stays this size, it should be meaningless.
[FLASH]
Mam's teacher: She counts very well, both out loud and in her head. We don't do them in class, but I asked her if she'd ever done a dot-to-dot. She was so excited to show me.

Me: (laughing) The byproduct of many children's menus!

[FLASH]

Neonatologist: The scan shows a cyst in her brain where the bleed once was. It may be nothing. It may also develop into something we call PVL, which is often linked to severe learning disabilities.
[FLASH]

Mam's teacher: And, of course, she can walk, run, jump and skip like nobody's business.

[FLASH]

Me: (trying to get the attention of a doctor who had so far avoided me) Did the PT [physical therapist] come to see my baby when she was here last week?

Neonatologist: Yes.

Me: What did she say?

Neo: We're really concerned about her. She had very low muscle tone and didn't respond well. It's not a good sign.
[FLASH]

Mam's teacher: We'd really love to keep her, but she's totally ready to go.

Me: Yeah. I know.

But there was always that lingering doubt. That little tiny voice that said..."But she was dead."

I don't know that I believe in miracles. I'm a science-y sort of girl. I think we were exceedingly lucky. I'm very grateful for that, despite the terrifying days that were Mam's beginning.

I'm painfully aware that not all parents, especially those of preemies, but many others as well, get such good news. Some parents never get the chance to hear about kindergarten at all. And the fact that Mam is almost five and perfectly prepared for kindergarten isn't something I can take for granted. It's so much more than we were given reason to hope for.

Growing up

This is a wee bit out of order, but I thought it was a good illustration of just how Smunch changed over this year of kindergarten. Here is a photo of him walking to school on his first day.
Here is another photo of him with Mam and one of his classmates, "walking" to school on the last day...

It's so easy to see how quickly their childhood gets away from you.

Park Daze

Around here, probably as in many school districts around the country, it's tradition (apparently) to end the school year with a day in the park. Both kids had a day in the park. Turns out it was the same park, just two days apart. Mam's "park day" was first. Her preschool always puts on a spectacular event for all the little kids...complete with a bouncy house, a bouncy caterpillar to crawl around in, face painting, fishing for prizes, a "snack walk", bean bag toss, treasure hunt, bubble, popcorn, ice cream. You name it. I had to take Smunch this year since he wasn't in school 'til the afternoon, but we all had a good time...despite Mam just having recovered from her miserable stomach thing.Here's our Mam with one of her favorite teachers, Mrs. P, doing the treasure hunt.She came home with lots of crap loot. I loved Mam's teachers this year. They were truly fantastic. I was really excited to find out she'll be having one of them again next year. She was thrilled too.

Smunch's park day happened on Wednesday, which was also his last day of kindergarten. It's hard to believe it was over so fast. It was a similar kind of event, also featuring bubbles and face painting, but adding more snacks, spin art... and the most fantastic game ever - the donut eating "contest". The only prize for eating your donut was that you got to eat a donut, but that was reward enough. This was the best photo op ever!It was sort of a bittersweet day, at the end. Without a year-long teacher to show for all the effort, the class took happy photos with their "long-term" sub, who was with them for a week and a half. I give her a lot of credit for taking over. She did a really good job, working with very little other than 17 kindergarteners who had gotten awfully squirrelly before she showed up. Did I mention the face painting?

So, it's over. Wow. It feels more momentous than I'd imagined. Despite all the difficulties with speech, with hearing, with just sitting still...Smunch got a glowing literacy report to go with his pretty, new diploma. You would have thought he'd just graduated from med school with how fast I ran out and bought a frame for him. I'm proud of the little guy and it turns out...he's pretty proud of himself too!