5/15/09 - The Girl's Moving on Up

**Sickness took over my brain last night and I flat forgot to post this. Sorry!!! **

The Girl’s last day of school is today. This was her first year of preschool (well half year I suppose since she didn’t start until January). And there is part of me that cannot believe how big she is. In two short years, she will be in Kindergarten. That is amazed to look at the growth chart in her classroom and see how much she has grown in five months. And she’s continuing to take on her father’s body type by getting so much taller but actually weighing less than she did in January. Although some of that may have to do with the whole pneumonia thing.

Her preschool is doing a big end of year celebration party tonight with dinner and an art show. The Boy went to this school for three years, so I’m pretty accustomed to the end of year routine. They’ve done an art show at year’s end ever since he started going there. So we’ll now have a piece of art from The Girl to add to the collection. And she’ll get to be called up to the front of the room and have her teacher (whom she adores and insists on giving hugs and kisses before she leaves) give her a certificate of completion for this year. And she will beam as she runs up there amid all the other parents clapping for her and me catching as many pictures as I can.

Some people think this routine is a little crazy for a two or three year old. That having a graduation or a celebration for anything but high school or college is just silly. But after seeing the smiles that light up the faces of my children and after seeing the pride they have in their accomplishment, I am no longer one of those people. I understand the danger of over-praising kids for doing things that they should be doing anyway. But moving up through the levels of education with pride and success and a growing love of learning is always something to be celebrated in my world.

I will snap entirely too many pictures. And I will clap and tear up. I am her proud mama.