Yesterday marked a pretty big milestone: Avery’s last day of preschool. She’ll still be at the school for much of the summer for camp – but, still, she has officially transitioned from a preschooler to a kindergartener! Tears were shed at pick-up, but by me, not her. She’s as happy as can be and more than ready for the next chapter!
-M
Some more photos, and a performance, from yesterday’s ceremony.
-M
Like her sister before her, Avery participated in the preschool’s Moving On ceremony. Here she is – before and after being congratulated (and hugged) by her teachers.
-M
At a birthday party the other day, a mom from the preschool inquired about the age difference between Zoe and Avery. After I told her she smiled and noted, “Every time I see them together, they’re holding hands and having fun together. They seem like real pals.” I thought about that for quite a bit after. It’s true: They really are good friends. They bicker and have conflicts at times, and we now see some sibling rivalry that we never used to see, but all in all they’re each other’s favorite playmate and confidante. I was once aiming to have kids three years apart (which seemed ideal to me) but two years, seven months has been a-okay so far.
-M
Speaking of fun with friends, here are some pics from recent events. (Avery was at a pizza-making party in the last one.)
-M
I don’t remember a period of time since having kids that was this busy and intense. With the school year rapidly coming to a close it seems there’s always an event to volunteer for, a performance or ceremony to plan for, a permission slip to sign, a check to write, an e-mail to return. Zoe has two big school performances and an end-of-first-grade party coming up in the next few weeks; Avery has her big “moving on” ceremony this Wednesday, a last-day-of school party on Thursday and then a week off before camp starts. (We still haven’t finalized her week-off plans, and Q I have to work, but: details, details.) Add on top of this a busy work schedule and regular life stuff, and it can all feel a bit, well, crushing.
The positives: The girls (despite a weekend bout with strep for Avery) are happy and healthy, and they’re excited for the myriad events coming up. And, despite all the stuff going on, we’ve spent a lot of time with friends – a Memorial Day BBQ yesterday afternoon, a family dinner on Friday night, lots of birthday parties in past and future weeks. Most of our friends have kids (and usually more than one) our kids’ age, and they get it. I don’t have to explain to my friends if I look stressed or say that I’m one e-mail request away from flipping out. They’re there, too.
As my mom friends and I say to each other all the time: we’re in the weeds, we’re living in pressure cookers, we’re all pressed. But at the end of the day, we’re also blessed. We just have to take deep breaths (advice my mom has been giving me for years!) and get through it.
-M
The preschool year is rapidly coming to a close, which means – among other things – that we’ve got lots of yearbooks to sell. (It’s a project I’ve worked on the last three years.) And, like last year, Avery is my favorite co-salesperson.
-M
When I picked up Zoe from school this afternoon, she was on the playground with friends. After crying out “Oh, no – don’t take Zoe home!” one of her (girl) classmates came up to me and said, “I can’t survive a day without Zoe.” I had to laugh at the drama: They’re like mini-teenagers.
-M
Today at school, Avery’s teachers asked the class how they felt about “moving on” (about one-third of the class is heading to kindergarten), and Avery told me she answered “sad” when it was her turn. I immediately panicked: I’ve been talking a lot with the girls about how much I’ll miss the preschool and how sad I am that my baby is getting so big, and I worried that my feelings of melancholy had rubbed off of Avery. So I asked if she said that because of Mommy and she answered, no, it was because she wasn’t going to be with her best friend anymore. “She’s going to Bulgary this summer,” she pouted, which is partially true. (She’s going to Bulgaria to be with family. And she’s not going to Avery’s school next year.) I told her that we would get to see Sofia a lot before she left, and that we’d have playdates when the new school year starts, but I’m not sure that made her feel better. I clearly need to impress upon her that just because things are different doesn’t mean they’re sad or bad, and that she’ll make new friends in kindergarten – but I need to stop sniffling first.
-M
The preschool’s spring picnic was today, and the girls spent a good four hours hanging out with friends (including Avery’s bestie, Sofia) and hosting a lemonade stand. They were good salespeople, and they wound up making $48 for charity!
-M
Each spring, Mrs. E’s first graders get to watch chicks grow and be hatched in the classroom; it’s the most popular unit of the year and something all the kids talk about. Zoe and her classmates have been carefully and eagerly watching the eggs for four weeks, and the chicks finally arrived on Thursday. Here was the scene in their classroom the next morning…
-M
Speaking of Avery’s preschool days about to come to an end, I grabbed the camera last night to capture her thoughts on that. She displays a wide range of emotions (some real and some for play – see 1:28), but I can appreciate her overall sentiments: She’s both happy and sad!
-M
On the days I take the girls to school, Avery and I have a little routine. We drop Zoe off in her classroom (her school has an earlier start time than the preschool) and then head to the lobby so I can get a cup of coffee. (“There’s milk today, Mama!” Avery often cries out – because she knows I can’t drink black coffee, and she knows from my grumblings that sometimes they forget to put out the milk.) Avery shakes and pours the little packets of sugar and stirs my coffee, then we chat a bit and make our way across the playground to her school. There, I help her put away her jacket and lunchbox, give her a big hug, and wave to her from the window on my way out.
Coffee stirring, backpack placing, waving: These aren’t terribly exciting things. But I’ve been thinking a lot lately how it’s these kind of things – the small actions, the little moments – that add up to something so big, and I know I’ll someday be filled with nostalgia for this time. In just 10 short school days, Avery will be done with preschool, and we won’t be doing these things, at least not exactly how and where we do them now, ever again. So for now I’ll relish our coffee dates and window good-byes.
-M
Q and the girls were really sweet to me on Mother’s Day; among the treasures they presented me with were a series of cards from Avery, and a painted flower pot full of candy (and a paper flower) from Zoe. They both had also filled out little sheets about me, and I just loved something that Zoe wrote. When asked to complete the sentence “Nobody is better than my mom is at…” she answered “cooking.” I don’t, as many of you knew, really cook – but I’m so glad Zoe doesn’t notice! (Love is blind, right?)
-M
