Kindergarten is over...

Today is Anya's Kindergarten graduation.  It's currently peaceful in the house and everyone is asleep. I am grateful to have this opportunity to be alone with my thoughts, reminisce and drink my coffee.  The truth is my thoughts are sad.  I know I am supposed to be happy to see Anya on her special day but I feel a lump in my throat the size of a baseball and tears welling up in my eyes.  How did time slip away so fast?  When did my little kangaroo jump out of the pouch and begin hopping all on her own?   How did I miss it?  I never imagined having older children, let alone a pre-teen with attitude and a strong willed six year old.  LOL! 

 

ANYA.  She is the  baby of the family and knows how to work it.  She knows when I need the cuddles, kisses and when to crawl into my lap.  She willingly gives it to me still but I know those days are numbered and maybe that's why I feel so sad.  She still humors me and  pretends she is a baby and will let me smoother her, as will Halie, but not nearly as often as they used to.  While Anya is sweet and cuddly,  she is also very bright and knows how to use her love in order to get what she wants.  She loves to play and be social.  When we pick her up from school she hugs everyone in sight; this is how she ended up with  lice earlier on in the school this year.  She enjoys school, socially and academically, and is extremely curious. 

 

Her graduation ceremony was wonderful.  There were three classes combined to sing songs and recite poems for all the parents.  Afterwards her teacher prepared a PowerPoint slideshow of just their class back in the classroom and gave a heartwarming speech addressing the parents and then the children.  She is everything you want your child's teacher to be.  She is gentle, kind and firm all at the same time.  She is young, hip, cool and knowledgeable.  She nurtures the children's curiosity and exposes them to new ways of looking at the world.  My personal favorite moment of the year is when she invited me, along with other parents, to share our cultures with the class.  I was reluctant a bit, nervous in a way, but teaching them about my country's song and dance, also made my child proud and curious of her heritage.  It was a great year for Anya. She is ready for grade one (a lot more so than her mother). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One last thing.  I got this idea from a friend and have started it for my own girls this year.  I bought them each a book, Pete the Cat's Groovy Guide to Life, for each of their teachers to sign from K-Gr.12.  We will give it to them at their grade 12 graduation.  Most people choose Dr. Suess',  Oh, The Places You'll Go!, (excellent choice), but I wanted something a little different.  Pete the Cat's Groovy Guide to Life is filled with inspirational quotes from Albert Einstein to Confucius to Abraham Lincoln to Shakespeare and more!  Check it out, it's super cute. 

 

It was a good day.  A day to celebrate.  A day to be remembered.