Friday, May 18, 2012

First Day/Last Day


Today was the last day of Preschool for Mackenzie. She was excited. Although I think a good majority of the excitement was for the party at a classmate's house after.


You can see that on the first day she had a fresh hair cut, it was nicely brushed and she let me put in a bow. Today, we barely got it brushed - too many tangles, the girl has crazy bed-head - and she finally consented to a barrette. She was not in the mood for pictures either. The sun was too bright and she didn't want to smile for too many photos. I'm lucky I got this one. But I did get it. Her last day of preschool. One year under her belt. Next year she'll got 3 days a week, with extended day on Monday. Then Kindergarten will be here before I know it. 

She made cards for her teachers. We got them gift cards to Dairy Queen (I managed to forget about the need for teacher gifts until last night, so ice cream it is.) and she drew ice cream cones in the one card, then moved on to triangles for the second. Cones without the ice cream?



You might notice the scribbles. While we were upstairs brushing out the tangles in Mackenzie's hair, Ryan was very quiet. Very, very quiet. When I called out and he didn't answer I knew he was up to no good. And he wasn't. He climbed in the chair, grabbed the markers and started coloring on the cards. I didn't have the heart to tell her because I knew she'd be upset and we didn't have time to re-do them. And I really didn't want to start off her last day with a meltdown. We have enough of them as is. So I hid the cards.

And then promptly forgot them. Thankfully she didn't notice and I brought them to pick-up. 

She had a good last day though. For show-and-tell she took three mini markers. She said she told them she likes to color with them. I asked if she told them she gets in trouble for leaving the caps off. She just looked at me. Then said yes, although I'm guessing she didn't really. 

This year has been good for her, although at times a struggle. She does very well at writing; she's been really in to writing all our names, other words and can write all our letters. She's a smart 4 1/2 year old. But  she's not a morning person and mornings could be rough. One thing could go wrong and a meltdown would ensue. She had plenty of days where she cried at drop-off (whether the morning at home went well or not) and I had to wriggle out of her grasp and leave. Of course, she stopped crying within a few minutes and went on to have a great day. She just had a hard time separating from me. She had to work on sharing and playing nice and giving up control but she needed that. Her teachers were so wonderful and patient with her and she's really improved and grown. She had so much fun learning and doing all the crafts and of course loved snack time. And she likes the new friends she has made. And this is new to her, to have friends that are separate from Emma.

Today she brought home her name magnet, hang tag for her coat and her get-to-know-me photo apple. And with that her school year is over.  



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