School Halloween Craziness

 K on the left, J on the right

Our school's Halloween party is always a hit with the kids. How can it not be? Kids in costumes running around, dancing, chasing each other. Good luck looking for your own kids when it's time to go though.

The kids especially love the 5th graders haunted house.

an update on little miss J

I thought I've posted these pictures, but I apparently haven't. These were taken a month ago. Miss J's teacher took a long leave of absence a couple of months ago because of a family tragedy, and so Miss J didn't receive her report card. We already knew, though, that she's doing well with her reading. She isn't quite reading as fluidly as K, but she is sounding out her words. Miss K being a bit advance got me thinking of the difference in teaching style of their teachers. Miss K comes home with reading homework and must answer questions about the book, she also has math homework and comes home with interesting songs. Miss J has no homework, though she has monthly projects that is geared for her to spend time with us as a family. We never minded the difference, until now.

It also got me thinking that it may always be like this. One will the great teacher, and one that is not so great. I'm just hoping that maybe the same one doesn't always get the great one. It's a little sad, especially that I am not getting to spend as much time to spend to help her. I try to help her with her reading, but my time is inconsistent. I'm hoping that next school year, we will be more organized in our new home, and in the kids' new school.

Miss J and K also started soccer for the first time. They were very gung-ho about it and asked me repeatedly when it would start. After it started, they were both excited. Last week when we took Big M to his soccer practice (we had to meet Daddy there as he was late leaving work), I let the kids play their ball on the side. Miss J dribbled that ball with a focus that we have never seen her have before. Daddy and I were awe-struck. She couldn't do her dribbling in her own soccer practice because of all the kids around her but it's something she could develop. It was great to see.

We have been nonstop as far as after-school activities, but this last couple of months is going to be just purely insane.

2nd grade writing homework

It was education week a couple of weeks ago and the parents were invited to the classrooms in order to see what the kids have been doing. I attended K's and J's class, one after the other. They did crafts, played math and spelling games. Both are excellent. They are both social and not at all shy. I have said time and again, I am very thankful for that!

Daddy attended Big M's class later in the afternoon. He filmed Big M reading his writing project. I am quite impressed by this writing. I don't remember writing like this at 2nd grade. Later that week, I attended his parent-teacher conference, and his teacher mentioned that though he helped Big M in certain areas of his writing, most was done unassisted.

K's and J's parent-teacher conference were attended by Daddy and he was very happy he did. He was very impressed by their writing and reading ability. Both are quite artistic, apparently, drawing in great detail. Daddy was especially proud and emotional when J's teacher showed him her journal. There is a page about her real hero and it was a drawing of Daddy. "Why?" it says, "because he loves me." Daddy couldn't even keep a straight voice telling me about it on the phone. J's teacher took note of his reaction and sent a photocopy of that page for Daddy. :)

We are very proud of our children. It may not show based on the amount of daily frustration we deal with, but we are very very proud of all of them.

Bullying: to jump the gun or not

One night last week, when I was tucking Big M in for the night, he mentioned of an incident in the bus from that morning. He said a kid twisted his arm and that it hurt. The kid then started poking him around the neck while saying, "pressure point". It didn't bother me at first, but I did want to know more about it and the more I heard, the more it sounded like bullying to me. Big M said he had to put his jacked up to cover his face in hopes of shield himself from the pressure point attacks. Then another kid joined in with "meteorite" punches to his back.

Suffice it to say that tuck-in session lasted longer than it should. I also told him to never ever take being hurt without telling the person to stop. "You look the person in the eye, and with a big voice you say, 'Stop it or I will go to the bus driver and tell on you.'" As much as I want to tell him to defend himself, I don't want his first response to be to hurt the other person back, in case it's only rough play. I just don't ever want any of my kids to just hold up their hands to cover their heads and stay there and take the beating they were getting. No child of mine will ever get beaten up without putting up a fight.

As Daddy and I discussed the incident, I told him that I don't want to raise a fuss at school just in case this is just an isolated incident, but Daddy didn't feel comfortable about that course of action. I thought about it more in bed, and finally decided to go ahead and go to school the next day and talk to the principal. But before I did, I was going to write down all the details I could, so I talked to Big M again to get my fact straight. As it turned out, it sounded more and more like just a bunch of rough, high-energy kids so I decided to let it go, and that Daddy and I bought agreed with. We will keep a listen and check on Big M to see if it happens again, and if it does I will be marching to school, probably while exercising self-restraint from wanting to hop on the bus in the morning and meet the culprit eye to eye and give him the scare of his life.

I was bullied as a Kindergartener in the Philippines. A boy I ride to school with routinely dropped his bag on the ground and expected me to carry it around the school for him and the first few times that I refused, he pinched my arm just above the sleeve line. I remember having numerous pinch marks, but the boy has scared me so much I never told. Until one day, my grandmother saw my arm and asked what it was. I don't remember exactly what happened, but I do remember telling her about it. The next day, she rode with us to school and she sat in between the boy and I. I don't remember what my grandmother told the boy, but I do vividly remember my  her hand rising up and coming down to slap the boy's thigh. The boy was wearing shorts, so the smack sounded like a square slap. My grandmother's hand probably left a hand print. I don't ever recall associating with that boy after that day, until one day I saw him in the hallway in 1st grade. He was walking towards me and as soon as he saw me he turned right around and walked away. I never heard from and seen him again.

The mortal of the story? That day my grandmother taught me that she believed me no matter what. I don't want to run to the defense of my children every time they get hurt, I want them to learn to deal with different situations, but I will be there to listen and to step in whenever necessary.

I miss my Lola.

school picnic

Last week we attended our school's fall family picnic. There were hotdogs and hamburgers, and families were assigned to bring either a dessert or side dish to share. This was our first school picnic with 3 students. We had no idea what to expect. Big M was the first to ask to go with his friends, and I tried desperately to hold on to K and J so that we could be in line for the food. Daddy had to go back to the car with Little M to grab our picnic blanket. It was chaotic for me to keep track of everyone. 

Finally Daddy came, we made them eat really quick and then the 3 disappeared. Daddy said it was fine, we were in school grounds and it's normal for them to want to be with their friends. For the most part it was great. Kids running around, there was a DJ trying to get the moms and dads to join the hoolahoop contest (Daddy and I were terrible) and just kids being kids. We had fun. 

The key to watching 4 kids to to be in a location where you're close to one, but can see where the others are that you're not closed to. There was a moment when K came to me crying saying she couldn't find me anywhere, though she did go to where we had our blanket (good girl!).

We helped clean out the dessert table. :)

We were in the dessert detail so I made my oh-so-yummy chocolate chip banana bread (individually wrapped). I only gave the kids a tiny piece to share so they raided it at the picnic and got their fill.

Awesome work

K has to do a page about her family that she enjoyed doing. If course it wasn't complete until it had sparkles. The problem is not 5 minutes into it, Little M started ripping it. After tears and a promise of getting it fixed , K finally stopped the screaming.

Big M had to write a poem about fall. I had to help him but the the very awesome adjectives are all his.

The row houses were K's work before school. I didn't find it until after the kids had left school. She is so creative!

Look out, world. The Collins brook is taking over!

I can hardly believe that 3 of my children are off to school. My girls in kindergarten, who would have thought. I remember the assembly-line process of changing and feeding them as infants, and now they are in school. I can't even remember the in-between.

K, Big M, J looking like rock stars! They were all excited.

We were outside waiting for the bus about 10 minutes before our scheduled pick-up. Of course we knew that buses would be late with parents trying to figure things out and taking pictures. Little M had to have a backpack too. What he didn't know was that he wasn't going in the bus, so it was a big tantrum. He "wand machu, dodo and tatie!" Then he cried and cried after Daddy left for work. After that he started asking for everyone, like his Nana!

Little M and I headed to school for the parent coffee, but we arrived there much earlier than the kids. I got to see K find her class. She saw me and waved with a big smile in her face.

Then I saw J. She is all smiles here but as they marched to their classroom, she wanted to make sure that I could pick her up from school. I had to remind her that she is riding the bus but that I would be waiting at the bus stop. She had the saddest look in her face after waiving goodbye but she marched on. She is wearing a picture necklace of her and me, and Daddy and her. I told her she could look at the pictures when she felt sad.

After running some errands, Little M and I had lunch together at a local restaurant. We had Bacon, scallion, spinach quiche and sweet potato soup. He loved the food. He was a handful, and it took a while for him to stop asking for everyone but we did enjoy our meal together.

it is just not a perfect fit

We are not entirely happy with the girls' preschool. They can not bring outside food unless they have a doctor's note. K and J used to be allergic to milk, but they outgrew it at 3 years old. They have also done well eating school food in their old school in Texas. In fact, they have done well in this situation that due to peer pressure or other reasons they end up eating foods they don't normally eat. That is except their current school. They come home cranky with a headache. I was told by director that they do not let kids go hungry and that they offer grilled cheese sandwich. The only unfortunate thing is that they don't eat grilled cheese sandwich. Growing up not eating cheese products, it has taken them very long to get used to the taste. They now eat pizza, and J eats mozzarella string cheese, but there are cheeses she just doesn't like. K wouldn't even try any straight cheeses.

So Daddy asked his coworker where they go to preschool so I checked it out. It's a catholic school academy which educates kids up to 8th grade. We loved it. It is a classroom set up, it is everyday, and it is actually cheaper than their current school where they go 2 full days. Amazing.

Daddy talked to director about our plans to pull the girls out in 1 week. We were told we needed to give 2 weeks notice or we'd have to pay the tuition. We paid $250 for registration, they attend the school for 3 weeks, and now we have to pay for withdrawal. Not too thrilling.

I don't like that I have to pull them out and would have to make new friends, but it is the best decision all around. The school is farther, but considering all the pluses it is not worth complaining about.

1st grade, first teacher conference

I went to my first cruise ever (to the Bahamas) without the hubby AND without the kids. There is much to say about that but that'll have to wait. Today I want to brag about my oldest. I attended our first parent-teacher conference today while Daddy watched the kids. First of all, the computerized testing everyone takes to measure their improvement (taken 3x per grade) in reading and math was astounding. He is reading at the 4th grade level! His teacher said it is obvious that he is a bright child, but even with that his reading score is off the roof. We don't do anything special with him, except to encourage his interest in whatever it may be, but I guess that makes a difference. And then there's his Daddy who buys tons of books during pretty much every book fairs. Mrs. Dent is now encouraging him to do research-type reading. She mentioned that with Big M's group (she breaks down down into different groups of the same ability) she will start teaching them Power Point. Wow!

For the math assessment, Big M didn't measure quite as high, but still above average. According to the graph on the school website, his math ability is at 2nd grade. Mrs. Dent is especially impressed by his understanding of abstract things, like money. She said that most everyone has a hard time understanding that 5 pennies is the same as a nickel. I'm not surprised by this though. We started working on this last year. Just recently, Big M marked our family calender of how much money he would earn by a certain number of days and how long it'll take him to earn $20. At the time he was trying to earn money to buy an expensive Lego. I told him that when he does good things at home and earns tickets, I would allow an exchange rate of 25 cents per 5 tickets. 

Big M's teacher said he is a delight to have in her class, as he LOVES to participate. When he doesn't finish a certain task, and finishes early on others he asks for time to go back to the previous one in order to finish. In fact, when he leaves the class 2x a week (2 hours total) to go to the Gifted program, he always asks what he missed and what needs to do to catch up upon his return.   His enthusiasm in class is also why she was completely caught by surprise with the "dying" incident weeks ago. She saw no signs at all that he may be anxious and worried about anything. I told her that it seems to be a completely sleeping issue and it is getting better with the use of a sleep aid.

I also told the teacher of a possible move in the near future. She asked that I keep her informed so that she can make sure he is not getting stressed at school. What a great teacher! What a great school district we have! If and when we move away, I will lament the loss. 

Daddy and I are very proud of Big M! I don't know what his future will be, but whatever he chooses to do as he grows up, we will always be there to encourage him. We will always be there all our kids, whatever they choose to do. 

first week of school

The first week of school has come and gone and everyone seems to be adjusting fairly well. Big M is tired, but he is controlling himself much better nowadays and can avoid a tantrum, or at least recover from a tantrum easily. Time and time again, I tell him that he must recognize that if he is having a tantrum often, that he is tired and must rest. But how can I expect him to learn something that even most adults haven't mastered. 

A few days he came home and said, "Mom, I only got a warning today!" He was very proud of the fact. I've contacted his teacher via email to see how is doing, and I'm told he is an excellent student. He is having fun at school with his friends and that has erased some of his apprehension that 1st Grade is hard. Everyday he has a reading homework. He must either read for at least 15 minutes, or be read to for the same amount of time. Most of the time, I make him read by himself. He has gotten quite good at it and only need help with very difficult words like "through". And there are days where we have asked him to read bed time story to his sisters. By my estimation, he reads in the 2nd grade level at the very least.

We have also curbed his TV time and computer playing time during the week. We did well in the first week, but I once said that he could go back to playing or watching TV once his homework was finished. I may have made a mistake on that one because his homework were fairly short to do. I will have to rethink that last policy.

J and K are also adjusting well. They have the same friends so it makes it easier. There are essentially 2 classes in one classroom and they are always separated. This is something I highly agree with. In fact, I think I may look into getting them separated in 2 different classrooms. The pre-school has essentially 2 pre-k classes, with 2 groups in one class. It may do them good to be in different pre-k classrooms so that they can get used to this. Daddy and I want them to be separated in Kindergarten to avoid competition and criticism.

Why Twins should never be in the same class.

I had the girls do some school work this weekend. K was cutting some pictures to paste onto a frozen pop stick, while J was coloring. J was eager to start cutting too so she colored quickly and sloppily. K looked at J across the table and said, "Jordan, don't scribble scrabble like that!"

This is only reinforcing our decision to go ahead and separate them when they start Kindergarten. I just can't imagine the competitiveness and the criticism (from each other) if they are in the same class!

Firsts are always harder on the moms

We started the day bright and early at 6:30 today. A lot of firsts happened today; Big M's first day of 1st Grade, K and J's first day of Pre-K, and Little M's 1st day at Mother's Day Out.
Big M was a little apprehensive because he thinks 1st Grade will be very hard. His teacher told him that his Kindergarten teacher wouldn't have advanced him to 1st Grade if she didn't think he could do the work. But no worries. The first words out of his mouth when I picked him up was, "First grade is FUN!"
J was also worried and kept telling Daddy and I that she didn't want to be in Pre-K. But as soon as I dropped them her and K off and found that all their friends were there, they barely had time to kiss me good-bye.
Little M's day went well, too. He didn't know what was going on so he didn't even cry. When I said good-bye and snuck out, he looked out the door and stayed there by the door for a few minutes. I felt strange not having him with me this long but I restrained myself well, I think. I called to check on him 2 hrs after I dropped him off and was told that he only fussed once during diaper change. He also cried when I picked him up because he couldn't free himself from the teacher carrying him to me fast enough. His teachers love him and said he was a keeper. He ate well, was the first one to nap and did not fuss at all. 
I didn't accomplish very much being alone because of all things I could be doing, I went and bought groceries. It ate up much of my time! But I think I chose to do this unconsciously because the grocery store was only 5 minutes away from the school. It allowed me to be close by but still be productive. But I do have to plan my Mondays a lot better next time.
Overall everything went well today. I just can't believe how big my kids have gotten.

(J in orange, K in Pink.)

the energizer bunny

There is only 2 weeks to go before summer break and Big M is making up for lost time. It's like he reserved his naughtiness until the very end, after being a model student all this time. In all fairness though, he is not actually being naughty. He just has too much energy and no outlet to burn it on.

Soccer ended mid-April and it so happens that the behavior problem at school started at that time. He was used to soccer almost 4x a week when the season started and Drama, too. When the soccer season ended, we decided to go ahead and stop the mini soccer academy. The mini soccer academy is pure 2 hours of energy-draining activity. Now that it's over, Big M doesn't have anything to drain him. He still has Drama (though it is ending this Saturday with a big production) but that hardly taps into his never-ending energy reserves.

Daddy went to Big M's last parent-teacher conference earlier this week and of course there was a mention of Big M's behavior. The Kindergarten teachers are amazed that they they have hardly mentioned Big M's name until several weeks ago. His teacher mentioned that he was always, always remorseful when he gets in trouble. And at home when I ask him about it, he is indeed remorseful. He is actually starting to think that he can't do anything without it ending in disaster (his own words).

Last week Big M explained that he just gets too excited, which makes him talk loudly. I explained to him that he must control himself even though he is excited. He said he tries, he really does. Then today I asked him if he got in any trouble again and he said he did "but only a little". A friend of his was making a gun in one of their activities and he was very interested in it and started chatting with this friend. The teacher caught them and reprimanded them both. They know that they are not to make any gun play at school. Big M told me that he didn't make the gun, but "it ended up in a disaster" anyway. I told him that next time that happens, he should just turn the other way and ignore the classmate who is not following the rules. "But Mommy, they're my friends. I can't stop talking to them!" he explains.

A friend whose son was in soccer with Big M is thinking of enrolling their child in either Martial Arts or swimming this summer. I think it may do us all good if Big M also gets into something similar. And the sooner the better.

Watch D.O.G.S.

Daddy gave his day to volunteer as a Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) earlier this week. It is a PTA program to ask Dads and Dad figures to volunteer at least one day out of the school year to the school. Daddy and Big M got to wear a "matching" shirt. It's a special day and it becomes sort of a "bragging" event for the kids. They get to show off their Dads.

Daddy was at school from 7-3pm and had a schedule to spend time with the kids from K through 5th grade. He said it was pretty fun until he went to recess, which was a nightmare. According to him, he "felt like a piece of meat surrounded by piranhas". The Kindergarten class sees the Watch D.O.G.S. as a fun toy.

Big M enjoyed the day so much, he wants Daddy to be a Watch DOG at school everyday.

kindergarten is so much fun!

At the end of the first day of school, Big M told me that kindergarten is so much fun. As a mom whose oldest just stepped into public school, I find myself having fun also. I don't really know whether it would be this fun once the twins start kindergarten, at which point I'd have 3 children in elementary school. But for now, I'm having fun trying to be involved.

I eagerly joined the PTA and have already attended one general meeting. The meeting flew over my head, but that's alright. I figure I have plenty of time to figure things out. I signed up to be an "at home" helper and have already done my first job - Big M brought the work home, which was to cut out left-over laminates from each of the students' art work to be made into a book. I had fun doing it, I admit. I got to be the first of the parents to see what the kids have done. There is an opportunity to volunteer in the class' home center. As much as that sounded to me, and a great opportunity to see how Big M socializes with his classmates, I didn't sign up. A few hours at school with a baby by my side and playing/monitoring several kindergarteners at the same time is much too unpredictable for my liking. Perhaps when Little M goes to preschool.

By the way, I didn't sign Daddy up for the PTA, but he is now part of the PTA for dads. He said he got suckered into it, but I know he doesn't mind. He is a Watch D.O.G.S (Dads of Great Students). Father figures are encouraged to volunteer 1 day out of the year. He has already signed up for a day, and Big M can't wait for it. Daddy gets to wear Watch D.O.G.S. shirt, and Big M has planned to wear his "My Dad is a Watch D.O.G.S" shirt.

Last week was the first parent-teacher conference. I signed up bright and early at 7am. That day, it was cold and dark and by the time I arrived at school, I was the 3rd car in the parking lot. What was I thinking signing up for 7 am, right? The whole event had to be coordinated. Daddy went to work late in order to drive the girls to school and stay with Big M until I got back home. Big M didn't have school that day. I was very pleased to learn that Big M has really been a great student overall. For an active, alert, strong-willed kid, it's pretty amazing. The teacher pointed out what he needs to work on (minor things about confusing some letter sounds) and that was it. I mentioned to her that Daddy and I are planning on recommending Big M to the gifted program to what hear what she had to say. I breached the subject by starting out with, "Ms. Shane, you probably haven't noticed anything special about him because it may not be a sort of thing you see on a day to day school work, but we think he's gifted." To that Ms. Shane interrupted, "Well, that's actually something we do see here. Things like different perspective on art work, etc."

My mind started churning silently of course. What kind of different perspective could a kid have when asked to draw a giraffe, a cat, etc. I mean, come on. In preschool when they get done with the lessons, the kids get to draw whatever they want. And Big M draws pretty cool stuff like this. Is that enough of a different perspective? Of course I didn't say any of this aloud.  But she did say that not a lot of kindergarten pass the test because they are simply not mature enough to sit and take tests. She also said that it doesn't hurt to try since we could try year after year if we wanted to.

Anyway, we plan on recommending him to the gifted program. The application is an in-depth one in which we need to provide evidence of the way he thinks, process information and any other things in order to provide "preponderance of information". I've been scouring my blogs in order to do so. I'm so glad I have blogs, because if I had to rely on memory... well. Daddy and I will do our best to provide plenty of examples of giftedness and should he be chosen to proceed to assessment, we would be happy. If he doesn't pass the assessment, we would be happy to try again the next year. No expectations.  I think the important thing here is that we know Big M is smart and that we would keep looking for opportunities to provide him challenges. Our only wish is that we don't influence him to be too much of a perfectionist. Perfectionism leads to under achievement. No one knows that better that Daddy and I.

Kindergarten is hard, but it also could be so fun for parents. :)

why dads should be more involved

A week ago, I logged in to the school's parent portal to check on Big M's school grades, etc. I noticed a chart of his math learning progress. According to the chart, he is at 1st grade math level. Because of this, I decided to step it up a notch when it comes to our daily math problems. Sometimes in the morning, or at night, I give him made-up math problems to think through and solve - like if I were going bringing up clean clothes up the stairs and made it 8 steps, but I dropped a shirt 3 steps behind so I had to go fetch it. How many steps total did I climb by the time I got to the top of the stairs. He works this kinds of problems out in his head, and when applicable, he tries it out himself. In this instance, he climbed up the stairs, backtracked and then went all the way up.

I have no idea whether this is kindergarten math or not, but seeing the graph served as an incentive to keep it up. One night's problem was how many total minutes did he serve in time-out if I gave him 5 minutes, but had to keep starting over whenever he talked after only having completed 1 minute.  He could also think through simple multiplication and division when I asked how much money should I give each of them (him and 2 sisters) if I only had $30.

Yesterday he came home with a note that they are learning "systems" at school, and how a system has many parts that must work together for the system to function. Immediately I gave him an example: our family is a system and when Mommy gets sick and can't clean, and everyone decides not to clean, the house gets all messy. I thought that was a very good example.

Before bed, I mentioned that Big M's class is learning about system and immediately, he provided an example of a car. I looked at him and started to laugh. Here I am giving time-outs and money and house as examples and like a man, he comes up with a car as an example. I told Daddy that he has to work with Big M or all he's ever going to learn is how to run a house. Not necessarily a bad thing, but still.

First Day of Kindergarten

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="604" caption="Putting stuff away in the locker."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="604" caption="Settling down in his assigned seat."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="604" caption="Ms Shane's Kindergarten class and some classmates."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="604" caption="Going to the flagpole for flag raising ceremony."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="604" caption="Heading back to their room after the ceremony."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="604" caption="Flag raising ceremony at the elementary. Grades K through 5 all outside. There are a lot of kids!"][/caption]

Kindergarten started yesterday. I guess it's a testament to our (parents and preschool) success that this momentous day seemed not such a big deal to Big M. He was excited about school and being a big boy, but he only had minor jitters (if that). I walked him to class, he put away his backpack, and set down where he was supposed to. He didn't bring lunch as I wanted him to learn how to eat at the school cafeteria on his first day, so we practiced what he to order. Then we hugged, kissed, nose kissed and I left to go to the "Boo Hoo" breakfast by the PTA. No tears from me. But that's because I shed a couple while we were still in the house. :)

I hung around for their flag-raising ceremony. He saw me, hugged me, and then I told him to stay with his class and so he did. Aaaah. Where has time gone?

After waiting half an hour at the carpool lane at pickup, the first thing he said to me when he hopped in the car was, "MOMMY, KINDERGARTEN IS FUN!" I wanted to know everything he did, but though still excited he was tired. Getting information from him was like pulling teeth. I did get the fact that he ordered what he wanted, but he was made to get carrots and said he wasn't going to eat that. He said that a teacher told him where to sit and that he sat with big kids. Thankfully my not-so-little-man is social and confident enough that this didn't bother him one bit. If anything, sitting with big kids is something he really like, thanks to our time spent with his older cousins in NC. He also told me the color squares where kids were to line up at the end of the day; different colors for walkers, for bus riders, and for carpool.

Today was definitely more momentous for me than it was for him. There are tons of emotions that can't even be put into words. But all in all, Big M's Dad and I are very proud of him. The day has gone much easier on me that he didn't think this day is such a big deal.

pre-k graduation pictures

The graduation was a big secret of the pre-k class. Everyday they rehearsed and we hear no peep about it from Big M, except that they were rehearsing. So the graduation was completely new to all the parents, which made it all the more special.

Everything about it was presented by the someone in the class, including the speech, though the director did have a short one bragging about the students' tests scores being the top in the country. *ahem*



The students read their speeches, presented on some of the things they've learned, and presented their talents in singing and dancing. Because we had no clue as to the specifics of the program, I did miss capturing on video Big M's presentation of "6+4 = 10". He went to the mic so fast, and presented his poster so fast I missed it. His voice was so big and booming everyone had a chuckle. A big and booming voice...remind you of someone? Along with his poster presentation, he was also awarded the "Next Picasso" achievement award for being such a good artist.

The students sat in the front in their red cap and gown. Daddy and I had a good chuckle at how Big M constantly fidgeted.

Of course everyone was there, including Little M. He fussed for just a little bit, so Daddy had to play "Mommy" while Mommy played photographer.

Daddy and I are very truly proud of this little man.




[slideshow]

'tonight's gonna be a good, good night..."

My little man is growing up. He had his pre-k graduation on Tuesday and it was so much fun to watch. I have a lot of videos but I have only uploaded this one so I'm going to go ahead and share it.



The class has been rehearsing for graduation for months and the whole thing was kept hush hush. I would have never known what they would be doing, except last week when this song came on the radio in the car, I heard Big M singing with it. We haven't really heard it enough to know the words, but he was singing with the song and doing hand motion. I asked how he knew it, but all he told me was that it was a secret. :)

Spring Program

[slideshow]

K is the one with a hair part right on the middle, and J is the one with a white bow on her head (with pink shoes).

The girls' school has their Spring Program on Friday and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I wish all preschools would present their kids like this at least once a year. There is just something about the off-key singing and wild movement of little ones that can put a smile in your face and make you beam with overwhelming pride for your kids.



Notice K and J are pretty much the only one yelling something to the song (I don't know what they're saying though). J then notices the microphones and want to touch them, but her teacher tells her no. And then there is of course the unmistakable mope. Watch out for their teacher's response - she droops her head and laughs. You can tell by the teacher's reaction that the moping is not an isolated response.



This is the last performance by everyone. It was a joy to watch the 1 year olds up to the 5 year olds.

Apologies for the shaky hand. I was wearing Little M and I was standing up so that I didn't videotape everyone else's heads and I was zoomed in since I was sitting in the back.