The First of Many Lasts

Jack had his "first" last day of school on Friday. Somewhat bittersweet...I sure am going to miss my free Friday mornings, but at the same time I'm looking forward to fun summer Fridays with him. Next year he will be in the Tuesday-Thursday 2's room. Initially, I wondered what I would do without him two days a week but,
I got my answer about 14 weeks ago. I don't think I'll be too lonely.

Friday's end of the year party was great. It started out with an outdoor picnic and evolved into recess time. There was lots of food, bubbles, and balls. My favorite part was seeing Jack sit at the picnic tables and eat with his classmates. Amazing how a toddler can follow rules at school. He didn't even think of asking to get up until they were dismissed from the table. At home he must chant "all done, get down" 400 times just to hear me say, "no, dinner is not over". Little weasel. But, you know what they say, 'you'd rather them behave for others'. Although sometimes I have a hard time following that line of thought when I'm the one who spends 20 out of 24 hours a day with him.

Of course, I too had the messiest child of all. Before the picnic even started his neon green spirit day tee was covered in red spots. All the teacher could say was, "Jack sure loved snack today". Well, after the chocolate covered graham crackers, watermelon, and juice, he neon shirt was more like tye-dye. Needless to say, it went straight to the garbage can when we got home. I've been waiting to do that all year and on Friday I finally had an excuse. Please tell me next years tee compliments Jack's skin tone a little better.

On a much brighter note, Jack had a fabulous year. It was his first structured school experience without Mommy and according to his teacher conferences he did great. At our most recent spring conference, Mrs. Angela raved at how smart little J was. (sorry, a Mommy has got to brag every once in awhile) She was very impressed that he knew his colors, shapes, numbers, and letters. She said he was right where he needed to be in social skills--meaning he still was a work in progress when it came to sharing, but he was great at following directions. And he was a model student at story time. I guess it really is nice to know Jack is behaving for others. So here's to summer and hopefully another great year to follow!

End of The Year Picnic. There are 8 sweet little ones in Jack's class and he is the youngest! That April birthday is going to get him every time.

No...Jack didn't seem to like the picnic entree. Poor thing almost starved.

And he especially didn't like the chocolate covered graham crackers & cherries that were made into little mice.

Jack blew his first bubble with Mrs. Angela's help. (He usually just spits through the hole) He looked up at me with those sweet blue eyes and exclaimed, "yeah Mommy, I did it!". What a way to end the year!