nineteenth

Maria seems much better today, thank heavens. We went to family night at Henry's school tonight - they served a great turkey dinner for only $1 a person! It was actually really good! Then we went back to one of the kindergarten classrooms and worked on a craft together. They gave us books (thanks to Title I, a.k.a. No Child Left Behind) and after it was all over gave out door prizes. Henry's school is great and we are really happy sending him there. They have received A's for the past 6 years from the state and the mayor has recognized it as a top school as well. Maria got to play in another classroom while we worked on our project and she cried when we left. I had to pry those toys out of her teensy hands. She apparently feels ready to move on from daycare a smidge early.

first day

Scenes from this morning:

matriculated

Today, just 2 hours ago, Henry had his preschool graduation. I’ll just pause for a moment, to gather myself. You may need a minute for yourselves.


We looked at the program. Naturally, Henry was a star – the first solo performance was him as “Wee Willie Winkie.” We also made sure Maria was tanked up and ready to behave herself. I told her not to act out and draw attention from her brother. This was HIS DAY.

Ok, I started crying the second the kids started walking through the door. After settling down, I got up and did what every good parent does at such an occasion – taking pictures. After the preliminaries, Henry got up and got dressed for his big star turn. He was so, so good.

After all the other children did their nursery rhymes, they sang “I Believe I Can Fly,” which seriously cracks me up. Sorry. It was cute and fine and I’m just cynical. Then they all got their diplomas, and of course there was a lovely sea green pole right in the way – but you’ll get the idea.

There was some of Henry’s artwork on the wall, and he describes it thus: “That’s a picture of a snail, and it’s raining. There’s some grass. And there’s a flower next to it, growing.”

And then we took our turn with the cap and gown for the official graduate photo. We also sweet-talked some nice mom into taking a family photo, which turned out quite well.

philosophy 101

Final Exam Essay Questions - Please use complete paragraphs illuminating your answers with specific thought processes used and strong examples illustrating your points. Spelling & grammar count heavily in your grade. Furthermore, anyone using the phrase "for all intensive purposes" in place of "for all intents and purposes", employing the word "supposably" (for any reason), or confusing the words "affect" and "effect" will receive an automatic failing grade.

1. Why is there air?

2. Is the chair really there?

3. What is the meaning of life?

Extra Credit:
4. If a car alarm sounds in the city from 3:30am until 4:45am when most normal people are trying to sleep, will anyone hear it? And if so, will they PLEASE TURN THE DAMN THING OFF SO A PREGNANT WOMAN CAN GET SOME SLEEP?

he is advanced.

"my new cwass wif a yewow door"

Henry moved on up to the east side this week to his new classroom at preschool. He's officially in the 3-year-old class with his new teacher and aide, Jennifer and Stephanie. I can already tell that this is a different environment - it's much more structured than the 2-year-old room, with several circle times per day and a bunch of different play centers around the room. I even helped Henry finish his first ever homework assignment last night (a page where he needed to color circles blue, triangles purple, rectangles green, and squares yellow). He proudly brought it to Jennifer this morning who pronounced it "very good." He's had two great days so far in there, adapting well to the new schedule, different location, and different teachers. It's interesting having a child the age of the children I used to be in charge of when I was teaching preschool. I've debated getting out all my old teaching materials and supplies (worksheets, games, etc.) recently, but I think that might be overkill. Of course I want him to be well prepared for kindergarten, but I don't want to push him. Henry's been very interested in "pwaying games togever" lately, too. We've been playing a lot of Hi, Ho, Cherry-O, "Don't Sink In The Sink", a VeggieTales game, and an Eric Carle memory game. I can't wait to see him continue learning and growing up. It's only a matter of time until he's reading, driving, and graduation from college.