Small stuff in some respects, I mean, after all, I didn't even go to preschool...and thus did not receive the pomp and circumstance (hats and all) followed by a cookie reception, gifts, cards and flowers from parents and grandparents, videos, photographs, curled hair and new shoes.
(Boy...now that I mention it, I kinda wish I HAD gone to preschool!)
It was a fun, delightful, glorious time. The kids were adorable and Ava shined brightly in her yellow dress (the pictures are not uploaded yet, but I promise to share them soon!). Come to think about it, she started the year with a gray and yellow dress... there must be something about yellow...I think it's her blond her and smile that fill the room with sunshiny brightness that prompts me, when I'm shopping, to pick yellow dresses for her...
This was her first day of school. She was timid, nervous, unsure what to expect. If you remember me telling you, she has always been my clinger. Not wanting to part ways, crying through the first six weeks of preschool at 3 years old (at which point I pulled her out), crying in nurseries, staying by my side at play dates...
Until this year that is. It's amazing how far we've come, how much a young child can change, grow and mature in one year.
At the beginning of the year she clung a little more tightly to my neck when I dropped her off, cried many days when we had to go to MOPS at church (because I had to leave her with the kids in the nursery), and was not a huge fan of Sunday School.
By the end of the year she easily let go of my neck in favor of the huge hugs her teachers were waiting to give her when she walked through the door (THANK you Miss Jean and Miss Lynn-- I couldn't have asked for better, more loving teachers for my timid girl this year!), by the end of the year at MOPS she was hi-fiving the childcare workers, and well, she still doesn't LOVE Sunday School, but it's not as much of a struggle anymore.
Blessings in my life, accomplishments in hers. Thankful for them all.
She has few qualms about starting school in the fall (though THAT is completely different story for mommy!), and is a pretty confident kid who seems ready to take on her 5 year old world.
Truly, if I could share one word of advice to any mom who is fretting about their child's social readiness, struggling with them not wanting to be dropped off in nurseries, or in which preschool has been a struggle...I can now, with full confidence, say give it time-- three months, six months, a year. SO much changes in a year.
Sometimes the things we think we can fix in our children in all actuality do not need fixing...they need waiting...they need patience. Patience on our part in which we accept them wholly for who they are and give them space to grow, socialize, and mature at THEIR pace.
The truth is, they have their own internal timelines...points in which they will blossom, become confident and be ready to march into the milestones in their lives. Pushing them too hard, too soon causes unnecessary struggle and tension in their lives and yours. While they are cultivating confidence in their lives, we need to be cultivating patience in our own (one of my BIGGEST mommy struggles).
It has been a big year for Ava...If you have a chance to talk to her in the near future, she will likely tell you about the very long Tangled (Rapunzel) wig that she purchased with the Toys R Us gift card she got from Grandpa for graduation (a wig that is already full of snarls and irritating mommy...but that's another story!) and then she just might go on to say...
"And I can hula hoop (for like 5 minutes straight- no lie!), braid hair, balance a book on my head, ride my bike without training wheels and go back and forth across with monkey bars all by MYSELF!"
She wouldn't be making any of that up... and it's all happened within her 4th year.
Great job kiddo!
She will be 5 in less than two weeks (ACK!) and I can hardly wait to see what is around the corner. What will her "I can do it all by myself" list look like 365 days from now...I can only imagine and I am patiently (at least trying!) anticipating it.
Speaking of birthdays, here she is on the second last day of preschool when the teacher held a birthday celebration for all of the summer girl birthdays (boys were the week before!). We have a family birthday party planned next weekend and princess party planned the week after that!
More to come on tomorrow, hopefully tomorrow, (and including pictures!) on the crazy week we've just come out of...funny things, like finding a huge snapping turtle burrowed into my vegetable garden bed this weekend...to more sober things, like finding out my brother's baby girl has a very serious illness... So serious that she is being put on a wait list for a liver transplant and she is only 3 months old.
The hard and the happy all happening within minutes of each other...all the time it seems. Thankful for a God who can handle the hard and the happy all at once even when I'm not sure I have the capacity to do so.
Blessings to you all.
Happy Memorial Day!!!
She is so cute! Yay for summer! Lydia is graduating from kindergarten in a few weeks! Such a sweet age.
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