As One Phase Ends...Another Begins

This coming Tuesday will be Allison's preschool graduation. It will be bittersweet as we are excited to watch her move on to the next phase of her schooling but sad that she has to leave behind such wonderful teachers and friends. Allison started preschool last year at age 3. She went eight hours a week - every Tuesday and Thursday morning. She was a bit shy when she started that school year but by the end, she had warmed up to everyone quite nicely. This year she moved up to 15 hours a week - every day for three hours. A few of her friends from last year were also in her class which made it a little bit easier of a transition. She still cried for the first week as I left but it didn't take long for her to give me smiles, and a big hug and kiss as I dropped her off. She has become very close with the 16 other kids in her class and even more close with her two teachers, Ms. Maggie and Ms. Denise. They just adore her as well. Allison wanted to make her teachers a thank you gift for being so wonderful and kind to her. I came up with the idea of decorating a picture frame and putting a picture of her and her teachers inside it. She picked out the paint colors, painted them all by herself and then I helped her with the decorations. Here's how they came out:


Looking forward, I'm very nervous about the start of kindergarten. I'm trying to imagine, after spending the past 5 years with her, what it's going to be like to have her gone 6 hours a day. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice break but I also still have Daniel to take care of which means I won't have any free time to myself. And since the two of them are so close, I know it will be an adjustment for Daniel as well. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to my one-on-one time with Daniel since this year he napped during most of the time Allison was in school. I look forward to taking him to some mommy and me classes, story time at the library and all the other fun things Allison and I did when she was his age. Before I know it, he'll be starting preschool as well. As for Allison, she seems excited about next year. Every now and then she says to me "Mommy, do you know what I am looking forward to most next year?" and I say "What" to which she responds, "The learning!". I can only hope that is the truth. I guess we'll know soon enough.