Pre-K graduation

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Last Friday, Catie graduated from her pre-K class at daycare.

Catie and her pre-K graduating class (she's 3rd from the right)
She’s 3rd from the right if you’re doing a “Where’s Waldo?” of the teeny-tiny caps & gowns.

I also love this picture, mainly because it captures exactly how bored all of the kids were precisely two minutes into the program.
The pre-K crowd isn't exactly known for their long attention spans.

But then there was this, which I loved.

(It seems that I am incapable of filming a non-jiggly video. Sorry about that.)

And this, which… y’all.
My pre-K graduate.

I’m generally pretty good about staying stoic through these types of things. I don’t cry at every “oh my baby is growing up” milestone. But yeah. Catie’s teacher cried, and then I almost lost it.

(The way to cope with this, by the way, is to stealthily text your other single mom friend in the room about how skanky her ex-husband’s new girlfriend is. Especially when the new girlfriend is sitting less than 3 feet away from you, and OMG honey, it’s a bunch of freaking 5 year-olds in here, do you really need to wear a dress so low cut that we can almost see your areolas?)

(Moral of the story: keep it bitchy and you won’t cry in public. Yay feminism!)

I tried to explain the concept of graduation to Catie. I told her to think about all of the things she couldn’t do a year ago that she can do now – she knows how to write all of her letters in upper and lower case, she can count to 100 & do basic math, she knows more Spanish than I do, and she’s really good at coloring inside the lines. I told her that graduation is when we celebrate all of those things she’s learned, before she moves on to the next thing, which is kindergarten. She seemed to get that.

As for kindergarten, Catie is signed up for year-round schools here. For those of you not familiar with Wake county, that means the kids go to school for 9 weeks, then have 3 weeks off after each term. (It works out well for taking off-season vacations, and makes visitation issues with Dave easier.)

It also means that kindergarten starts two weeks from today. HOLY CRAP.

The good news is that Catie is so excited about kindergarten, she asks every day if it’s time to go yet. I love that she’s so psyched about it.

My nervousness, on the other hand, mainly revolves around preparation. I’m in a tizzy worrying about school supply lists, trying to figure out what to pack in her lunchbox, figuring out the logistics of getting her there on time and then getting Lucy to daycare, etc. It’s… a lot. I think I need some to-do lists.

Oh, one last thing about pre-K graduation? Each kid was given a little book full of artwork they’ve done throughout the year, some photos that the teachers snapped of them, and then they all had certificates saying they were Most [whatever]. Catie won Most Inquisitive. Which is no surprise to anyone who’s had to listen to her ask “Why?” a million times. Or anyone who was in the car with us last night when she out of the blue (the radio was off) started singing “I’m Sexy and I Know It,” and then asked what “sexy” means. (Try answering THAT one with the grandparents in the car! AWKWARD.)

So, yeah. My Catie is a pre-K graduate. Time is a-flyin’, I tell ya.

3 thoughts on “Pre-K graduation”

  2. The big thing with lunches is to decide if you want to wash containers or just use ziplocs. I do a mixture. I like sandwiches in a bag in a hard container, to keep the sammy from coming apart and getting crushed. I like crunchy things in a hard container, but non-crushables in a ziploc. Some of those lunch-portioned items and juice boxes can be hard for a K to open; our school used parent volunteers walking around helping. For this reason I put mandarin oranges (which spray liquid without help) into a snug locking container. Apple sauce wasn’t nearly so hard. Pretzels pack well and string cheese takes care of itself, already wrapped. If I send chips it’s Pringles in the little pre-pack that’s easy to open and hard to crush. If she likes little carrots, they pack well in a ziploc snack size bag. If she likes to dip in ranch, it’s way cheaper to send a little container of it because the pre-packs are very pricey and too large for a young child. If she isn’t a sandwich liker, it’s a little harder. Sometimes bread haters will eat a sandwich if it’s on a hamburger bun. In the winter I sent a small thermos with Spaghetti-o’s that I warmed up in the morning.

    Will she buy her milk there? If not, you’ll need an insulated container or a non-insulated one with a blue ice; I have used these and just hook the blue ice on with a ponytail holder. At that age you can get away with putting in a love note; I had some post-its that were heart shaped. Third grade is when it’s not cool anymore. ;o)

    I absolutely had to do as much of the lunch packing as possible at night. It helped to have section of the fridge just for the packed up stuff so it was grab ‘n go in the morning.

    Certain times they will go on a field trip and they want everything to be completely disposable, so be prepared with some kind of sturdy lunch bag you can use. Hardware store paper bags are still strong but I swear the ones in the grocery store are tissue-y…I always reinforced them with some packing tape. Our zoo didn’t allow any straws so that meant no juice boxes. I sent a water bottle that day.

    I realize this is probably more than you were asking for (if anything) but the topic of lunches made me worried all summer long and this is what worked for us.

  3. Sounds like she dressed for YOU. That had to be awkward. Glad you kept it classy. 🙂

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