Last Day of Preschool

Rachel before her last day at Ada Village Preschool, Monday 5/21/12

The last day of preschool for Rachel has come and gone!  I still can't believe that my little baby girl is all done with preschool and will soon be going to kindergarten!  It seems like only yesterday I brought her in her baby carrier, with her two year old sister Megan, to visit and check out Ada Village....and again only yesterday when I would go to pick up Megan and two year old Rachel would cling to me for dear life during "teacher chat."  She has come so far and grown so much!  

Monday was Rachel's last day of class at AVP.  I couldn't bear to even look around as we left the room.  I have spent so much time there over the last four years, and even though I will be back with Daniel, it won't be for awhile, and that makes me really sad.  I have watched my daughters learn and grow so much there under the warm, nurturing guidance of all of their teachers.  The girls have done so many wonderful activities, art projects, songs, and games.  I have helped their classes plant in the garden, make gingerbread cookies, play alphabet bingo, make thundercake, make houses for woodland animals, make and play musical instruments, and write in their journals.  I have played my flute for them three of the last four years, and I have gone on every preschool field trip they have taken.  So I feel like I'm leaving a beloved place behind as well!  I don't think the finality of it has really hit Rachel; or if it has, she is taking it in her usual understated way.  This year, she has really blossomed socially and has made some sweet friends.  She has learned her letters and can write her first and last name.  She has overcome her shyness around non-familial adults enough to be able to talk to (and initiate conversation with) her teachers.  In fact, last week I was so proud, because with a little coaching, she greeted her teacher in the morning with a cheery, confident, "Hello, Mrs. McQuigg!"  Rachel continues to love to draw and paint.  In fact, Mrs. Fleming told me she has a "gift" for art, and that we should make sure she has the opportunity to take art classes since she so enjoys it.  

Wednesday the entire class met at the zoo for one last field trip and a picnic lunch.  It was a beautiful day...sunny and gorgeous, warm but not too hot.  Despite some early morning hiccups (Megan was sick and needed to stay home from school, so Grammy was called at 7 a.m. to come from Okemos to babysit so that Bill, Daniel, and I could go to the zoo as planned), it was a really fun day.  We spent our time walking around the zoo with Rachel's "favorite friends" from preschool, Emma and Claire, and their moms.  The girls took charge of our tour and led us grownups around, and I got several really cute pictures of them spontaneously holding hands.

Is this cute or what?  Not even posed!

Rachel says her favorite animals were "the monkeys with the cute little faces."  (We think she means the howler monkeys inside the primate/reptile house.)  The picnic lunch at the end is always a fun time to connect with classmates and their families one last time.  It's always sad for me because usually very few of the girls' classmates end up at Meadow Brook Elementary, so we won't see many of these children again.  I'm hoping we can have some fun playdates with some of them this summer!  Rachel, as usual, didn't want to eat much, and after some time feeding the ducks with her friends and saying our last goodbyes to her teachers, it was time to go.  We stopped at the Dairy Queen on the way home (another tradition)...a sweet end to a bittersweet day.  We will miss you, Ada Village Preschool....but what wonderful, long lasting, and amazing things you have instilled in our girls!

Rachel poses at the Zoo on 5/23/12 with her wonderful teachers, 

Mrs. McQuigg and Mrs. Fleming,

 and her very best buddies from preschool, Emma Goring and Claire Busch