Megan on her way to her last day of first grade!
Me and Rachel enjoying a sunny morning at the park
Today was Megan’s last day of first grade! I can’t believe how fast this school year went. I spent a few minutes just now rereading some of my blog entries from last summer....and those activities literally seem like they just happened! What a fun and productive year we’ve had! Megan has made amazing growth academically this year. She is such an excellent reader. She really can read just about anything you put in front of her. She doesn’t always understand it (even though she insists that she does!), but her comprehension is awesome, too. And what a writer! My goal is to post some of her first grade stories on this blog. They are fantastic, and she absolutely loves to write. Her stories are pages and pages long, and packed with detail. Tonight at dinner, she said she wants to be three things when she grows up: a teacher, an author, and a tightrope walker who can ride a bike on the tightrope. Well, I don’t know about that last one, but she certainly has what it takes to be either (or both) of the first two!
This week Rachel and Daniel and I enjoyed some special times together while Megan was finishing her last week at school. It was bittersweet for me, because while I am thrilled that Megan will soon be home with me for the summer, I am also quite sad at the thought that my endless hours alone with Rachel are coming to a permanent close. She and I have had a lot of quality time together, especially lately, when Daniel is still napping in the afternoon. Come fall, both the girls will be in school all day. With that heavy on my heart and mind, I tried to make this week special for us. Monday morning, we ran errands but capped the morning off with a trip to Cascade Park. Rachel gleefully played on the slides and begged for “high pushes” on the swings. Tuesday morning, Rachel chose going to the zoo from a few options presented to her. So she and Daniel and I headed there and spent the whole morning walking leisurely around, at whatever pace Rachel wanted to go. Wednesday, Grammy and Gaga were here, and it was Megan’s Daisy Bridging ceremony, so we didn’t do much. Today (Thursday), the three of us went to Krispy Kreme for a midmorning donut, followed by a trip to Grand Rapids Township Park. The park was a little bit of a bust, because it was so crowded with kids (several school groups and lots of moms and kids), and this kind of atmosphere usually causes Rachel to be clingy and to resist independent playing. (She would have done better with it if Megan had been there too.) Eventually she engaged and had fun on the smaller slides, the teeter totter, and the swings. She especially enjoyed coming down the tube slide and popping up to make Daniel (seated in his stroller at the bottom) laugh. Late afternoons, just before Megan would get home from school, you’d find us making the rounds to water all of our various plants (sunflowers we planted from seed a few weeks ago, a patio tomato plant, a big planter of basil, two baby pine trees, a baby maple tree, some petunias, marigolds, and “mystery plants” we transplanted in the front landscaping from plantings the girls did, and four new additions to our front landscaping). Rachel really enjoys being a little gardener, and it’s been fun watching these plants grow and thrive together. It makes me sad that Megan has no memory of the time she and I spent together, just us two, before Rachel was born and then when Rachel was a baby. I hope that Rachel retains some memory of the times we’ve spent together, her and I.
This afternoon when Megan got home from school, things did not go as planned. Bill made special effort to get home from work to meet the bus, and we had planned to take the kids for celebratory ice cream cones when Megan got off the bus. However, things do not always work out like the Norman Rockwell scene you imagine in your head! Megan got off the bus, a big smile on her face, ran over to me, gave me a big hug....and started sobbing. Sobbing! When we asked her what was wrong, it was “I’m sad. I’m tired.” I think she’s finally gaining the maturity to realize that experiences and relationships are finite and that things don’t stay the same. She really adored her teacher this year and I think she is really sad to not be in her class anymore. (Yes, I guess she is my daughter....I have always been really sentimental and emotional about things changing, even as a kid....I have vivid memories of bawling at the end of our family vacations, even as a young one.) Needless to say she wasn’t much in the mood for ice cream at that moment (and it didn’t help that they had had ice cream at school and she was full from that). So we came up with Plan B....an early dinner at Noodles and Company, with ice cream after that, from the Cone Shop. It all worked out, but Bill and I were amused at the way things went. I don’t recall either of my girls EVER turning down ice cream!
Looking forward to a fun summer filled with lots of activities, and lots of laziness! I’ll keep you posted!
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