Thursday, May 23 was Zachary's last day of 2nd grade. I really don't know how we got there so fast. He is no longer one of the "younger" kids in the school.
We've made it a tradition that Zachary rides the bus home on the last day of school, and at least one of us leaves work early enough to be there to greet him. Last year one of the moms handed out silly string, squirt guns, and party noisemakers. Nobody was there organizing anything this year, but Zachary found a can of silly string in his closet that morning (really?) and gave it to us. We took that as a sign that he wanted to be sprayed with it. Josh & I were both there as he got off the bus that afternoon...
Our neighborhood also has a pool party and ice cream truck on the last day of school. We went 2 years ago when he finished kindergarten, but we didn't go last year. We were leaving for Disneyworld the next day, and Zachary had to take a karate belt test that evening. It was just too much (we did let them run through the sprinkler in the back yard, and gave them ice cream treats at home). But since we had no real plans, we headed down to the pool for the pool party - our first outing to the pool for the year. I was there by myself with them, and had no intention of getting in (it still wasn't that warm), so this was also the first time the boys had been in the pool without one of us being in with them. They did great! It was really crowded, so it was hard keeping my eyes on them, but they hung in there, and proved that it IS possible to be in the pool and not have to hang all over us. Yay!
The next day (Friday 5/24) was Liam's last day of school. Technically, he finished pre-K, but Montessori doesn't call it that. This was also his last official day at his school. He is signed up for 3 weeks of camp there this summer, but he won't be back in the fall. I think we will all miss his teacher so much. He really loved her, and apparently he was known for running over and giving her hugs in the middle of everything (which would then lead to other kids wanting to hug her too).
We found out that last week of school that his teacher is turning her classroom over to a new teacher starting in August. She is going to take a part time role at the school, tutoring kids who need extra help. Even if we had any doubts about whether leaving was the right decision, I think this confirmed it. Yes, Liam will have a new teacher in kindergarten anyway, but I think it would be harder to have a new teacher if he stayed at the same school, in the same classroom, with the same kids. His teacher made cards for all the kids who were graduating, and then all the older kids signed each other's cards. They even made one for Liam, which was SO sweet. She also wrapped up a book for him and he was SO excited about getting a present!
When Zachary was in pre-K, his school had a graduation in May. Montessori schools only have graduation for kids completing the third year (kindergarten). So since Liam didn't get a "real" graduation, we got him a cap, and took some pictures. We didn't try to put on a fake graduation or anything, but we took him to dinner at the Olde Blind Dog (his choice) and got him a little present - a Build-A-Bear monkey wearing a graduation cap & gown. Then we had dessert at Scoops.
Just like I can't believe that Zachary is now one of the "big" kids at the school, I still can't believe Liam will be there now too. Whoever his teacher is going to be will definitely have her hands full with him!
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