My son graduated from preschool last week. It was a cute, and very informal ceremony. The children made their own hats out of construction paper and prepared a few songs and dances for us to hear before the main event began, the handing out of diplomas.
One by one, each child walked up to the teacher to receive their diploma, and then posed with the teacher so their parents could get a picture of this momentous occasion. Everything was going fine until I saw Johnny's mom turn around after she snapped a picture of her little darling. Her eyes were all red, and she was in tears!
Gosh, I thought, why is she crying? It's just a preschool graduation. It's not like, his wedding.
Then it hit me.
My BABY is graduating from PRESCHOOL!
The same baby I brought home five years ago. The one I had no clue how to take care of, how to feed, how to change. Scared of the responsibility that was suddenly thrust upon me because I didn't think I was competent enough to even raise a plant. And now, there he was, wearing a graduation cap he made himself out of construction paper, happy, smiling, and singing a song about growing up and going to kindergarten. Part of me was patting myself on the back for having made it this far without screwing him up, and the other half was wondering, where did the time go?
Suddenly, I saw all of my son's next big graduations flash before my eyes. Kindergarten, Grade School, High School, then College....this preschool graduation really WAS a big deal. It marked the beginning of my son growing up and eventually leaving home.
I looked around the room and realized not only was I holding back the tears, all the other moms (and a few dads too) started sniffling and dabbing their eyes too. Johnny's mom, why did you have to remind us how important this day was??? And when did my colicky baby grow up to be a happy little boy? Is there a "pause", "rewind", and "slow motion" button I can press somewhere to remember how this happened?
9 comments:
How sweet. I can totally see myself bawling my head off on that occasion ( in a few years.)
We Moms should get all the credit for making Kleenex such a success.
Ahhhhhhhh.....congrats!
Lovely post :) Congrats for blogfully recording his growing years
Awwwwww Chic Mommy, I know exactly how u feel. My brother graduated high school last month, and Im just two years older than him, yet I was bawling because he's always been the baby of the house (its just me and him) and now there he was getting his high school diploma!!! This is the beginning of a beautiful start of ur child's life. Congratulations!!!!
Aww, congrats!!
My niece just graduated preschool last week too and I shed a few tears when they talked about all the future graduations coming up. I mean, she's 4 years old! She's not going to be big enough to go to college! Oh wait, she is. Wow. It's exciting but so scary.
My daughter's graduation is today from Pre-K. I know exactly what you mean. I was reading your post and started to tear up, thinking the same things.....where did the time go???? I wish there was a pause button for us moms...*sigh*
Congratulations to the little guy!
Awww so cute. Chic-M, *Congrats* to the little one, you and your hubby for all the good work. Best wishes to everyone
Hope you took lots of pictures! (and print some too!! I always find that's the harder part!)
congrats. I'm starting J in preschool this fall, and can hardly believe it.
S
Pre-school! You are too funny. Bringing back the happy memories of my kids' childhoods.
Well, one of them liked "graduations" so much she decided to graduate from high school, then she graduated from undergraduate school, then she graduated from one Master's of Arts program where she was a rat ob-gyn and surgeon (I'm not kidding - I even had to make mash for the little sweeties. Long-evans rats are quite cultured.), and now she has graduated from a second Master's program. This time out she'll work on humans.
Had I known how well she'd take to graduations, I would have bought a townhouse near the university and it would nearly be paid for by now or well on the way.
She toyed with the idea of graduating from a Ph.D. program but her better angels prevailed - thank God - and now she's working to pay off those good old student loans. Ooh rah!
Pre-school! What a delight! Ya gotta check out RightWingDeathBrogan (?) - in my list of blogs. She's a mommy downunder and funny too.
I agree with Su in her comment - keep on recording those growing years and those milestones. It's the sort of thing we all promise ourselves we will do and never "get 'er done."
Well, you're getting 'er done.
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