Today was Ryan's preschool graduation program. Although we've decided to delay Ryan's start of kindergarten due to his late birthday, today's ceremony was an emotional reminder of how quickly he's growing up. I cannot imagine what a weepy, blubbering mess I'll be next year! I got choked up watching him march down the aisle in his graduation cap, receive his "diploma" from his teacher, stand in front of the sanctuary with his classmates, and sing "Kindergarten Here We Come." It's hard to believe that 3 short years ago we enrolled him in the 2-year-old program and we all cried as we dropped him off on the first day of school. He was wearing diapers and wasn't talking then. Now, he has a huge vocabulary, can read, tell time, negotiate like an expert lawyer, and is eager to learn more!
Here are a few video clips from the performance. Unfortunately, the first clip with the opening introductions and Ryan's favorite song, "King of the Jungle," was too large to upload. After the first few songs, Ryan's teacher explained that the class had studied the book,
The Hungry Caterpillar, and had even watched caterpillars morph into butterflies, which they eventually released to the wild. She compared the caterpillar's transformation into a butterfly to the experience they had as preschoolers preparing for kindergarten. As part of this exercise, she asked them to complete the following sentence, "I have grown this year because now I can..." The students shared their answers during the graduation ceremony. Many of the children announced that they can now write their names or have learned their letters and numbers. Ryan's response was that he can now skip, which made me giggle because it was certainly not the answer I had expected.
Here's the handsome graduate in a picture the teachers took during class, and later used to make a picture frame for Father's Day.
After the ceremony, everyone reconvened in the fellowship hall for a party. Ryan and his friend, Josh, were excited to discover that they were wearing the same outfit!
Gavin, who behaved wonderfully during the entire program, was excited to play with the "big kids" and eat cupcakes and cookies for breakfast!
Ryan and his friends, Nic and Josh, hug goodbye. Nic, who has older siblings, recognized the significance of the day and was very upset about leaving his friends. Ryan, the eternal optimist, assured him that they'd still see each other at playdates over the summer and that they could still remain friends even though they'd be at different schools next year.
Ryan thanks his teachers for a great school year.
Ryan poses with his graduation cap and diploma before changing into play clothes and celebrating the start of summer.
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