Mak’s 5K Graduation

5K graduation…it’s not reeeeeally that big of a deal, right? I mean it’s mostly for the kid, not the parent…right? WRONG!!! I just knew I wasn’t going to cry. And then they flashed that three year old boy of mine’s face up on the screen for the slideshow and, well, the floodgates opened. He was sooooo teeny when he started school. Very much still a baby. I have watched him go through these first three years of school with these two wonderful teachers, Mrs. Hunt and Mrs. Price, and seeing that timid little three year old face was a huge reminder that my first baby is growing up. Fast. Like warp speed lightening fast. These two women have taught him so much. He’s reading chapter books now. When he started with them he barely knew his letter sounds. He’s doing simple multiplication now. In 3K he still left out the number 14. Always 14. He knows about Luxembourg. Really? Luxembourg?! All I can say is that 5K has changed a lot since I was there. I am so amazed at the ways he has grown and changed in three years. He started with his teacher her first year teaching, so I guess you could say that they have grown up together. She and Mrs. Price have spent their days with my boy, teaching him, training him, but most of all…LOVING him. They LOVE my child. I could always feel it when I walked into the classroom. And, yes, I’m amazed and glad that he is reading and doing math and all of that, but more than anything else I am SO glad that they loved him. I was so scared the very first day that I left him at that great big giant HUGE school and I remember praying through my tears the whole way home “just please let them love him, please let them love him”. And they did. He was my baby. My only son and pretty much my everything. But at school he was just one of twenty-something kids in a kindergarten classroom. I never ever felt like my child was “just a number” to them. I think that fact, just as much as Mak growing up, made graduation really hard for me last Wednesday. I’m really going to miss Mrs. Hunt and Mrs. Price and I know my boy will, too. So, thank you, Ladies, for loving my baby like you did. I couldn’t have asked for two better teachers for Mak.

*Excuse the graininess of these images! Things are always dark in montessori for some reason…great for the atmosphere, lousy for photography. 🙂

Another thing Mak and I are both going to miss…the other kids. He had such a great class!

Mrs. Price started out calling out the kids names for their awards but she made it about .3 seconds before she broke down in tears. See what I mean about the love?!

By the way…he CUT his HAIR last week. I can’t talk about it. I’m still bitter. Very bitter.

the slideshow…

At this point they started singing some cute songs and I just couldn’t stop the tears. Then Collin leans over and whispers in my ear “he looks like Chris Farley with his shirttail out like that” and just like that the tears turned to uncontrollable laugter. And that is one of the thirty bazillion reasons why Collin Smith is perfect for me. He knows exactly what I need to hear at exactly the right time.

Funny faces. Number one requirement of kindergarten teacher. She has it mastered. 🙂

We are so so proud of him. These last three years have been such growing years for him. Thank you Mrs. Hunt and Mrs. Price for doing such an Excellent job with Makgill! We love you both!!