The Graduate

My little boy graduated from pre-school last Friday, a bittersweet moment for me. He's headed for kindergarten and is so ready for that--he's been reading for a while now and already talks about his new school, Pershing. But this is a big change for us. It meant so much to me to know he was happy, confident and fully embraced at La Petite while I was at work. He really flourished there. Now we're moving into the unknown, a new routine, a new place for him to find his way, a bigger pond for my adorable little fish. I started to cry that last time I dropped him off and had to dash out of there before anyone saw me. His teacher teared up, too, when Macauley gave her the farewell gift and card we brought her and I think that's what started my emotional spiral. It's just hard to have my baby grow up.

The graduation ceremony was just precious, from the tiny graduates' entry to "Pomp and Circumstance" to the awarding of individual certificates. Macauley received the illustrious distinction of Most Informative, which I took as the PC way for his teacher to say he was the smartest. She said, "This next award goes to a student who, if you need to know anything about anything, he will tell you. And if he doesn't know, he will find out. Macauley Fraser, get up here!" Everyone laughed and everyone in my family knew the award was going to Macauley as soon as Ms. Kristi started in on the description! We had dinner afterwards at FuddRUCKers (Macauley always puts the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLABle on that name) and he got some great gifts: Oh, the Places You'll Go! from Aunt Lindsay, If You Take a Mouse to School from Nana, and cold hard cash from Papa and Grandma and Grandpa. He's contemplating blowing the money on a new wading pool. Lucky boy.