Preschool Graduation

Amelia had her preschool graduation ceremony on Monday. And what a ceremony it was. I threw on a skirt at the last minute and was glad I did because all of the parents (and extended family members) were all dressed up. There were people carrying around flower bouquets for their graduates. Flowers! It felt like high school graduation.

The whole gym was set up like a formal graduation and they had the preschoolers file in. They sang a few songs and then had the kids come up one by one to receive their diplomas (there were 4 classes so this was not a quick process). They had asked the kids in advance what they wanted to be when they grew up so as they announced their names they also announced this. There were lots of veterinarians and firefighters and teachers. Amelia was the only future rock star in the group. (See video below.)

They showed a DVD they had made with photos of all the kids and gave a copy to the parents. (And you better believe it included Green Day's "Time of your Life.")

As is customary, the program went on a little too long and the kids started going a little crazy. Since we didn't bring flowers and gifts for Amelia, we took her out for ice cream that night.





The set-up:




Elsa wonders if she's allowed to take some cake:


Amelia post-cake:






A brief video of Amelia accepting her diploma and a snippet of one of the songs:



Later that day, Amelia was really quiet and was staring out the dining room window. This was our conversation:
Amelia: Mom, do you know why I'm staring out this window?
Me: Why?
Amelia: I'm sad that I'll never see my school friends and teachers again. (Tears starting to form...)
Me: You'll get to make new friends in kindergarten.
Amelia: I have a song to sing about preschool.
Me: Okay.
Amelia starts singing "Goodbye preschool..." and then bursts into tears.

But about 15 minutes later she was happily playing kindergarten with Elsa. (Amelia was the teacher and Elsa was the reluctant student.)