This is my little duck, deep in concentration. Pre-K graduation was last week and it went great. It was a water/ocean theme, so they sang songs that were all about wet animals, very cute. Each child had a 'job'...to hold a sign or one of the animals. As you can see, Em was a duck in the 'Four Little Ducks' song. She hadn't told me about this & when I asked her later why she didn't tell me, she said, "It was a surprise mommy. Ms Brenda said not to tell our Mommys and Daddys what we were doing." Too cute.

These kids are so stinkin cute. They all waked in looking like they were afraid to move their head or they would topple from their hats. The only outburts came when they realized that some of the props had handles & others didn't, one boy couldn't figure out why his didn't, but even that was cute.

The teacher cried through almost the whole thing. It's her last year teaching and this graduation was hitting her harder than the ones before had. I feel so blessed to have found this daycare.

Em has been in 3 different daycare situations up to this point. Each time I moved her, it was a huge descion, one that I strugled with each time.
When she was first born, we had with one of her dad's aunts keep her while we worked. She was family & an easy choice. It worked great, for awhile. It got to the point where Em was the oldest child there and she no one to look up to & learn from while there. Her dad's side of the family is Philipino and this paticualr aunt has a very strong accent, so she wasn't picking up any words there. I know that's our job to do as parents, but when the child is away for 8+ hours a day, 5 days a week, it needs to be in a learning envrioment. When she was 1 1/2 we decided to move her. That was super hard because we were pulling her from a family members home. Caused a little tension, but we knew that it was the best thing to do for Em.
She started staying with Ms. Donna then. She was a woman that lived blocks from my office & offered in home care. Em was the youngest when she started & within a month we could see a change in her. She became much more outgoing and her speech was speeding up. It was nice to know that she was only minutes away from work if anything happened & I trusted Donna with her. Again, it was great for awhile, but I could see the time for changing coming again when Em was 3 1/2. Donna was getting more kids in, more than she should have legally had. She was pregnant herself and often had her mom or younger sister over to help with the kids. Again, very hard to pull her from there. Donna had become my friend. She was there to hug me when I had doubts in the future of my job, she was there to comfort me when I told her that Mike & I were going to divorce. She didn't get mad when I rolled into her car one morning. We stopped for photos when we ran into each other in St. Augustine one weekend. She was my friend, Em adored her & her children, but she wasn't the best choice for Em at that time. She needed to be somewhere that would really teach her, prepare her for kindergarden.
And thats when I came across her current daycare. First place that wasn't in a home. First time she would be with more than 6 other kids at one time. Again, it was minutes from my job (our office moved during the time she was at Donna's) and since I had moved also, minutes from home. She loved it. Truly loved it there. She got upset on the first Saturday, she wanted to be there so badly. I called it school from day one, figured it would make her feel like a big kid & make the transition easier. She had a great teacher her first year there, but this year she was truly blessed to be in Ms. Brenda's class. The woman is amazing. Not only the patience she has, but the pure dedication to the kids. Em has grown & learned so much this past year and I really have Ms. Brenda to thank for that.
Seeing how well she's doing at this daycare makes me happy. Makes me know that I made the right choice. And if I ever doubted it, my mom gave me the best compliment she's ever gave me and it was in regards to Em's daycare situations. She said to me, "You made the right choices at the right time. You've done everything right when it comes to her school." Love that, thanks Mom.

And now she graduates Pre-K...time for the big school.


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