K4 Graduation Day

Jim and I were both commenting on how we don't remember there being so many graduation ceremonies when we were growing up. I didn't have a graduation for Kindergarten. There was one for high school and that was it! My parents gave me a goal to reach for and graduating with my diploma (and lots of scholarships to back it up) was the goal.

Now, did I totally milk it after that? Of course! I had a graduation party for my AA degree, my Bachelor's and then of course for my Master's. Guess I had to make up for feeling jilted somehow.

But that's just it, I never felt jilted, like I should have had a ceremony to recognize passing a grade, instead of all of them.

So how do I feel about there being a little ceremony for my sweet, crazy beautiful, wildly intelligent, precious little girl who graduated from the K4 class?

Absolutely! Why wouldn't there be? Most of it is for the parents anyway, right?

Well, thankfully there was because it was the tearful reminder that this summer is it for me spending loads of time with her. Soon I will be waking myself up early to go tiptoe-ing into her room to wake her up and encourage her to get dressed, eat, brush her teeth, brush her hair, go to the bathroom and remind her to not forget her lunch and backpack, 5 days a week! Yikes!

She actually surprised me this summer. My mom said it would happen, but Katherine being my first child and all, I needed to witness it myself. Mom said the summer before she starts her Kindergarten year, she will mature so much that she'll want to spend time with other kids and she'll show me that she's ready for school. Last year she was not. I know that for a fact. She was still very clingy and unsure. But this year, this summer, she's been wanting to spend another week at vacation bible school, even if she's not sure there will be friends there she knows. She didn't even want to drive by the church last year to check it out.

There's always the side of myself that will find something wrong in my actions to explain why the change in her behavior, like, we had another baby and I don't get to spend as much time with her as I did so why wouldn't she want to go elsewhere? At least she's getting attention, from someone.

Damn mommy-guilt!

She was the one that was begging me each day to teach her after I bought the home-schooling curriculum for her Pre-Kindergarten year. She would sit still, stay interested, would do her workbook pages and I had glorious visions of home-schooling her. She had no desire to leave our comfy home and loved the attention I was able to give her. But, first trimester bouts of extreme sleepiness had me longing for the nap time we were using for teaching, and the second trimester awakened the planning beast within and the third trimester was back to napping and preparing for a third one. I also took on the responsibility of co-managing a group of 70 women (BIG learning experience there) and accepted a part-time job at our church.

Extra time to teach? Where was it? It was slipping through my fingertips along with my one-on-one time with my soon-to-be Kindergartener.

I can logically think about the change in her behavior and pinpoint it to her maturing, but I'll always wonder if I messed up somewhere. There's a really good chance, someday, I'll look back and know that the sequence of events in our family's lives were divinely planned and part of all of us growing together, but my heart longs for her still wanting to cling to my side and learn from me. Protected. Unhurt. Naive. Tender.

No surprise here, Kindergarten is going to be hard for me. Really hard. K3 was hard on me but she'll be fine. She'll flourish. She'll take calculated baby steps away from here, with a glance back now and then. She's my careful one. The one I'm having to learn first from.

Congratulations my sweet little Graduate!

Surprise!

The surprise graduation party was a huge success and a surprise.Thank-you so much to all the people who helped set up, clean up, prepare food, buy food and drinks, picked up and delivered food, kept a secret and kept me sane throughout the whole planning process. If you've never done it before, ('it' being keeping a secret like a party in honor of your husband with a rather large guest list) it's taxing.

He was genuinely surprised. He's never been a fan of surprise parties, especially for himself. But here's the deal, he made it VERY clear that he didn't want a party because of the set-up, clean-up, planning, etc. So, I took it upon myself to take care of the details, with help of course, and plan one for him. Boyer women find pretty soon into marriage that Boyer men don't let us do nice things for them very often, particularly if it involves money. So I over-rode his 'authority' and made the executive decision to make him spend time enjoying good food and good company and accept the recognition he deserved.

Daddy/Uncle Jim with future UF graduates. Watch out Gainesville!(Our son was trying to set some kind of record on how long a 10-month-old could go without a nap. Can you see it in his eyes? His new nickname: No Nap Nathan; aka "Triple Threat")

We're enjoying Jim being out of school so much that dancing after dinner happens spontaneously. I'm pretty sure the music playing while they were dancing here was either "Brick House" or "I shot the Sheriff"; you know, the good stuff.

And we lounge on the front porch a little more.

************************************************************************************
A couple interesting conversations with my daughter:

K: Mommy, you need to put brother's little crib in my room.
M: Put his crib in your bedroom? Why would you want me to do that?
K: So when he cries, I can tell you what's wrong with he.

I grew up knowing that I said something very similar to my mother concerning my little brother, so when I told her what our little lady said, my mother was speechless, literally. I think part of the silence was her being weirded out because of the similarities in our statements.

Another interesting conversation was today. Katherine asked if she could watch some more TV after I had turned it off telling her to get ready for breakfast.
K: But mommy, I want to watch some more cartoons.
M: I know honey, but it's time for you to wash your hands and get ready for breakfast. I said no more right now.
(She turns the TV on)
I peak from around the corner and say: I thought I told you no more TV.
K: I know Mommy, but I did not want to listen to your words.

************************************************************************************
Nathan got his first haircut today. His little hairs no longer hang out over his ears and the back was evened up a little. He was a trooper and I did not cry. I'm still in awe that he's old enough to get a haircut already.

Katherine experienced an 'inside fort' for the first time. I drug out some chairs, laid them on their side and spread a sheet over them. Next time, we'll have to do it while 'the structo' (Katherine's pronunciation of 'destructo') is sleeping. I can see very important meals being cooked or baby feedings happening inside a brother-less fort.

Graduation day

(cue the never-ending Pomp and Circumstance music)

Graduation day arrived! In the ever-so-wise words of my father-in-law while watching his oldest son walk across the stage after receiving his law degree,

"Free at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty, I'm free at last."

She was so good for graduation. She colored, read books and played magnetic dress-up with princesses Cinderella and Belle. Baby Emma was the lucky doll that got to make the trip with us.The University of Florida's graduate-level Summer 2009 graduating class.It was an awesome sound to hear his name being called.

For the little person, 45 minutes was about the limit for being able to sit still. So after daddy's name was called, we went outside for what else? A photo-op. She can be so stinking cute sometimes.His first inspiration for going back to school.Very proud parents, and why not. (no, those are not Secret Service agents behind them. It was a tad crowded and sunny)
Next post, his surprise graduation party!

Back home with regalia

Since we've been back, our children have shown true signs of loving to be back home. Nathan is back to his adorable and lovable self, sleeping for 10-12 hours at night, and Katherine is her well-behaved and cuddly self.

We're looking forward to graduation on Saturday. Nate-man will have to hear about it when we get back. Tonight, I explained to Katherine what the graduation was going to be like: lots of people talking about boring stuff and then we get to watch daddy walk across the stage. It was the perfect opportunity to introduce words like graduation, University of Florida, college and regalia. Speaking of regalia, have you heard my regalia story?

Now don't think for a second that while attending The University of Florida there's a mandatory meeting on what the term 'regalia' means. I'm warning you, this story might make you lose faith in my abilities as a functioning adult with two children.

When graduating with my B.S. I kept getting all this paperwork re: regalia. Yeah, yeah, who cares, don't have any idea what that word means. When do I pick up my cap and gown? I've ordered it, paid for it and selected my sizes. Small town high school had caps and gowns waiting for me in the gym. I put them on about half an hour before the ceremony, had time to hang out with friends and was good to go. I was an honor student so I had my act together with gold cords.

So fast forward to my first graduation from UF. My parents and family members are there somewhere in the audience and I show up looking cute. Sweet little black dress, high heels, hair and make-up are right on and some bling to complete the outfit. I'm late, of course (not much I did while attending undergrad was on time), bee-bop up to my friend Cheryl who's been standing in line for about 20 minutes and ask, "Where are the caps and gowns?"

She returned my air-headed question with a look of horror and very calmly said, "Kelle, you were supposed to pick them up 3 days ago in the Hub. We're about to walk into the stadium in about 15 minutes."

My dingy smile quickly turns into a "What? When did they tell me to do that?"

"Kel, you can't walk out there without a cap and gown, you might as well go find your family and sit it out."

"Do you think the Hub is open now?" (It's a Saturday. They're never open on Saturdays)

"Uh NO!"

"I'm gonna see."

Paint this picture in your head: Tight little black dress, with hose and high heels, pretty hair and make-up girl running 1/4 mile to the Hub, all uphill. Bling bouncing. She doesn't care.

I get to the Hub and it's closed. I frantically start knocking on the door and there's no sign of a living person. After about 2 minutes of knocking, someone peers from around the corner and mouths, "We're closed."

In a voice a little louder than normal, I politely reply with "Oh I know. I'm supposed to graduate in 15 minutes and I forgot to pick up my cap and gown. I ordered it and paid for it so it should be in there."

A slight eye roll and walking to get keys to open the door later, they let me in, found my order and I thanked them profusely.

Now, run back 1/4 mile to the stadium, downhill, trying not to trip or mess up hair or make-up too bad (I've got pictures afterwards). I make my way into the back hallways, find Cheryl, put on gown and cap and borrow a bobbie pin or two. No exaggeration, we started walking in while I was putting in the last bobbie pin.

Thankfully, my husband is much smarter than me, and knows what the term regalia means. As I type, I'm looking at it folded neatly in a plastic bag sitting on the desk next to me. I hope to broaden my children's vocabulary a little more.