I picked him up at the usual time that afternoon. We had a little over an hour to get home, clean up, eat dinner and get back to the school. Their lunch menus were disturbed this week due to the Memorial Day holiday and graduation commotion. So, I asked Alex what he had for lunch to make sure we didn't have a repeat for supper. Thus began his lunchtime tale:
"Well, we had waffles. I had two plates and three milks BECAUSE they threw my food away."
Me: What? Why?
"Well, I was watching a video before lunch when I realized I was the only 4-year-old class there. All the rest were from the 3-year-old class."
(I made him repeat this story to Art, just so I could hear "when I realized" again!)
"They went to lunch without me! So I went to the lunch table and Noah didn't want the lunch that he brought, so he ate mine. So, Mrs. Brandi had to make me another plate. Then, while I was eating I had to go have my picture made and while I was gone - they threw my plate away!"
(Apparently they were doing graduation pictures and they thought he was through with his food.)
"So I got another plate and another milk and THEN I finished my lunch."
Me: What movie was so good that you didn't notice lunch was ready?
"It was a Tom & Jerry and Jerry was ..." I have to admit I didn't listen after that. The kid can take an hour to describe a 15-minute cartoon. At least he got his "breakfast" for lunch - waffles, sausage and goldfish crackers. It's one of his favorite meals, at home or at school. This will be important later in the story.
So, we were back at the school at 6:20 for the kids to form up for their procession. There are 10 kids in Alex's class and there were 40 or so assorted parents, siblings, grandparents and teachers. They had emerald green caps and gowns complete with tassels and a stole that said 2010.
The class entered to the usual "Pomp and Circumstance" music and sat down, fairly calmly for this group. There are 8 boys and 2 girls in the class, so it's rowdy a lot of the time. They led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance then sang a song called "Hello Everybody." It had lots of motions and acting out and was a lot of fun to watch. Mrs. Karen, the school's director, then explained that she was going to give out "Superlatives." She told the kids that this was where they chose the friendliest student, the most athletic, etc. Alex was on the front row and could see his audience. He interjected then, "The cutest girl in the world is...MY MOM!" I would have been embarrassed if everyone hadn't said "Awwww!" The little ham.
The kids squirmed as each of them got their awards. Alex received the "Best Architect" title for his building projects in the classroom and on the playground. Mrs. Karen talked about his Lego sculptures and he told everyone how they'd built a secret hideout just that afternoon.
(An aside: he also has plans for a type of bug zapper for his adventure treehouse. He and Art discovered a yellow jacket nest underneath it and they've been working to get rid of it - and making sure it's definitely gone - before he can play on it again. His invention involves a camera that he will mount on the treehouse which will send images to space. When yellow jackets are spotted they will be "electrocuted" with a laser. His words, not mine. Art thinks we should look into patenting it.)
The kids were pretty good up until this point. Unfortunately, attached to their award certificates were packets of Silly Bandz. For those of you unfamiliar with the Silly Bandz phenomenon, count yourself lucky. These little plastic bracelets are the end-all, be-all to the pre-school and elementary set. Their very own personal pack of bandz was almost more than the awardees could take sitting down, literally. Luckily when the superlatives were over, there was a square dance. Alex had Miss Sarah as his partner. Sarah is his favorite teacher and our regular babysitter. We are very sad that she won't be working at the school after mid-June due to conflicts with her school schedule. She's assured us that she will still be happy to babysit, though. Here's a picture of the two of them together.
During her closing statements, Mrs. Karen read excerpts from an exercise the kids did (with teachers' help) this week. They took dictation from the kids, asking them: What is the best thing you've learned at preschool? What do you want to be when you grow up? What is your favorite book/favorite color?
The answers, as you can imagine, were intriguing. About half the class (including Alex) said the best thing they learned was their letters. Alex said that was so he could "write stuff down." His friend Augustus said it was learning to climb the "big" monkey bars. Julian's answer was my favorite. He said that the best thing was learning the letters J-U-L-I-A- and N.
Their future occupations were also interesting. Anna, the girly-girl of the class, wants to teach 8-year-olds. No word on why such a specific student body. Bennett wants to be a fireman. Augustus wants to play football like his brother, then work at his parents' restaurant. Alex took the cake, though. When he grows up he said, "I would like to be a Waffle House cooker. I really want to cook waffles." Art pointed out that it would save us a bundle on college tuition. Alex has mentioned this ambition before. Maybe if I take his paper in to Waffle House we could get free waffles! The teachers mentioned that he definitely likes to eat waffles. He's not much on lunch but waffle day is the one day of the week they can count on him to clean his plate.
After it was all said and done, cake eaten, Silly Bandz compared and lots of pictures taken, we are very pleased with the graduation and all the fun we had. Now on to kindergarten. There is an ice cream social tomorrow afternoon for the kindergarten class and teachers at his new elementary school. Alex pointed out that he doesn't eat ice cream. I told him we'd take brownies just in case they didn't have anything else.
One more graduation of note this week, our niece and Alex's cousin, Alli graduated today. We are very proud of her! I told her that while her ceremony was actually a little shorter than Alex's, it was not nearly as exciting. Here is Allison Suzanne all grown up:
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