Yesterday was the Mother’s Day party in Hailey’s class. This is my second official Mother’s Day preschool party. Last year, which for some reason seems like eons ago, was at a different preschool with different friends, moms and teachers. The parties were similar but the one yesterday tugged at my heart strings.
Since Hailey has a late birthday, she just missed the cut-off for kindergarten last year. So, as sweet as the party was last year, I knew I had one more year of the adorable preschooler shindigs.
We pulled into the parking lot and since we were a few minutes early, I asked Hailey if she wanted to climb up front and sit in the passenger seat. I’m pretty sure that I didn’t even get done saying the words and she had already plopped herself down next to me.
What you see here is pure excitement. Throughout the morning, she told everyone that she got to sit in the front seat, with the car running, without wearing a seatbelt. I cringed and then smiled each time she uttered the words. My five year old rebel.
The party started. We rotated table to table, doing different crafts. Together, we threaded a necklace of beads with construction paper bunnies. We made a keepsake bookmark for me, which she assembled in the blink of an eye, with a lot of glue.
We sat in a circle on the floor with the rest of the moms and their babies. All of the moms sat criss-cross applesauce with her baby in her lap. There was swaying and snuggling and true love flowing throughout the room. For some of us, this would be the last preschool party. For others, they will have the opportunity to do this again if they so desire. I’m glad that I did.
The kids worked on a project with their teacher earlier in the week and we all listened intently as she read aloud all of the wonderful things our children had to say about us. We found out that some moms like to clean their jewelry, some are hungry, some like to play Super Mario Bros and some are really good at drawing diamonds (I’m not naming any names but I suppose the picture below gives it away.)
Afterward, the teacher read all of us a story. My, how nice it was to be read to. Kind of made me feel like I was five years old again and hey, I’m not complaining. As she read the story, “Five Minutes’ Peace”, all of the moms chuckled and squeezed our little ones. We could all relate. I found myself watching Hailey as she sat quietly on my lap, just listening.
And then it happened.
My eyes welled up with tears. I realized that this would be our last preschool party together. She has three weeks left until she is done with preschool…for good. She will start kindergarten this coming fall, which is just a short three months away. Maybe I was wishing this away all too soon. Maybe I actually want her to be five and in preschool for just a little bit longer. Because, how many more times will she want to sit in my lap like that and let me nuzzle into her soft little neck?
It’s a good thing the achy feelings are followed by smiles and laughter.
I am so very proud of my baby.
