The Graduate
Riley’s award wasn’t the only thing that put tears in my eyes this week! Zoe graduated from preschool on Thursday (click the link to view the photos…again, Kevin was there, so they’re wonderful)!
The funniest thing was that Zoe had figured out that she needed to wear a hat for graduation but didn’t yet understand what kind of hat or that they all wore the same kind of hat. Starting on Tuesday, she kept telling me that she needed a hat for “fraduation.” I assured her that while I did not have her graduation hat, her teachers most certainly did and would give it to her on Thursday. She was skeptical, but she accepted that explanation repetitively until Wednesday before school, when she said, “I will ask my teachers about that and see what they say.”
“Fine. Awesome! You make sure and do that (You get a little terse and matter-of-fact after about the 50th explanation of the same thing.).”
To understand what happened next, you need to know that on Tuesday at preschool they’d had a Luau (“Huau,” in Zoe-speak)for the kids complete with games, face-painting, and crazy homemade “Huau” skirts for the girls and crazy homemade “Huau” hats for the boys. Well, when Zoe asked her teacher about her hat, she neglected to say anything about “fraduation,” and her teacher was thinking about the “Huau,” not the “fraduation.” So, she said something like, “OH. No. The hats were just for the boys. We don’t have a hat for you.”
Zoe comes from a long line of women who, when faced with a bunch of clueless people, will just do what it takes to work it out for themselves. So, she didn’t mention this conversation to me (her teacher did…later), but on Thursday morning she came downstairs wearing a red bucket hat covered in giant black ladybug spots and with two giant ladybug eyes ogling out above her blond hair. When I asked about the hat, she put a hand on her hip and said (with an I just can’t believe the people I have to work with tone), “Mom, my teacher doesn’t have my hat for fraduation. She doesn’t. So, I’m wearing this one.”
I would like to think that I’ve gathered some wisdom along the way somewhere. I just turned around (stifling some laughter) and said, “Okay.” Needless to say, when they marched out in their robes, she had exchanged the ladybug hat for a graduation hat.
They played a slide show of the kids that was set to a beautiful song about hoping that they’ll find their wings and fly and achieve their dreams, and about one line into it Kevin leaned over and whispered, “This is definitely a set up.” Who can not have tears in their eyes after watching that?! I can’t believe my baby girl is getting ready to go to kindergarten, but we’re so very proud of her, and we’re all very excited.
