The Last Day of Kindergarten.

It's pretty unbelievable that Simon is finishing his last day in Kindergarten today.

Chris took this shot of him last week when I was in Houston. Running through the house in one of his many costumes. Right now he is "working for" a Storm Trooper costume. He's been wearing this Tigger one for years. [ Just thinking that a layout about his various costumes is definitely in order. ]

Found this one from January 2006 - nothing needs to be rolled up anymore.

I asked Simon what his favorite thing was about Kindergarten and he  replied, "going out to recess."

Chris and I sat down the other night and reminisced a bit about watching Simon experience Kindergarten. Here are some of the things that stood out for us (it is written to him - these comments will become a layout called "We Remember"):

We remember driving you to school each morning; holding hands as we walk across the cross-walk and always saying “look both ways;” waiting for “the kids” to be released from the cafeteria; you walking upstream into the crowd of kids until you found Alexis and then turning around and heading back towards the classroom; placing your lunch token into the pockets on the wall; taking off your backpack and stuffing it in your cubby; following directions and keeping your "star" in "green" (Chris wondering if we would be walking you in to school when you were in highschool).

We remember the tough transition days in the beginning as you got used to the new routine, new surroundings, new teachers, and new kids.

We remember that many days (just up until about two months before school was over) you would stand at the window next to the door and wave and watch us drive away.

We remember the day we finally followed the regular routine of dropping you off outside. Daddy took the leap first. You were super brave and followed the directions perfectly. Such a big kid.

We remember watching, and working with you, as you learned to read and write. We remember specifically how excited we were when you came home one day and showed us that you could "correctly" hold your pencil. You would come home from school and pull the papers out of your backpack to show me what you had worked on during class. You would sit at the table working on your handwriting homework and be so proud of yourself as you wrote your letters and later, words.

We remember that lunch from day one has been “school lunch” : chicken nuggets, bagel + cream cheese, chicken burger, cheese pizza, nachos, pretzel, etc. You were always happy to share your choice.

We remember how hard you were working on standing in line and how much you always wanted to be the line-leader. You would come home and tell us about how one of your other classmates got to be line-leader that day and how frustrated you were because it was not your turn.

We remember the star system your teachers used: when your star was in green it meant you were following directions (that was the goal each day...to "stay in green"). You were super concerned on the days your star was in yellow or the very occasional red. You did not like it when your start was moved out of green. You brought your star home yesterday and you were so excited to place it on the refrigerator.

We remember lots of experiences related to the school bus. As the year progressed you got more comfortable on the bus and on many days were fast asleep when the bus pulled up to our house. Some of my favorite memories are the days when I walked outside and saw you sitting next to one of your classmates.

We remember the general anxiety related to your development. Would you make friends? Would you do ok? Would you move forward? The reality is that you did just fine. Sure there were challenges and good + bad days...but overall, you seemed really, truly happy just being you. What more could we ask for?

We remember so many little moments: how you would bring home the same library book week after week and think it was so funny when we would open your backpack and there it would be again; you eating a bagel + cream cheese + OJ every morning for breakfast without fail.

We remember how very thankful we are to be your parents and how much you make us better people every single day.

And when I was going through the large grocery bag of papers he brought home yesterday I found this: