As soon as Michael woke up yesterday, he proclaimed, “Today is MY day!” because it was the day of his “moving up” ceremony from Kindergarten to first grade. By the end of the day, I was a little sorry that I had told him that beforehand, because he used that knowledge until he went to bed last night. I had to stop the little dictator when he started to precede requests by saying, “I demand you to…” Uh, no…not even on “his day”. Overall though, it was a really great day.
Michael and Sean on the way to the ceremony
The school did a really great job of making the day special for the kids. Someone had put together a Powerpoint slideshow of the various kids at different events throughout the school year. It looped on a big screen while we parents were waiting for the ceremony to begin. The parents (especially us moms) were so sentimental. I overheard one predict…”I’m going to cry. I cried for pre-k graduation.” I thought to myself, “Me too!” I did end up tearing up a bit…but it wasn’t for the reason that I expected.
I was so happy and proud of Michael. Each Kindergarten class had one flag bearer and he was the one for his class. Since the flag bearers went up on stage last, I was standing up to take his picture. I thought that Michael was waving at me, but it turns out that he was motioning for me to sit down so that he could say his one individual line. His line was “Assembly, please stand up.” (That’s why he needed me to be seated…oops!) Then, all of the Kindergarten students sang seven songs together. During the last song, “We’re Growing Up”, I became a little sentimental as they sang out “…and soon we’ll be as big as you!” It’s true that they grow up so quickly. Michael’s arms and legs have sprouted so much in the past year that he no longer fits comfortably in his bed. One thing that he will be getting this summer is a new, larger bed! (And didn’t I just go to pre-k graduation the day before yesterday?!)
After the short ceremony in the auditorium, there were refreshments in the cafeteria. Besides the fact that it felt like a sauna in there, it was nice. This was the point where I became so sad and teared up though. It wasn’t because Michael was moving up. Rather, it was because one of the little boys in his class didn’t have anyone from his family there for him during the ceremony and reception. He cried the entire team. It just broke my heart. I know the kids from being around them several times this year and this particular one is a sweetie. Several of us (parents, teachers, kids) tried to console him, but to no avail. He just kept saying, “I want mama. I told her about today!” The teacher later remarked, “There is always one kid that this happens to each year.” Don’t get me wrong. I understand that everyone can’t get off work during the day. What made this especially sad though was that the rest of the kids were able to go home right after the reception. That little boy didn’t have anyone to take him home, so he probably had to wait in the school office. I wanted to take him with our family to our celebration lunch, but that would have been illegal. It would have been an even sadder day if I would have ended up in jail for kidnapping Michael’s classmate. Oh well…the great thing about kids are that they are resilient. He probably (hopefully!) has already moved on from that disappointment.
In any event, yesterday was wonderful. After we left the school, we had lunch at Michael’s favorite local place (Cheeburger Cheeburger), played with his graduation present and watched the original “Karate Kid” movie. It was a great day for my little one to move on up!
