Moving on up...to Pre-K

Conner's last day of school was Thursday.  It is hard to believe that he is done with preschool.  As I was writing a card to both Mrs. Keating and Mrs. Hughes to thank them for all they had done for Conner, I felt this huge sense of both sadness and gratitude.  When Conner started school in August of 2011, he struggled - so much so that Jason and I thought about pulling him out - maybe he wasn't ready? Maybe it wasn't an "accepting" place (we talked through every excuse in the book!)  We were new this this school thing and didn't know how to handle all of the emotions.  Each and every day, either Mrs. Keating or Mrs. Hughes would send me a very honest email about how Conner's day went.  Sometimes the emails would say "he cried almost the entire day" or "he still won't interact with the other kids" or "he only cried for about 15 minutes today".  Each email always ended the same though, "Kristin, this is normal, especially for a first born.  There are other children going though the same things. I promise you that he will grow out of this soon.  Until then, please let us know what we can do to help."  Each day, when the email would come through, I would get emotional.  Sitting behind my desk - away from Conner, I pictured him crying or worse, being scared or feeling alone.  One day one of my co-workers said, very honestly, "you have to let him grow - trust me, it is good for him"  So I followed her advice and I am forever grateful.  Forever grateful for all of the strong, smart women in my life that teach me how to be a mother (including my own), forever grateful for such an amazing opportunity that we can give Conner by sending him to St. Sue and mostly, forever grateful for two amazing women, Mrs. Keating and Mrs. Hughes who taught my child and loved my child as if he was their own.  Whether it was talking to Conner about hunting deer, four-wheeling or fishing - they did whatever they had to do to make him feel comfortable and loved.  At the same time, they taught him many of the foundations of his education: how to write, how to begin to read, how to spell, how to say his prayers and how to listen.  The most important thing they taught him though was that in life our biggest fears often lead to our greatest accomplishments.  From the picture below (taken the first week of school) you can see Conner's swollen eyes and red cheeks from crying. As the school year progressed, there were no more tears and the smile was never forced; he loved school, loved his friends, loved to learn and mostly couldn't wait to get there to see Mrs. Keating and Mrs. Hughes.  As I put him to bed the night before the last day of school, I told him that Thursday would be his last day.  He looked up at me with those big blue eyes and said, "Mommy, can I please just have 8 more days of school?"  If only I would have known in August what I know now, I would have let him grow sooner.   Lesson learned.