Ava has Graduated from Preschool

After three years in the same classroom, with the same teacher, and the same paraprofessionals, Ava has graduated from preschool. Although transitioning into summer is difficult for her, this year seems to be even worse. She has been weepy since school ended last Thursday as she misses the teachers, aides, and the bus driver and his helper. Although I think it is great that she was with the same set of staff and in the same classroom for three years, it also makes the separation a bit more difficult.

The graduation ceremony started with a slide show. The picture of Ava made everyone laugh because of the text that the teacher (or Principal) put on the slideshow. When Ava went up to receive her certificate from her teacher, the Principal told everyone a little story about Ava. She said that Ava was her dress code helper and at the age of three, she knew the school’s dress code. The Principal overheard Ava telling one of the aides in her classroom that it must be Friday because she had jeans on. The school employs a casual Friday dress code and Ava was right. Every single Friday for the rest of her second year of preschool and all through her third year of preschool, she informed everyone at the school that they were allowed to wear jeans.

After the graduation ceremony, we went back to the classroom for a little celebration. I asked Ava to put on the “blue dress” one last time. Her first year of preschool, she became quite attached to this dress (and the pink play-doh) and would get upset if anyone else put it on. One of the other little girl’s mothers brought a blue dress for her daughter to wear so Ava could wear this dress daily. I have pictures of her from all three years of preschool in this dress. She was a bit teary-eyed knowing that this was the last time she was going to wear the blue dress.

Between the fact that the classroom stayed the same, the teachers and aides stayed the same, and she was attached to that blue dress, the transition into kindergarten is going to be a challenging one for Ava. She is pretty emotional and I hope that she is able to enjoy kindergarten as much as she enjoyed preschool. I also hope to continue to see the amazing growth that she has experienced over the past several years.

So the day of preschool graduation, I found a huge clump of wispy blonde hair on the floor. Before I picked it up, I really hoped that it would be doll hair. Nope, it was nice and soft. I asked Ava about it and she explained that she didn’t want her hair in her eyes. So instead of getting one of the dozens of barrettes or headbands that we own, she just chopped her hair. She did it in a way that you can’t exactly hide, either. So after graduation, we went to get a haircut. I love the new hairstyle on her but it will make it difficult to get it up into a bun for ballet.

This past weekend, she also picked up a new pair of glasses. As you can tell from the picture of the new hairdo above, the glasses are pretty similar. She definitely loves her purple glasses.