August 22, 2012 was your last day at the YMCA. The place where you have been since you were 13 weeks old. It's been almost four years exactly since I first dropped you off with Miss Judy and Miss Bonnie and Miss Lisa and trusted that they would take care of you. Every mom will tell you that the days creep by as the years fly by, and it is so true.
We always loved the YMCA family events and tried to make every one of them...
...from your first Halloween where you sat in the crib with your friend Addison...
...and cried when you had just had ENOUGH of the whole event,
to your first encounter with Santa Claus, still the most successful one yet.
It wasn't all bliss at the YMCA. There were rooms and teachers we loved, and rooms and teachers we tolerated. There was biting, and parents trying to eject the biter that left a bad taste in our mouth. And oh, you were sick that first year. I ended up going down to 35 hours a week until you were over 2 years old because there was always an ear infection or pink eye or foot and mouth disease. You caught every bug that came around. In the end we had to get tubes in your ears when you were 13 months old to try to make you better, and thankfully it worked.
There were amazing moments too. There was the day that I got home from telling your Great Aunt Bonnie goodbye on her deathbed. Miss Kathee met me at the door and told me that you had something to show me. She took your hand and you stood up and then took your first three steps to me all by yourself. It was an amazing moment. I got to experience all the highs and lows of life in one day: from death to first steps. Did you take your first steps at the YMCA? Probably. Miss Kathee said that you had been practicing all day. Do I care? No. Kathee gave me an amazing gift and I learned early on your firsts were not always going to be about me. They were about you, and I have cherished every one I got to see in person.
On you moved from the Infant room, to the Transition Room (just for a few months, one of the tolerate spots) to our favorite room, the Young Toddlers. There we befriended Miss Susie, Miss Betty Lynn, and Miss Jessica who are all still there today. A more wonderful and loving group of ladies I cannot imagine. Your personality really shined in that room and you started to talk in earnest. One day you came home and told me that "Avery crying. I push her down. Sit on her." The next day Susie and Betty Lynn confirmed that indeed Avery had been crying the day before and you took matters into your own hands and tried to resolve the situation by pushing her out of her chair and sitting on her. Not the best conflict resolution skills, but your teachers were amazed that you could tell us so much. You were so verbal in that classroom it was astounding. I still remember other parents commenting on how much you could say.
And the holidays came and went. You (and our whole family) were hippies your second Halloween and you got to wear pants that your mommy had worn as a kid. Yes, apparently I really wore these orange, green and tan plaid wonders. I added the yellow ruffle because they were a little short.
Here you are in your YT classroom.
And here is the traditional "utter chaos" tour around the multi-purpose room. I loved the multipurpose room. Oh the joy of having a room where even on the coldest winter day you could play and run around. Who knew when we started there how much we would love that space for you?
I love the look here. "I am holding onto this ring because I have been told to do so, but I am NOT happy about the situation and would really like you to rescue me."
Phew! Parade over! Now it's time to party!
Speaking of the multipurpose room, here you are at your second Christmas party playing there.
Oh wait. You aren't just playing in the multipurpose room.
You are avoiding and analyzing Santa, who is on the other side of the room.
From YT we moved to Older Toddler, Miss Monique's domain. Oh, your Mommy was intimidated by Miss Monique's no nonsense "scary" style, but you kids loved her. There we met Miss Mallory, who we loved but she was never happy in the classroom and let everyone know about it, and Miss Lacey, who is still our friend today. In this room you were potty trained. We started at 25 months and four months later you were done. Four long, miserable months. In the end it came down to Mommy putting you back in diapers (and Miss Monique strongly disagreeing with my decision) because Daddy had just had his appendix out and Mommy was overwhelmed trying to get you to use the potty and taking care of Daddy at the same time. Something clicked at that point and we were done, thank goodness. I still think that every person who works in that room deserves a medal or sainthood for what they do.
Erica, the lion, with Lacey (the pirate?) and Mallory (the cat). Dawn, Troy's mom and our friend at the front desk is in the brown shirt. This is your parade through the multipurpose room.
Here's Brody the bear (the first boy you ever kissed--and you kissed him all the time in YT) and Cooper the fireman (your buddy who's 2 days younger than you). These two boys were both declared to be your future husbands when you were 4. Cooper is the current front runner.
Really, in the end, dazed and confused is the only appropriate response to the chaos of Halloween at the YMCA.
Photographic evidence. Utter-chaos.
In OT the utter chaos extended into the classroom for the party afterwards. Did I mention sainthood for these teachers?
This year we celebrated at the night-time party at the YMCA for the first time. Your daddy is recovering in this picture from having his appendix out. Halloween was tough for him this year.
In OT you got to start participating in sports classes. One day daddy went and watched you.
Honestly, I'm not really sure what sport you are supposed to be playing here. Soccer?
Basketball? Regardless, we loved when you were old enough to participate in sports classes at the YMCA. You took soccer, and multisport and swimming classes from the time you were 2 to 4.
Miss Monique introduced us to the wonder of watching you participate in concerts. Really. You had a winter and spring concert. Again, sainthood for these teachers.
Here you are with Katherine and Malaya (your first real friend at school) kicking off the spring concert. The number of parents, grandparents, aunties, etc was staggering. I don't know how you guys pulled it off.
. Here you are looking at your mommy and daddy during the concert. Hi Sweetie!
From the Toddler program we moved on to the land of Preschool, but that's for another day.
Love you,
Mommy
No comments:
Post a Comment