Graduation Day! (Preschool to Kindergarden)

Congratulations David!  It was graduation day today for little David and quite a day it was.  All week he has been saying they are going to give out badges for graduation. Summer and I were amused but pretty sure he meant diplomas, so we humored him.  Sure enough they gave out Google badges instead of diplomas or certificates.

What do we know right? We have only gone through over 30 years worth of schooling ourselves?  Did we ever get a badge?  Maybe we missed something?

In any case, David's badge is personalized.  He drew it himself.  I will not go into detail but lets just say this guy has an attention to detail that is appearing pretty early in life.

The big surprise of the day is that Sarah was able to make it to David's graduation ceremony.  It meant a great deal to David (as you will see later).  Way to go Sarah!   

 

Summer, David, Sarah, and Dad

Sarah is pretty proud of her little brother.

Talk about proud moments.  David gave a speech or more accurately he told his teachers what he wanted to say at graduation and they wrote it down and shared it with us.

It is captured in this little video.

 If you were not able to open the video it, the heart of it says:  

"I just miss my sister because she is in college before me."

What a beautiful sunny California day.  No complaints here.  A great family celebration.  What a nice way to celebrate this milestone. 

Community Service - David Style - Google Serve

Community Service Day.  Yes we make him work.  I know he is only 4 1/2 but you have to teach them young right?

This is actually part of a community service day for the family.  It is called Google Serve and we volunteer to help provide food - fresh vegetables - for the local schools and other community programs.

David is helping to pry the garlic loose from the soil so we can pull them out of the ground, put them in the bins, and then bring the bins of garlic to the cart for cleaning and then transport.

Mom is helping to provide some instruction to a man who has a will of his own. Dad is in the background taking the shots and moving through the field like the wind prying that garlic loose, while the little man is occupied. (Why you may ask, "Is he a distraction?" "Does he slow you down with a million instructions," - yes - I said instructions, telling us where to dig and how to dig.  No, no distraction at all.  The purpose of this day is educational - for him right?  Yes, of course, unless you are sweating in the baking sun and the clock is ticking away.

Da Dah as David says!  He picked his first garlic from the soil.  We had a great day and it is for a good cause - partially providing fresh vegetables to the local schools and partially to socialize this little man into what will be normal for him down the road.  Da Dah! (Oops was that Mom and Dad patting themselves on the back for this early training or just their sore backs at the end of the day.)

The Little Man Keeps on Growing Right Before Our Eyes - 42 inches

This little man just keeps on growing. We really didn't even notice it.  Sure, we heard everyone saying how much more he has grown since the last time they saw him, but as a parent you just figure they are being polite - "small" talk as it were.

But we went back to Great America - theme park - this year and they measured him to see what rides he could go on. To our surprise, he was able to go on a new range of rides that he was too small to go on only a year ago.

Summer also noticed this morning that he was bulging out of his pajamas too and he is not plump.  He is just growing like weed - out of control.  We told him no more eggs and french toast for breakfast and no sleeping at bedtime or he will be bigger than us soon.  Interestingly he is happy to eat breakfast now (for the most part) and willing to go to bed on time.  I am not sure I see the link - more eating and sleeping for more rides.  It sounds like manipulation to me.  No, no - not us.  Just a coincidence I am certain.

In any case, everyone goes through this, but it is still a little miracle - so incremental, talking one day, potty training the next, and now dressing himself.  I literally sit there in amazement some mornings watching him dress himself.  It was such a struggle to get his clothes on such as short period of time ago and now he is so proud.  He jumps into our room and says:  "Da Dah" - a bit on the dramatic side but he knows it is a big accomplishment.  We are working on coordinating the outfit but that's another story (literally).

The other part of his growth - the inner growth - is also a wonder.  He said to me before bedtime the other night (in his classic negotiating style):  "What are my options?"  In other words how late can I stay up tonight, how many books can we read before bedtime?  But where did that vocabulary come from - options?  But more important is his heart.  The other night after he practiced on his violin he said he wanted to play a song for us - one he made up for us.  

It was really cute.  It went something like this:

"I love Daddy.  I love Mommy.  I love Sarah (his older sister).  I love Bitsy too (our dog) even when she is a bad girl I still love her."  Here is one rendition of his song below.  It is hard to hear but you get the idea.

What a guy at 4 1/2 years old!