Rachel's last day of preschool

Today was Rachel's last day of preschool. Ever.

I thought yesterday was but then I found out that Rachel needed to be at school today because they'd be doing what she called a play (but what ended up being a puppet show) and she was the third little pig and she needed to be there.

Her preschool last year was wonderful and although she attended the very same preschool this year it was under new management and was not as wonderful. There has been very little communication home and poor Rachel was the only girl in her class—with five boys. She still enjoyed going and she did learn a lot. She knows the days of the week in Spanish, can sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes in Spanish, learned some sign language, and picked up some other interesting facts along the way.

Most recently they've been talking about our bodies. She learned all about blood and what white blood cells do and what red blood cells do and how your heart pumps your blood.

On the way home from school yesterday she said, "At school I said that diarrhea and banana bread are very similar because they're both brown and kind of squished up."

"I'm sure your teacher appreciated that comment," I said.

Later at dinner she took a sip of water, smacked her lips in a satisfied manner and said, "Ah, I'm going to make some pee now. That's what you do with water, you know."

How sly of her teacher to teach that bit of curriculum at the end of the school year. Now we get to enjoy all that talk at home while the teacher gets off free and easy.

Anyway, Miriam and I left to pick Rachel up from school a few minutes early so that we could watch Rachel's play (which not all the parents even knew about, unfortunately). They retold the story of The Three Little Pigs.



Rachel was the third little pig, a fact she was very proud of because that meant she was the one to trick the wolf.

As you can see from the video, it was kind of chaotic behind the curtain...

The kids also sang a few songs for us:

Rachel did a good job and practically skipped home, she was so happy with her performance. I don't think she quite understands that she'll never be going back. 

Here she is with her teacher, Miss Elise:

And here she is with her pig puppet:

You might be interested to learn that part of her tantrum yesterday was threatening to stay up all night screaming.

"If you don't let me have story time then I won't go to bed!" she grumped.

"I don't care," I told her. "Then you won't go to school."

"Then you won't go to school," she retorted.

"Fine," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

She humphed at me, "I'll just go to school!"

"You won't be able to wake up," I pointed out.

"I will!"

"Not if you don't go to bed."

She thought about this for a second and then yelled, "I always wake up early!" which isn't true at all because we usually have to drag her out of her bed...on school mornings, at least.

"No, you don't," I told her.

"I do!" she yelled.

"You still won't be able to go to school."

"I'll just sneak out of bed," she said, folding her arms defiantly.

"How?" I asked.

"'Cuz you never wake up early," she accused (even though I'm often the one dragging her out of bed on school mornings it's true that since falling pregnant I wait for her to come snuggle in bed with me on non-school mornings).

"Yeah, right," I said. "Who got up with you in the middle of the night when you were crying?"

This kind of disarmed her.

"You," she sniffed.

"Oooh!"

"But I really want story time!"

I know that conversation went like that because I filmed it (and I really was up with her that morning at like 4:00 when she woke up crying so to accuse me of never getting up early is a little rude considering my sleep had been so rudely interrupted by her...and has been for the past five years (plus pregnancy so that's more like six, isn't it?)).

This morning she jumped up on our bed long before the sun was up. 

"Rachel, what's wrong? Did you have a nightmare?" I asked.

"No! I just wanted to show you I could wake myself up for school! I'm so excited to go to school today. We doing a play, you know!"

"I know," I said. "Rachel—it's five o'clock in the morning! You don't have to be ready for school for nearly four hours!"

She fell back asleep in my bed and we all woke up to Daddy's alarm clock together. At least we know that Rachel can get up for school though. She sure showed me.

We got ready for school and just as I was about to turn the doorknob so that we could leave the house it started hailing like crazy so we asked Daddy if he'd give us a ride. He did and I talked to Rachel's teacher about the play she was so excited to be a part of and that's how I learned that I needed to show up a few minutes before school let out so that I could watch it. Other parents weren't so fortunate...but that's why I played the role of cinematographer and filmed the whole production. I should go professional...haha...not.

Next week Rachel has her kindergarten evaluation appointment with the doctor and I know she's due for a couple of shots. She's been dreading kindergarten because she knows she has to finish getting her vaccinations before she can go. I think getting this appointment out of the way will ease her anxiety about kindergarten since they'll be no more shots to look forward to for quite a while after this appointment.

So here we are, heading into summer vacation and then into the uncharted waters of kindergarten. Wish us luck!