A Boy and His Blog

Archive for July 2nd, 2010

On June 8th, Owen graduated from his therapeutic preschool. Out of respect for the children’s issues, their ceremony was held in the classroom and not with the other preschoolers in the school. There were four children who attended the graduation, with two absentees. All of us parents attended, as well as one of the kid’s big brother, and three of Owen’s grandmothers.

The ceremony was very adorable. The children entered the room one by one and one with music playing. Owen was smiling and happy the whole time. They sang a few songs that they had prepared while doing hand motions to them. Owen did not sing, but did most of the motions while laughing during certain portions of the songs. The teacher spoke about how much she enjoyed working with our children. Owen was called to receive his diploma first and he took the diploma and then hugged both teachers before returning to his seat. After each child had their diploma, the other three boys took their seat while Owen remained standing. The teacher prompted Owen, “and now lets… lets… lets…” and a suddenly shy Owen eventually said, “eat”.

And so we ate cookies and drank juice as we spilled over with pride for our boys!

Owen poses with his teachers in his cap and gown.

He also poses with Mama and Daddy.

And finally his three grandmothers, his great-grandma GiGi, his Grammy and his Grandma who came all the way from Colorado to watch Owen graduate.

Here is the proud boy himself. He was so happy the entire day.

We all celebrated by going out to eat. Owen got some gifts from the grandmas and then the waitress brought him a sunday to eat for graduating. In fact, she brought us two so we could all share! Owen was very proud and totally loving all the attention that having three grandmothers around at once can bring.

And below, here is Owen back at home after the big event. He got two gifts from his teachers, and is wearing another gift he got the week earlier, an “I’m going to kindergarten” t-shirt. His teacher even made sure to get Owen and one of his classmates a pink basket because their favorite color is pink.

On June 19th, the mom of one Owen’s classmates had a graduation party for the kids. Unfortunately one of the boys was sick, and the other invitees (there were six students in the class total) did not attend, so we were left with three. The party was filled out though with some older siblings of the other boys. The three little graduates had a great time at their graduation party!

The preschool program they were in was called “Little Flyers” so the party’s theme was rockets, since the Little Flyers are blasting off to Kindergarten! We were greeted by this adorable sign when we arrived.

We also enjoyed the decorated camper. The party was held at their camper where they rent camper park space. They had a great spot with tons of privacy and an awesome view.

The kids all went swimming in the parks pool. Owen used a noodle for the first time and loved it. He is getting really good and comfortable in the water. I am thinking he needs some swim lessons soon.

We all grilled and brought food to share and the boys sat at their little table together and ate their dinner. Then we had cake! It was a super good cake and each of the boys names were on the cake (plus the one who was sick and couldn’t make it). (I erased their names though for the photos since some people are touchy about that sort of thing.)

We sang “Happy Graduation to You” to the boys and then dug in and ate the cake.

Then it was time to break the pinata! Of course, the pinata was a rocket, which was the theme of the day. There were other rocket toys too, not shown. All the little kids attempted to break the pinata several times, but in the end it took an older sibling to deliver the final blow. Turns out they don’t make pinatas like they used to – out of paper mache – these days they are made out of heavy duty impossible for kids under 16 to penetrate cardboard.

All the kids dug into the booty, including the siblings. Each kid got plenty of stuff.

James bought some silly string which was a big hit. After that, a bonfire was built and smores were made. I stuffed down some more cake, and it was after dark before we were off for home. Owen had a fantastic time and we also had a great time with the parents of the boys. We have gotten them together for a play date since this party, and intend to get them together for more throughout the summer. The teacher wrote on the graduation program that she hopes our boys will be lifelong friends, and I am really hoping they will be too! These kids have come a long way together and have bonded with each other so well, though it took quite a while for them to accomplish this, they are now extremely comfortable with each other and just love playing together.