Today was a day of mixed emotions for me. We sadly said goodbye to all of the thoroughly lovely, dedicated and downright incredible teachers, and dear sweet kiddies, at R’s(3) daycare centre. He has been attending this centre three days a week for just short of two years. For that entire time, he has been on the waiting list at another centre and two weeks ago, I received a call to say that a place had become available for him. (Yes, childcare here in Sydney is that scarce! You can wait up to two years or three years for a place sometimes. To enrol him in the Montessori school where I would really like him to attend would have meant enrolling him at conception. Sadly I hadn’t even heard of Montessori back then.) We are so excited about the new pre-school that he’ll be attending. We feel it will be a better centre for R for so many reasons, not the least of which is that it is located on a much larger premises, with an amazing outdoor play area, something  I have always desired for him.

The difficulty is of course, the wonderful people that have become part of our life for the past two years. This is where R made his very first best friends, and being an only child these other children have been his “brothers” and “sisters”. The teachers have gone above and beyond every single day and the bond they share with R is unmistakable. R had delayed speech developement and went through speech therapy a year ago (you would never believe it now if you heard him speak. He will chat the ears off perfect strangers in the street and people are constantly saying to me “He’s a chatty one isn’t he?”). R’s teachers were right on board with us in assisting with his speech therapy and spent hours of one on one time with him, coaching him, making flashcards and even learning some sign language that he was using at the time to communicate. Every day R has been showered with kisses and cuddles from these beautiful, caring teachers, and when last year we lost my father to cancer, they showed so much concern and support for us. These are truly wonderful people and the very essence of what teaching is all about.

Thank you Michaela, Julie, Manu, Suzie and Demi.

Despite our sadness at saying goodbye, we are excited about the next chapter for R on his learning journey. We know families who have had two generations attend Rowan’s new kindy. They must be doing something right!

The lovely teachers at our current kindy did one last favour for us before we left. They helped me begin a tradition that will last for the rest of R’s school years. Last year, I came across this post from Lisa’s Workshop and thought it was such a wonderful concept. The idea is to buy a copy of  “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” by Dr. Seuss when your child is still young, then each year you ask your child’s teacher to write a message somewhere within the pages of the book. You then give the book to your child as a special memento when they graduate from high school. As soon as I read about this  I knew I wanted to do it and I began with R’s pre-school teachers. I gave the book to them a week ago so that they had some time to think about about what they wanted write. It was so lovely to read all of their messages and I hope someday R will enjoy leafing through the pages as well. Something tells me though, that when he is seventeen years old and graduating from high school there will be a few things he will want more than an old Dr Suess book (like a new car perhaps!) but I do think someday he will appreciate this. If you think this is a great idea too, but your child is already part way through school, it is never too late to start this tradition. You could even contact teachers from previous years and ask them to write something now. What a wonderful keepsake and one made lovingly over many years with your dedication.

The other little things I created for R’s last day were these…

Spiderman cupcakes!  I asked R earlier this week whether he would like me to make a cake for his last day at kindy. I was imagining something simple. A nice easy chocolate cake with some icing and maybe a few sprinkles. R, of course, had much greater plans and requested Spiderman cupcakes. These were so much fun to make. I’ll post a tutorial next week.

Happy weekend everyone!