School's Out

Today was Milo's last day of school. Parents were invited to attend the last "Friday Shabbat Party" and so Calder and I stayed for the party with the 3s and 4s classes. Morah Sheindal chose Milo to be the "Shabbat Daddy" since I was watching. One girl gets to be the "Shabbat Mommy" -- today it was Milo's friend Hallie. And another girl gets to be the "Shabbat Sister" -- she lights the candles -- today it was his friend Laurel.



As the Shabbat Daddy, Milo was in charge of welcoming the sabbath and saying all the prayers. He had a little stage fright, remembering the first few words of every prayer and then petering out, but Morah Sheindal led him through the rest of the words.



Afterwards, the kids sang a lot of songs with Morah Chavi and Morah Sheindal. They were adorable, all singing along, following the corresponding hand movements, and jumping up and down yelling "Hooray!"



When I went to pick up Milo this afternoon, the kids were playing in the playground, after having had their picnic a little earlier. Ms. Becky, Milo's main teacher, had left after lunch and Milo said she gave him a big hug. It took a while (40 minutes) for me to get Milo to agree to leave the playground this afternoon. While he was playing, Milo's aftercare teacher, Ms. Sinkler, gave him a bottle of bubbles and a hug. Milo seemed very reluctant, however, to say goodbye to Ms. Stephanie, his other main teacher. I think that's why he didn't want to leave the playground, even when he seemed tired of playing. I asked Milo if he felt sad because he was going to miss everyone and he nodded yes. At 1:30 pm it was time for Ms. Stephanie to go and Milo just didn't want to say goodbye. I reminded Milo that he'd see her next year and after a big squeezy hug, he seemed a bit better and agreed to leave the playground. I think he likes school!

One last thought: where did the last year go? It seems like just yesterday that we took Milo to his first day of school. He's certainly grown since then. I'm sure I'll be saying this all once again when I drop him off at college.