Last Day of School

Today was the last day of school for my two little toddlers.   They are not nearly so little or as toddle-some as they were when they started two years ago, and for that, I'm proud.   They both started in a, "Toddler House" classroom at their Montessori school.

Toddler-aged children start as young as fourteen months (although for some reason they started my daughter at twelve months) and go up to about three-and-a-half years old.   The age range is intentional in Montessori schools, facilitating younger children to learn from older, more mature children and encouraging older children to model good behavior and practices in addition to helping their younger classmates.   The phrase, "you don't really know something until you can teach it" is implemented at the youngest of children and is done so to great success for everyone involved.

Today was their last day in their Toddler House classrooms.  It will be the last time they will have the teachers they've been with for two years and some of their friends will go to different classrooms next year.   They will also go to, "Childrens House" classrooms and meet new friends, up to six-years-old. They will remain in these classrooms for two or three years, at first being the youngest class members and then eventually being leaders in the classroom environment.

I feel like I should be sad.  It's an ending.  We love our four teachers (two per classroom).  But for some reason I'm not sad.   I'm looking forward to seeing them grow and mature and next year is going to be an exciting time for them both as they make this new transition.

We're on the way to my parent's house in the mountains currently.  We left just after noon dismissal and we're all excited to go see Mimi and Gramps.

The Big Boy Update:  He did not want to get out of the car at lunch.  He tried to hold on to the car seat and bitterly complained, "I don't want to go to lunch, I want to go see Mimi and Gramps."  He was well-aware that we had a long drive ahead of us, he just didn't want to take time to eat when we could have been getting closer to their house had we kept driving.  

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  Better with bows.   She is getting better with those bows, specifically leaving them in her hair better.   Sometimes she still likes to rip them out, hair and all.  I am not sure we'll ever achieve long, little girl hair; but I'm stubborn and I'm not ready to cut it yet.