And We Have A Pre-K Graduate!!!

This definitely was not how I imagined Ella's last days of Pre-K would look like, but here we are. Celebrating my little graduate in quarantine. And I am definitely feelin' ALL the feels.

The rollercoaster of emotions we experience as we navigate through motherhood is insane. Especially when it comes to the constant tug-o-war of wanting our kids to hurry and grow up (so they're not so needy of us) but wanting time to slow the eff down so they can be little just a bit longer. So as you can probably imagine, I am a complete wreck. I knew I'd be a hot mess anyway because that's just Mom Life, right? But this whole distance learning thing and graduating in quarantine has made me EXTRA emotional.

How I Feel About This Whole Thing

This entire experience is bittersweet. And if I'm being 100% honest, I can't help but feel SO robbed. I know this is only pre-k, but it's still a big deal for both Ella and myself. It's a big accomplishment for a 4 year old who has never been in a daycare-like environment up until the day she started Pre-K. And she LOVED it right from the start. She looked forward to going to school every single day, she was always super excited for "share day" when she got to share a toy with her class, and she LOVES her teacher. Heck, even I love her teacher. I wish she could be Ella's teacher for the rest of her Elementary school years, but I know that's not how this works.

When COVID happened and school was closed down, it broke my heart to see the confusion in her eyes when I told her she wouldn't be going back to school. She understood that she wasn't going to be able to see her friends or her teacher in person for awhile but she couldn't really comprehend why. Distance learning and virtual class meets 3x a week helped a bit, but she really misses being in an actual classroom with all of her friends. Her class meetings only lasted 30-45 minutes and, for the first couple of weeks, she would get very sad. Which broke my heart, too. This has been so hard on us all. Homeschooling hasn't been easy for me (as previously stated, I don't have a lot of patience to teach), but this entire experience has taught me so much - in fact, it reminded me a lot of the newborn days when we had no clue what we were doin' and we were just figuring things out as the days came and went. Ella and I eventually figured out our groove with this whole distance learning thing. The resources her teacher and school provided us helped A LOT. We also had a parent-teacher conference a couple of weeks ago and her teacher reassured us that Ella is on-track and has been ready for Kindergarten for some time now. She encouraged us to continue working on learning sight words in both English and Spanish since Ella will be going into a dual-language immersion program next school year... So yeah, there is much to celebrate for sure!

I had envisioned a cute little Pre-K graduation ceremony in her classroom and being able to attend their end-of-year class party. Getting to watch her be so excited with her friends and capturing all the cheesy memories... all of those hopes and dreams are gone now. Yes I know I'm being dramatic but I was really looking forward to ALL of it.

But all was not lost. Ella's last official day of class was on May 20th (the day she had her STEM presentation) but her teacher hosted a Virtual Awards Ceremony today (Wednesday, May 27th) to celebrate this big accomplishment. I bought Ella a cap & gown, we got her some balloons and noise makers, and then we took her out for some ice cream from Dairy Queen to celebrate as a family. I know she may not remember the details of this strange time when she's older but I do hope she remembers all the good times. Because she truly enjoyed being a preschooler and we did our best to make her graduation day a special one. And that's all that matters.

Just a little message to my lil graduate...

Congratulations, my sweet Ella Juliet. Thank you for being the sweet and spunky lil girl that you are. You have taught me so much about myself from DAY 1 - about how to be your mom and now, your teacher. You have made so many friends and have gained so much confidence and skills and you continue to make me proud every. single. day. You are the best Big Sister to Everly. You are very smart, exceptionally kind, and just amazing all around. I have no doubt that you will accomplish great things in life. Don't ever lose sight of who you are or where you come from and don't be afraid to stand up for what's right. Love you always and forever, Your Mommy.

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Tags: #preschool #graduation #classof2020 #preschoolgraduation #distancelearning #quarantinelife #preschoolgraduate #momdiaries #momconfessions

We Survived Our First Week Of Preschool

Just when you think you’ve mastered a routine, life happens — your baby grows up and goes off to preschool. Then it’s complete chaos for at least a week or so, trying to find the groove of our new daily M-F routine.

Preschool is a pretty big deal. Like MAJOR. I get 3 hours without a 4-year-old from 11:30am - 2:30pm... what the heck do I do with myself?! Yeah I know, I still got an almost-2-year-old to look after... I haven’t forgotten about her. But having 1 kid is a hell of a lot easier to manage than 2! And 3 hours may not seem like a lot of time so I’ve had to REALLY think about what I wanted to accomplish within such a short time frame.

Is it worth skipping Evie’s nap time to roam the aisles of Target and spend money you don’t have?! Should I risk putting Evie down for a nap? And if so, is it worth waking her up (if she’s not already awake) to pick Sissy up from school? Just an FYI, she’s definitely NOT a happy camper when she’s woken up earlier than she's ready to be. And if Evie DOES take a nap, do I take advantage of this ME time and binge watch Jane The Virgin for the millionth time and just chillax?! Maybe have a glass of wine — ok maybe not the wine. But still... should I?! Or should I be a responsible adult and use this time to do laundry AND clean the whole house all while baby naps? Maybe take a quick catnap myself? Sleep is obviously a VERY crucial part of our day as you can tell. Trying to figure out when that nap should take place can be pretty difficult! And on top of that, coming to terms with not wearing pajamas all day long has been pretty depressing.

So now that Ella’s been in school for 3 whole weeks now, I can tell you briefly how Everly and I spent our 3 hours a day of week 1.

Day 1 : It was orientation day so not much happened because Ella was there for 1 hour but parents were required to be there as well.

Day 2: We dropped Ella off at school and went to pick up our dog Tipsy from the groomers (hubby took her first thing in the morning). When we got home I did 3 loads of laundry. Ok ok, I’m lying. I started a load that morning before Ella went to school so I wasn’t that accomplished. And in between loads I did some dishes and cooked some meals and entertained Everly who seemed kinda lost that Sissy was not here. Evie napped after we picked Sissy up.

Day 3: I watched Everly run around in circles (literally) for awhile while I folded the clothes from the previous day. Yup, I totally didn’t fold them right away because I’m just not that put together. Then Evie napped after we picked Sissy up from school. 

Day 4: It was Back To School night so Everly had no choice but to take her nap right after we dropped sister off at school. Good thing she had woken up earlier than usual because she didn’t fight me at all. And while Evie napped, mama binge watched Season 5 of Jane The Virgin. If you haven’t seen the show, you need to! It’s SO good! 

Day 5: So we decided to make that trip to Target. More like attempted. Everly had a meltdown before we even made it into the store so there’s that. Maybe we’ll try again next Friday.

Now that it's been 3 weeks of preschool, I can tell you that I am already SO OVER IT. It dawned on me on day 3 that THIS is now my life. I am now a parent of a pre-schooler. My schedule now revolves around my 4-year-old's drop-off and pick-up schedule. And this revelation was pretty shocking at first. THIS will be my life until both of my girls have graduated high school! So yeah... I'm already over it and their first long break from school cannot come soon enough. And though preschool is only 3 hours long, the process of getting them up and ready for the day, fed and out the door by a certain time 5 days a week is not fun at all. Not that I was expecting it to be a party or anything. I'm seriously already missing the days where we could lounge in our pj's all day long and eat our meals whenever we were hungry and take our naps when we wanted to... yeah we are definitely spoiled.

*sigh*

In other news, Ella is lovin' her new routine. She loves to pick out her clothes and gets super excited to go to school so she can play with her friends (she's got like 4 of them now), play on the playground, engage in all the new things she's learning. I have to say, by Day 4 of week 1, she was already telling me "bye" and running off before I'd even signed her in. My mama heart kinda broke when she didn't even look back for me. These bittersweet moments just keep on comin', don't they?

So yeah... we survived our first week of preschool.

Have your kids started school yet? What grades are they in? Are/Were you excited about the first day? If this is your first time (like me), how were you feeling? More importantly, what did/do y'all do with your time while they were/are in school? Tell me all the things!!!

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Tags: #school #preschool #firstdayofschool #backtoschool #momdiaries #momlife #motherhood #parenthood #milestone #toddlermilestone