kindergarten – Mothering Millie

Every May starts the count down to summer break (obviously the best part of the job) but not this year. This year, summer break meant Millie would be done with kindergarten and I just could not fathom my baby graduating kindergarten – no way.

Chris would drop Millie off at school before starting work everyday. Kindergarteners had a special drop off location, closer to their classrooms. Mill would always have her backpack with her daily folder (Ariel with her “shell phone”) a book to read, and her granola bar snack. We packed her lunch everyday; pasta salad was her favorite. We weren’t allowed to send her to school with a water bottle because too many kids were spilling them however, she wasn’t drinking the schools water because she said, “The school water tastes yucky”. We got permission for her to bring a tightly lidded water bottle to school; her water intake increased dramatically.

Chris worked from home on Mondays and Fridays and would pick up Millie from school (This was helpful because of my staff meetings after school on Mondays). We were fortunate that her administration agreed to let us pick her up with the 1st-4th grade car-rider line from 3:20-3:40pm. Mill was always the smallest amongst the other students. I was always surprised to see who she was talking to, waiting for the car to pull up. She loved being able to talk to her kindergarten friends’ older siblings. She’d get in the car and say, “Hi, Mommy!” She was always ready to tell me about her day; what color she was on, who did what at recess, and what they did during specials.

At Mills first parent-teacher conference, I noticed how clean and organized her desk was compared to others. The teacher informed me that she sat Mill next to a boy who’d been having a lot of difficulty. She said she did this because Mill was kinda bossy and the boy could use another boss. (That child ended up getting the “boot” before Christmas break.) I was surprised to learn that her class had been praying for my boys and for God to rid them of IFAP syndrome (she even told them her brothers had no eyebrows). Her teacher let me know that Mill had asked for prayer for them and I just started to cry; she has a heart of gold.

Mill had friends in her class and friends in other kindergarten classes, too. One of her school friends was actually a classmate of hers from BalletMet and she knew another girl from Sunday School. Millie was invited to a number of birthday parties throughout the year. When it was her birthday, we brought in cupcakes for everyone. (I loved being able to do this for her because when I was in grade school, I never was able to because of my summer birthday.) When other classmates had birthdays, we had given her teacher a bag full of vegan goodies Mill could enjoy while others were eating treats with dairy. When she had an Easter jelly bean sorting activity, her teacher reached out to me asking which brands of jelly beans were gelatin-free. They were great with her food allergies.

I did go into “crazy mom” mode after receiving Millie’s first grade card. She was getting threes and fours in each subject except music. In my area of expertise, she was getting a two. A two?! (two is considered “developing”) I emailed the music teacher who explained to me that all the kindergarten students get a two before they put on their Christmas pageant. I did not think this was fair. It was blanket grading for a school we pay a lot of money for. I was upset that the teacher could not provide grades for the standards that I knew darn well she should be teaching. I also knew that Millie had mastered all of the Ohio music standards through second grade. Developing – no way. Not to mention she was bringing home the “Star Singer” award every week. The rest of the year she got 3s and 4s in music. I’m still pretty irritated about it.

I never had to fight Mill to do her homework. She always enjoyed completing her math pages. A couple times, Chris and I actually struggled on questions regarding a birds direction on a branch and which order they were in (already struggling to help with homework lol). Every month she completed her reading assignment called, Reado. It was like a bingo card with different book suggestions. When she tuned them in, she received little prizes and at the end of the year she got a special t-shirt that she could wear on Wednesdays during the last month of school (keeping track of this shirt was easier said than done).

Millie participated in everyday of spirit week. On “80’s Day” the students could dress in 1980’s fashion or like they were 80 years old; Mill was the only one in her class that dressed like an old woman! I loved it. She had her hair in a bun, wore a pair of glasses from her dress-up bin, and a tucked in, chunky sweater. She dressed up as Cindy Lou for “Dress like a Christmas Character Day”. Chris was impressed with how I did her hair; up on the top of her head with an empty water bottle. Mawmaw crafted a snowman outfit for Mill with big black buttons for “Dress Like a Snowman Day”. For “Dress Like Your Favorite Book Character Day”, Mill wanted to be Amelia Bedelia. She dressed just like her with a red cardigan and a flower headband. I photoshopped Millie into a page of the book – her librarian loved it so much she printed out the picture and hung it on the library bulletin board.

Her class did not go on any field trips but they did have fun “on-campus” activities throughout the year. The pumpkin patch came to their school in the fall and Mill got to pick out her own pumpkin – this turned out devastating for Millie because another student took home her pumpkin and she had to take home a pumpkin that she didn’t choose. Millie was given twenty dollars to spend at the book fair and she bought a book for herself and to my surprise, a book for her brother (a book about the movie Elemental). She made paper flowers with her prayer buddy and took them over to the senior living facility. Millie said her craft was falling apart because she didn’t use enough glue but it did have rainbow petals so that made it all better. They also had a, “Teddy Bear Picnic” where they brought a blanket and teddy stuffy to school and got to eat their lunch outside. They learned the song, “Teddy Bear Picnic” and got to take a picture of all their bears. Millie took in an extra bear stuffy for a student who didn’t have one (completely her doing). His mom reached out to me later and thanked me for her kindness.

Millie’s senior prayer buddy is a dream. She was so fortunate to be paired with such a kind senior. Kennedy took pictures with Millie at the senior night football game (Mill did an afterschool, cheer leading camp for a week and then got to cheer at the high school football game.) She came to Mill’s 6 year-old Barbie birthday party and brought a gift, she crafted Mill’s Valentine’s Day card box with her even though she was absent the day the class made them (Millie had perfect attendance all year until she dropped the tablet on her toe and needed x-rays and a boot. She told her teachers, “It was disappointing and expensive!”). Kennedy would help her on the monkey bars at recess. She would also send me pictures of them together when they’d meet during school. Kennedy even went to the Kindergarten Graduation and gave Mill a Barbie and bouquet of flowers! I have a feeling we’ll keep in contact with this sweet, young lady.

The school was so great about inviting the families into the building and hosting events. This is such a great way to build community. The grandparents were invited to a special vocal performance for Grandparents Day. I took a half-day off of work and attended her Christmas Chapel – Millie sat next to her senior buddy, Kennedy and I sat in the wing so I could see her. She was wearing her plaid, Christmas dress and Maryjanes. The pastor gave a sermon on making memories at Christmas time and how his family drank chocolate milkshakes every year while his dad read, “T’was the Night Before Christmas.” We tried doing this too but neither kid liked the milkshake.

“And she gave birth to a baby boy.” was Millie’s solo speaking part during the Christmas program. She walked up to the mic and spoke that line in front of hundreds of people. We were so proud of her. The spring musical was about summer camp and bugs. We enjoyed going to the Fine Arts Night; we made a Pigeon cake for the library fundraiser (I don’t know how I did it. I made this cake after an 8-hour car ride and it was my first time working with fondant.) We ended up buying the cake back and winning a piece of pottery. Mill loved showing us her art pieces hanging in the hallway. She painted a walrus and a self portrait. I accompanied Millie to Muffins for Mom (the muffins were small so I gave mine to her) and Chris went to Doughnuts for Dad. There was a Daddy/Daughter dance in March; check out Chris’ post for the details of that event. Finally, we all attended Mill’s Kindergarten Graduation where she sang songs, received her diploma from her teacher, and officially became a first grader.

The school sent home embroidered, graduation gowns for the kids to wear and take pictures in before the graduation, which happened at night, and the gowns had to be returned immediately after the ceremony. Because of this, we threw Mill a party before the graduation ceremony, with pizza and cake and invited the whole family to come and take pictures. I set out her artwork, binder of school papers I kept throughout the year, and her student of the month certificate (Mill didn’t even tell us about this award! When Chris took Millie to Easter service practice, another teacher saw them in the hallway and congratulated her on her student of the month award. We were so proud of her! She was awarded on her diligent faith). I crafted Millie a pair of sunglasses that said, “K Grad”. She received cards with money and new books.