The end of an era...

Today was Drew's final day of Pre-K - the official end to his preschool years. It's hard to believe that period of his life is finished! He started preschool in Knoxville, made a smooth transition to Scottsdale into the wonderful program there, and just as smoothly transitioned into his class here. It's amazing to look back on his growth over the past 4-5 years. While I know it is primarily just a kid growing up, I also know that his interactions with other children (and other adults!) have played a big part in his development.

I have been impressed at how easily he has made friends in each school, but with this last move it just blew me away. After the initial week of "I don't know anyone's name. I didn't play with anyone today." he quickly started talking about his new friends when he got home and very soon was yelling "hi" and "bye" to them in the parking lot with them yelling back just as eagerly! Unfortunately, none of his new friends will be at his Elementary school next year. But I'm not worried. His social skills have come a long way in the past year and he'll be ready to dive in and make new friends right away!

He still loves playtime at school but he has developed an interest in art that he definitely did not have in the beginning. His drawings are so creative and get better every week. My favorite part of his current class is the monthly "journals" they work on a couple of times a week. They are free to draw or write whatever they want on the pages, resulting in many pictures of trains in Drew's journals! But he has started to branch out and tell stories with his drawings that are priceless. His writing has improved immensely, especially over the past few months. And his spelling is great - he is already losing the "spell by phonetics" and starting to remember how to spell the harder words. Reading is his great passion - he will read anything at any time, resulting in some power struggles over when to put the books away and sleep or play!

Drew's class celebrated their 100th day of school, and also their last day of preschool, with an ice cream party. Anything for some special treats, right?! His teacher, Ms. Kathy, gave each of the kids a special Graduation Bear balloon which was a really cute idea. She has been a great teacher and a wonderful part of Drew's life the past 4 months.