preschool graduation

Today we went to j's school for his graduation (moving up) day. One year of preschool down, one more before kindergarten. It was a lot of fun. As promised, there was singing! and dancing! I thought for sure that when the class entered, j would run from the group and want to sit with us. Instead, he seemed to relish the opportunity to perform in front of the crowd gathered (parents of the other children, maybe about 40-50 people). He was great--he had the songs and moves down, and he clearly enjoyed himself. He enjoyed shouting "Happy Graduation!" at inappropriate times, and when his teacher announced that she was going to hand out the diplomas, he made sure everyone knew what they were. ("They got di-PLO-mas! See? They got a lot of 'em.") And of course, there were the cool graduation caps.

Graduation for the first year of preschool is pretty funny, but honestly, it was a nice afternoon to think about how far j has come in the past year. The teachers, aides, and therapists at the school are amazing, and I (we) feel lucky to have found them.

moonwalk bliss

Yesterday we went to an event called "Touch a Truck" where little kids get to... well, touch trucks. j has shown an interest in trucks recently (actual trucks, not playing with toy trucks--he still seems to prefer his dollhouse and books), so we thought it would be a good time. He seemed to enjoy getting up on the trucks, but he seemed to zone out when actually sitting in them. Though the trucks were stationary and there wasn't a whole lot of honking, it was a pretty noisy event. I think he was probably overstimulated; I know I was. But it was a nice outing. And after the rows of trucks, there was a row of moonwalks. j took some time getting warmed up, but he had a blast, and I got to take some of these pictures of "the bouncy."

rowing, crooning

Quick update. Spring Concert went well, and the rowing regatta also went well: my crew got the fastest time for those in our (admittedly very specific) category of 3 women, 1 man. But we also had the fourth-fastest time in 16 boats, so that was good. And I even got a medal and everything. I mentioned to my mom that this was the first time I'd ever won anything for an athletic event, and she pointed out that it was the first time I'd entered an athletic event. Which is not exactly true--there was some swimming when I was about 7, but other than that, the rowing was pretty much about it. Call me a proud dork.

So I'm joining the rowing club. I went to my first open row on Wednesday (you just show up and get in a boat with whoever is there, whether it's a 4-person or 8-person boat), and I love it. It's about the only few hours a week when I do not even think about work, and with the way I obsess over things, that is a gift. Also, I'm meeting lots of people. P and I had breakfast at the local coffeee shop this morning and we're starting to recognize many of the people who come in. We're enjoying the sense of community.

j only has 2 more weeks of school, and next week there's a graduation/moving up celebration for which he has been assiduously practicing. He's singing three songs with the class--the ever-popular "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," which he loves, as well as "Mr. Sun" and "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider." If I can get some video of the performance, I'll share here. But for now, I leave you with some video of a bathtub performance of big band tunes. (Warning: the last 10 seconds are a bit loud.) Enjoy.