5/19 - Aiden's Preschool Graduation

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Aiden had his preschool graduation on Tuesday night. That still cracks me up. There was no graduation from preschool or even elementary school when I was little. You got a pat on the back (maybe) and life went on. His school worked really hard on having the kids sing a couple songs and have hand motions. The preschool (Journey) did a great job with making it such a special event for these kids.

We got there early to make sure we got a good seat. It didn't start until 7:00pm so we pretty much let Eli run around the sanctuary from 6:20-7:00pm. He must have run about a mile if you add up all the laps he did. He played on the iPad during most of the service but that was fine because at least he was still and quite. He did a great job. 

They brought all the kids up on the stage and had them sing a few songs. I was wondering why Aiden was asking me such random questions through the week. He was making a heart with his hands and asking me where his heart was at on his body. I saw him play the air guitar a few times when we were playing music and wondered where he saw that at. He would also practice clapping and then spinning his hands around and telling me "that's how it's done." He had a blast singing the songs. Mrs. Jennifer, his teacher, sat in the front row and did all the hand signals with them in case they forgot. Aiden did not forget a thing. Not only that, he was so intensely looking at her to make sure he was on cue with the signals and the music. I've never seen him that focused before. He only did minimal nervous activities (wiping of the ears and eyes) compared to a few days at church when he performed with the children's choir. 

They took the kids out of the sanctuary and helped them all get their caps and gowns on and then they all came in. I didn't get any good pictures with my camera of Aiden walking down the isle. I'm hopefully to pull one off the video that Brad took and get a still shot though. Anyway, he walked out with his classmates and they all sat down. He was the third or fourth one to go up in his class. They called his name and said he was honored with the award of "Most Likely to be a Pilot" and put up a picture of him in his flight suit. It was too cute. Mrs. Jennifer gave him his diploma and then he walked over to his spot. He waited while everyone else got their diplomas. At the very end, the teachers told them they could throw their hats (all the hats had names in them) but Aiden was the only one that I saw out of about 22 kids that did not throw his hat. You can see in the second row of pictures, the picture to the right, only has his hat on. It was too funny. Mrs. Jennifer even tried to tell him it was okay. I asked him later why he didn't throw his hat and he said he thought he might hurt someone by doing that. Such a sweet heart. We tried to get a family picture but it was late and Aiden didn't have any nap that day. I asked Eli if he could tell Aiden "congratulations" and give him a huge. You can see the outcome of that in the picture to the right of the text in the middle. Aiden was so upset and annoyed that Eli gave him a hug.

After the ceremony was over and I quickly realized there would be no cute family pictures of our little preschool graduate, they had some cake and punch set out. We all had a small piece of cake. As you can see in the bottom row, Aiden really liked the cake. I was slightly mortified when I looked up and saw Aiden his plate but then also thought it was slightly funny. He LOVED the punch. Eli, of course, loved the cake. He actually didn't like the punch though. Eli doesn't actually care for the taste of lemonade, tea, soda, etc. It's good but it's so funny considering how much he likes different kinds of food. Eli is a water kind of kid (or juice if it's offered to him). Overall, we are very happy for Aiden.

I've been in contact with the placement specialist for the school he will be attending in Jacksonville to figure out what to do with him. Our very smart, yet quirky and pretty fearful & safe kid, will need to be put in the right environment (that's what his therapists and various teachers have told us) in order for him to thrive. I just have to have faith that God will make that all happen. It's so hard when we move all the time and have to re-start testing/evaluation processes all the time. Aiden's class was spending quite a bit of time preparing for the graduation and did not do seat work for a few days. That included a few days leading up to the event and few days afterwards. He was complaining to me that he didn't "get" to do seat work and he was sad about that and wanted to do some at home. He says, "I don't understand why we don't do seat work anymore." I try to explain to him that his class has been busy getting ready for graduation but he doesn't want to accept that as an excuse. The kid just loves to learn. He was doing some serious math this morning as I was making a treat: cinnamon rolls. He looks at the package and sees that there are 8 and then says, "hey mom, there is enough for all our family to have two. "Two and two and two and two make 8" as he points around to each of us and continues to add two fingers counting on his hands as he points at us. He then starts doing math during lunch today and says "did you know that 2 and 3 make 5?" Brad says, "yes I did. Great job. Who taught you that?" Aiden responds with, "my mouth." We were a bit confused and upon a few more questions to Aiden, he said his mouth is what tells the answer out loud but his head it what counts. What a fun kid.