Kindergarten

Tomorrow is Izzy's last day of Kindergarten.

*breathing deeply and wiping tears*

Where did this year go? My baby is about to turn 6 years old and as of tomorrow officially be a first grader or as Izzy told his friend the other day, "I'm gonna be in Oneth grade!"

It feels like I have only blinked a couple of times since the day I took a picture of him on the front porch after eating his K pancake and here we are, the year complete and what seems like 5 feet taller and so much more mature and responsible, I can hardly take it.

Let me tell you a bit about how much he has grown this year.

An easy judge is he started the year in a size 4/5 and ended in a 7/8 (leaning more to the 8) and size 3 shoe. Oh. My.

I can no longer spell words to keep conversations private.

He knows way more about Science than I do. He often tells me facts that I have to later google to make sure he is correct. He always is.

He wakes up at THE CRACK OF DAWN and if you need an exact time it is anywhere between 5:30-6:30. He wakes, dresses himself, then plays or reads quietly until he hears movement around the house (2 hours later!) and then makes his own breakfast while Mommy groggily applauds his responsible efforts.

He is a huge help around the house. He can sweep floors, take out trash, load the dishwasher, clean his room, carry full laundry baskets and help unload groceries! In fact, yesterday he vacuumed out my car and cleaned the interior for me! Of course, he is always rewarded for all of his hard work.

Neighborhood boys are now knocking on the door daily to play with Izzy and when I say daily, I really mean minutely. (yes, I know minutely isn't a word, but that is how frazzled the sound of the door bell makes me!) One ring boys!!

Last year at this time, I could cuddle Izzy up on my lap and read a book or snuggle in to watch a movie. I can no longer pick him up and if I cuddle him on my lap about 3 feet of legs are left dangling. When he slips on my flip flops to play, I'm sad to see he doesn't have that much to grow into them. My little boy isn't so little on the outside.

He loves to read street signs now, and especially loves to inform me when he feels I am going just a little bit over the speed limit and that I need to obey all of the rules. Of course I never speed, but to Izzy 40 is 40..not 41.

He can make friends in an instant which is a far cry from my shy little one at the beginning of the year. He may not remember their name at the end of the day, nevertheless, they are his new best friends.

His handwriting has improved greatly and I can now read and understand his stories. Reading his daily journal has become my favorite part of the day.

Even with all of this improvement and growth Izzy has decided he still doesn't want to grow up. My almost 6 year old doesn't want to turn 6. He doesn't want to move to the big kid class at church, he doesn't want to go to the First grade he just wants to stay little. OH how I wish I could let him!

When I put my Kindergartner to bed tonight, he started sobbing and said, "Why did I have to do such great hard work this year? I shouldn't have done such great jobs so Mrs. C could make me do Kindergarten all over again. I am going to miss her so bad! WHY do I have to be so smart?" I was so thankful for the laugh, because I really just wanted to join his sobbing party. My baby is growing up way too quickly and there is nothing either one of us can do about it. Starting tomorrow, we are going to take full advantage of every single day of summer. I have a feeling that spending summer days with Mommy won't last much longer and he will be answering those knocks at the door instead.

I may need a delivery of chocolate and kleenex tomorrow if you love me. *more tears*