Graduation Day

I've recently been admonished to "put some stuff on the blog" because "some people count on it for updates." Not sure who those people are or what updates they require, but point taken. I've missed lots of stuff recently as my posts have dropped off. For example, while I noted that Margaret is starting to sprout up, losing all semblence of a little kid, in a recent post, Teddy has also grown a lot lately. He's now the biggest kid in the toddler room at daycare (by a mile!) and has almost caught up to Margaret. And he's losing all of his baby fat as he grows, although he can still flash a good belly or legs with some baby fat.

The biggest event in the last few weeks was Margaret's graduation from daycare. While we like the pre-school room at her daycare, she has already been there for two years, so we figure that another year is just too much. As a result, she'll be heading to the pre-school room at our local public school starting in August. Now, DC public schools have a pretty abysmal reputation so some of you may be aghast at this move. If so, you would fit in pretty well with our neighbors, almost all of whom send their kids to private schools. If you want a good school, the typical strategy involves sending the kid to a private school or moving to the 'burbs. But it turns out that the elementary school in our neighborhood is pretty good. Certain schools in DC, particularly those that draw from limited areas, are good and have huge demand from out-of-boundary families. Because we're in-boundary for the Hyde School, getting in wasn't an issue, rather we had to decide whether we wanted to send Margaret there, keep her in daycare, put her in private school, or move to the 'burbs. The second isn't too attractive for reasons noted earlier, the third is way too expensive, and the last would involve a big life change, so we've decided to send her to the Hyde School. And frankly, I think that she'll benefit from that decision. A private school would involve lots of people who are all the same whereas the local public school will have a more diverse, and interesting, group of students. And I think (hope) that, given some of the recent reforms in DC public schools, things will keep improving. We've started talking about it some, and Margaret seems excited in principle, although I suspect that in practice, she'll be much more hesitant when the time to transition actually arrives.

Because Margaret will be leaving her daycare at the end of the summer, she participated in their recent "graduation" ceremony. Now, I'm a bit skeptical about this type of event. After all, next year she'll be leaving pre-school for kindergarten. Then the following year, she'll be leaving kindergarten for grade school. This could continue forever with a new ceremony for each accomplishment. However, I suppose that some parents find this type of event to be a "big step" for their kid, and it is kind of cute, so I don't really object to it, as long as I don't have to do much. (Incidentally, the graduation started during half-time of the U.S.-Slovenia game in the World Cup. Because the U.S. was losing 0-2 at half-time after a horrific showing in the first half by the U.S. team, I was pretty perturbed at the beginning of the event. However, I followed the game on my Blackberry during the ceremony, and as the U.S. came back - first 1-2 early in the second half, then tying it 2-2 near the end - I was in a much better mood.) (Also, all of the daycare teachers teared up during the graduation ceremony. This was probably the most notable aspect of the event for me - while the teachers see lots of kids come through the center, it's good to know that they really feel some attachment to specific kids.)

So Margaret is now an "graduate" of daycare. In other notable news, Teddy pooped in the potty for the first time ever tonight. Because he befouls himself almost every day after getting home, I put him on the potty in front of a video and told him that he couldn't get up (but could keep watching videos) until he did something in the potty. I'm not terribly keen on the TV/video as a way to occupy the kids, but it appears to be about the only way to actually get the boy to sit on the potty, given that he generally shows little to no interest in it. In the end, he was successful which, quite frankly, I view as an accomplishment that (almost) rivals Margaret's "graduation" from daycare in the big scheme of things.