Katie Then and Now

Katie's recent graduation from preschool prompted a lot of memories of her first days there.  We had no idea what we were getting in to...  Would she have severe separation anxiety?  Would she be the kid that other parents complain about?  Trouble keeping up in class?  Come home crying every day?  There were lots of ways we imagined it going wrong.  The teachers even prepped us on how to leave her the first day ("go with her on the playground, let her get involved in something, and then slip away quietly").   We expected her first day to be like one of her friends, who cried so hard in the car that she vomited on her dress.

But Katie did great from the start.  The morning of the first day she was at the front door encouraging us to hurry.  We left her on the playground and, to our surprise, she didn't mind.   Each day we expected to have to drag her to school crying, but we never did.  The teachers periodically alerted us to potential trouble spots ("after the holidays is tough") but she was a trooper and it was never an issue.  We were so proud.

Going to the first conference with her teachers made us nervous all over again.  Is she the kid that drives the teachers crazy?  Is this when they tell us that she needs to go to military school?  But she was fine.  They said they can see the wheels in her mind turning, but she's hesitant to express her thoughts.  It wasn't until the next year that those thoughts really burst out... and never stopped.  They said that every morning she would go right for the swings and swing for about 10 minutes, watching everyone else.  Then she was ready to start her day and play.  It was her routine and she stuck to it.

One day when I dropped Katie off, I told her teacher Suzanne that she went to bed late so she may be really tired.  Suzanne didn't hesitate and said that Katie was a trooper and she was certain that she would plow right through it.  And she was right.  Katie is a trooper.  Whenever she had to deal with a difficult situation or didn't feel well, she plowed right through it and kept going.... but sometimes with the help of a bribe of a hot fudge sundae at Old McDonald's.

Along the way she made lots of good friends.  Some of them she knew for all three years -- Tookie, Ben, Andrew, Lydia, Isla, Quinn, Abbie, Zak, and Sam.  Others like Ava, Gemma, and Meera she met later.  They were all good kids and they learned a lot from each other.  Lydia even taught Katie how to tie her shoes.

We couldn't imagine a better three years of preschool for Katie or a better place.  BHCP was an incredibly nurturing and supportive environment.  We never worried about her there which is pretty amazing in itself.  The teachers were so great with letting the kids be kids and allowing them to discover their creative instincts.  We see a lot of BHCP's influence in Katie's originality and curiosity.

After school, Katie and Nancy would usually hang out on the playground with many of the other kids  and parents.  It was there that many lasting friendships were formed.  Peter even got in on the act this year and attracted a crowd of kids to chase him around, particularly Leana, Tookie, Abbie, and Jillian.  He may be the one that misses BHCP the most next year.

So in a few months Katie will start kindergarden but we're not ready to think about that yet.

Click here to read the blog post from her first day of preschool.  Below are some extra photos from her first day of school as well as some that were photoshopped together to show how much she's grown during her 3 years at BHCP.


Katie and Tookie on the first day of preschool.


Katie and Tookie on the last day of preschool.


Katie and Tookie build a time machine to travel back and visit lil' Katie and lil' Tookie.


Katie on the first and last day of preschool.


Katie began and ended her preschool career at her favorite spot -- on the swings.

Other pictures from her first day which we just recently discovered:







"I'm not too keen on the head-touching thing."






Congratulations Katie!  We're very proud of you!