Our Little Graduate

On Friday morning Westwood Montessori held their annual school concert and graduation ceremonies. Our little Bradybug officially graduated from preschool to Kindergarten. Sadly, Kevin was on a plane to Pittsburgh for work while our girl was on stage, but Grandma & Grandpa joined me in cheering her on and ensuring we got lots of pictures. (Sorry Kev, but I don't think you'll be too happy with the video - I was so nervous for Bradyn that my hands were shaking!)

As part of the graduating class, Bradyn had several leadership roles in her class' performances this year. I cannot express in words how proud of her I was as she pulled everything off flawlessly.

In the first act, the graduating children from Ms Henryka's class each did readings. This was followed by the non-graduates asking the graduates if they knew the days of the week, the months of the year and how to count by 10 (all to music, of course).

Here are Bradyn and Declan doing their reading: "I'm happy there's a moon and sky. And when I got to bed, lay down my sleep head, I'm happy there's you and I". I absolutely love that they have their pieces of paper that they read their lines off of because it's just a prop - Bradyn doesn't know how to read!

Here she is doing her solo reading about the earth: "Everything we learned about water in daycare was amaaazing. It's hard to believe that 3/4 of water covers our beautiful planet earth".

One of the big differences this year was that Bradyn was fully engaged and performing throughout all of their songs - no wallflower this year! Here she is singing "Listen to the water".

By the way, Bradyn personally chose her dress for the concert this year - it had to be fancy (and it came with a matching purse)! She agonized over seeing it hanging in the closet, not being able to wear it. Then, Easter presents from Nana & Poppa arrived and guess what? She got another dress exactly the same! Bradyn was thrilled, because it meant she could now wear her beloved dress and still have one in perfect condition for the concert. Thank you Nana - your choice couldn't have been more perfect!

Here they are singing "Shoo fly, don't bother me". Specifically they're at the part where they're singing "I feel, I feel, I feel like a morning star".

Ms Henryka told me after the concert how proud she was of Bradyn, especially during their French song performance. Apparently, during rehearsals Bradyn was conducting the musicians with just one stick. As they were walking onto the stage Ms Henryka had suggested that it would look better if Bradyn conducted with both sticks. She took the last-minute advice in stride and pulled it off beautifully.

It was absolutely adorable when she would step out in front of the group, stand on her yellow X, turn around to be the conductor and then go back to her place in line when she was done. She was so animated while doing it and even motioned for them to get louder or softer. I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I took the easy way out this year when it came to Bradyn's costume requirement. For this segment titled 'The Ant and the Grasshopper', Bradyn was one of the hard-working ants. One of the moms offered to make the ant costumes so I quickly threw in my $7 for supplies and let her do it. Honestly, I did miss working with Kevin on it this year, but I'm certain there will be many more opportunities in the future.
One of the sweetest parts of the concert was when the kids would finish singing, then rush the front of the stage yelling 'Hi Mommy', 'Hi Daddy'. A few of them almost got stuck out in front of the curtain.

Here it is.... the part of the concert where my hands were shaking like crazy, the tears were welling up in my eyes and my chest could not have been any fuller with pride. Bradyn strode across that stage with not a hint of shyness and confidently took her certificate from Miss Jennifer.

Bradyn is so proud of this certificate!

Here is Bradyn with her husband Caleb. (Long story short, they're in love, are planning to go a date when they are 17 and were 'married' during their play date a few weeks ago. Apparently this relationship is causing some jealousy issues with some of the other girls in her class.)

Bradyn and Abby

Bradyn and Ms Cheryl. When Bradyn didn't get into the Mandarin Bilingual program, Ms Cheryl promised to teach her a few things.

Bradyn and Ms Henryka. When Bradyn first started at Westwood, I admit I was a bit concerned because it felt like every time I saw Ms Henryka, she was pointing out some 'issue' with Bradyn. 3 years later, I now know that this lady is a wonderful teacher with a huge heart and she loves all of her students as if they were her own children.

Bradyn and her buddy Alexander. I love this picture because it captures their relationship - they goof around together but they are also very caring towards each other. Alexander will be heading to French Immersion with Bradyn in the fall - not sure if we should hope for them to be in the same class or not....

This is one of my favourites....Bradyn just looks so happy and confident. I know in my heart that this little girl is going to do some pretty amazing things in her lifetime.

On the way out of the theatre we were able to get a photo with Ms Jolanta. Ms Jolanta is the wonderful teacher that supervises the classroom where Bradyn stays in the morning when I drop her off, before her teachers come and collect their kids. This lady has a heart of gold and the strength of steel. There have been MANY mornings where she has had to help peel Bradyn off my neck, wipe her tears and distract her while I rushed off to work.

After the concert we headed to Red Robin for lunch with Grandma & Grandpa. They should have been giving a discount for the kids from Westwood because there ended up being 4 kids from Bradyn's class there (and probably more arrived after we were gone).

Here we are - me and my little graduate. I can't even imagine the mess I'm going to be when she graduates from Grade 5 into Middle School. Much like 1,2,3,A,B,C, Westwood Montessori has been an amazing daycare and we are very blessed to have had Bradyn attend there for the last 3 years. Over the next few months many of the children in Bradyn's class will be departing - either because they don't attend in the summer, or because they will be heading off to their new daycares for the fall. It makes me sad to see these friendships end but at the same time I'm excited for Bradyn and the new adventures she is going to embark on. Thankfully, she will still be part of the Westwood family because she'll still be there for before and after school care for the next 6 years (fingers crossed).