School's Out for the Weekend (Ode to all teachers)

Iver is leaving his "first" school, Little Learners, where he's been in childcare since he was just over one, over three and a half years ago (Niall's been in the infant room at the same site for one year).  I read this article by pastor John Pavlovitz with tears in my eyes, as we're so grateful for the wonderful teachers who have loved him as their own-- caring for littles is just about the hardest (while under-appreciated and under-paid) and incredibly important job out there.

 Here he is as a one-year-old starting in the infant room in 2016.

Here he is as a four-and-a-half-year-old, saying goodbye to the "preschool room" and his dear teachers. 

Teacher Maddie

Teacher Gloria, who has been amazing for both of our boys

Teacher Karina

Teacher Cila, the site director, and a wonderful human being.

I scoured my computer and phone but unfortunately couldn't locate a picture of teacher Angela, who is also extremely dear to Iver, any better than this graduation-cropped one from the Facebook group.

Angela was there early on Mondays to greet the kids after the weekend, which can be a hard time for slow-to-transition kids like our oldest. She took Iver to private swim lessons for much of the summer, even doing lesson planning, when he is very particular about who he'd let babysit/care for him. She gave him small prizes for good effort, including a Frozen-themed digital watch which he now keeps on him for every waking moment (and which has helped him learn how to tell time, do math, and be punctual!), his most prized possession at this time. I heard that, when she left for the day early Friday afternoon, it was pretty emotional.

Iver is on to pre-K next week. He's been pretty notably anxious about the transition, requesting that we visit his new classroom in advance of starting on Tuesday (but seems to have a good attitude about it).  We will certainly be back at LLC for Niall's drop-offs and pick-ups (he'll move up to the toddler room next month), and Iver will be able to visit his old stomping grounds and reconnect with his old loves. 

We are so blessed to have crossed paths with these unbelievable souls and owe so much to Shannon, the owner, and her Little Learners team for caring so well for our spirited, sensitive son (and his younger brother). As Pavlovitz concludes so eloquently, 

"... Within a few miles of wherever you are reading this, a fierce army of sleep-deprived, woefully under supported, horribly underpaid do-gooders is willingly braving the daily bullets, bruises, and battles, so that your children can become the glorious adults they were designed to be. 

To all you ordinary classroom superheroes on the planet, who may not hear it often enough, loud enough, or perhaps at all: Thank you.

Thank you for enduring the countless weird, individual quirks of dozens of kids, for learning how they specifically think and process things, and for seeking to speak their brain’s personal language so that they feel heard and seen and known.

Thank you for the rest that you forfeit, the off-the-clock hours you give up, the money you take from your own pocket, and for the thousands of small sacrifices that no one will ever see from a distance. Thank you for the part of you that you give away to other people’s children.

Thank you for continually fighting through defiance and shyness, through laziness and silliness, through absentee parents and violent home lives, and getting intimately close to the hearts of your kids.

Though we often don’t stop to say it, we know just how much you do and just how fortunate all our children are to have you battling for them every single day.

Thank you most of all, for the very heroic way that without cape or costume, you fly in and you literally save kids—and in doing so, you save the world."

We love all of you teachers!