5-years-old now . . . 10 before you know it.
Close your eyes for a moment. Remember when your child entered your life? She was so small. With just one arm, you could carry him around. Yet that little bundle activated a monumental shift. Forever more, this teeny person would (and will) bring love, exhaustion, joy, tears, laughter, worry, pride, frustration, surprise, and awe to your existence.
At first that baby was completely dependent on you. Then before you knew it your child was ready to explore the world, engage and communicate, not just with you, but with peers.
You sent your child off to school, to CBI.
You watched as that tiny person grew from a toddler in diapers learning how to use her 5 senses to a child who reads and writes, counts and adds, imagines and creates, empathizes and negotiates - a child independent in so many ways. New worlds opened not just for your child, but for you as a parent, connecting you with others navigating the fabulous, sometimes overwhelming world of early childhood.
As the author Alice Walker wrote,
"Time moves slowly but passes quickly."
Now your child is 5 years old.
You prepare yourself for a new monumental shift: leaving the world of preschool and kindergarten and entering "big kid" life.
But you're not the only ones preparing yourselves. Each one of your children has captured a special spot in the hearts of CBI teachers.
We remember them as 18-month-olds,
as 2's, as 3's, as 4's,
and now as 5's.
We watched, with amazement, as these tiny people showed us how competent, engaged, and clever they could be.
Close your eyes again. When your child was born, could you have imagined the person that she has become? Can you imagine what he will be like 5 years from now?
That moment will be here before you know it.
"Moments (of joy) come when the heart dances in the light. An experience touches us to the depths of our souls, and in that moment we are graced with a vision - if only fleetingly - of the flawless wholeness and perfection of it all. Then the heart fills and flows over, even amid the brokenness of this world." (Alan Morinis)
Children make our hearts dance in the light. Each day they offer us moments of sweetness and awe (though sometimes you have to search for those moments between tantrums, sleeplessness, and havoc). We must notice the sacredness of those moments, though they are fleeting, because they are worthy of blessing.
And now we present, the soon-to-be graduating class of CBI Preschool and Kindergarten.
From toddlers to Kindergarteners, in the blink of an eye
"Yesterday a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star
And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game"
- Joni Mitchell
