Mazzy_three_years_of_preschool

Last week, Mike and I were watching Mad Men and realized there are only six more episodes until the series finale. Not the SEASON finale. The SERIES finale.

It was a sad moment where I thought wistfully about Peggy's rise to advertising big wig and about how much I will miss Don's carefully coiffed hair. Mad Men has been my favorite show since its inception, and I am not ready for it to be over. I want to keep those characters inside Sterling Cooper forever.

It's similar to my feelings at Mazzy's Preschool Graduation last Friday.

All the parents were lined up in tiny chairs excited to see the children put on their "end of the year" show, but of course, it was bittersweet. I realized this was not just the end of the school year. It marked the end of Mazzy's entire preschool career. 

I don't think I am quite ready for that to be over either.

Next year, Mazzy will be heading off to kindergarten.

If you are a fellow parent in Manhattan, I know you have a million questions— where is she going??? how many places did you apply? are you going public or private? are you zoned for a good school? did you move to get into a better district? did she do well on the G&T tests? how about Hunter???

The seemingly full-time job of getting your child a decent education in Manhattan is HARD WORK. 

If you ever meet me for lunch, I would be happy to dish about all things school application related. But for the purposes of this blog (and for safety reasons), I am not going to disclose where Mazzy is going to school next year.

I will say that with Mazzy being a December birthday, it narrowed down our options considerably (many schools use a September cut-off) so I feel like we had an easier time than most. We got to experience the tests, the tours, the interviews and the playdates— but fewer of them and with some of the pressure off, because we knew we could just send Mazzy back to preschool if we didn't like the outcome.

As it happens, Mazzy got into a school we are very happy with (I think) where she will start next year in kindergarten. Whether Mike or I are ready for Mazzy to start kindergarten doesn't really matter— we both know Mazzy is ready. Our apprehensions are mainly a sadness in moving forward.

To celebrate her preschool graduation, I asked Stomping Ground, the photography studio that has taken Mazzy's class portraits for the past three years, if I could post the progression. 

Stomping Ground's photos go beyond traditional school photos and really capture the essence of your kid. They don't try to take a perfectly behaved shot— they let their subjects be themselves. In the photos below, I not only see a little girl growing up, I see a little girl going from shy and unsure to outgoing and confident.

I see Mazzy finding her smile.

In the Toddler Transitions program, Mazzy looks like she has no idea why a stranger is taking her photo.

Mazzy_toddler_transitions

In the twos program, Mazzy hadn't quite learned to pull off a fake smile yet. In the end, the photographer got her to laugh and captured something really genuine. The bottom right is one of my favorite pictures of Mazzy ever taken.

Mazzy_twos_preschool

In the threes class, Mazzy appears to have grown from a little girl with a fake smile to a total ham who has the photographer wrapped around her little finger. You want smiles? I'll give you smiles! You want my profile? I'll give you a head turn with a twist!

Mazzy_threes_preschool

Mazzy_class_photo

It's crazy to look back at how much Mazzy has changed since she started preschool at just 20 months old. It's even crazier to think that Harlow will be starting preschool and taking her first class photo next year.

One child leaves, the other enters.

Now what's going to replace Mad Men??