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.
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.
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!
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??
Those are preschool portraits??? Only in New York!
Bloody gorgeous kid, she is. These are precious and like you said, really capture Mazzy’s blooming personality.
But wait, Harlow is starting preschool next year? How old will that make her? My Harlow could start 3-year-old preschool next year but that would make her one of the youngest in her class – in some cases by a whole year.
Oh Mazzy is just so beautiful. I wept when my eldest left preschool last year. He was totally ready for big school and has loved every minute and just flourished, but I wasn’t at all ready for my baby to be so big. Luckily I was pregnant with #3 at the time so blamed it on hormones… Judging from the camera working in her last pics (seriously, soooo beautiful) I have a feeling Mazzy will take kindergarten totally in her stride!
Harlow is starting what they call Toddler Transitions which is a preschool class for kids who turn two between September and December. So Harlow will be two for the majority of the year. It’s the same aged program as Mazzy in the first set of photos. It’s two days a week for a couple of hours. We don’t have to do it but it was really good for Mazzy and it helps alleviate the stress of getting into preschool the following year when there is way more competition.
I’ve seen you saying lots of times how weird it would be to have someone childless reading your blog… Well I guess I am weird then! Even worse – I cried seeing those pictures. She seems so happy and you described perfectly how we can notice she growing up and becoming confident and happier, more and more.
I guess I need my own kids to get emotional about. Someday! 🙂
I love your blog and your kids are just too sweet to be true. Congratulations!
I can’t believe those are her school pictures! My son (20 months) just got his taken a few weeks ago, and they look like mug shots. The class picture is so bad, I bought it just because it made me laugh every time I looked at it. Half the kids are crying, the other half are staring into space with a blank look on their face. Every school picture ever taken of my son (and we have them starting when he was 8 weeks old) are absolutely horrible.
we had our son’s preschool graduation recently too, and it is definitely bittersweet! but I had no idea there was kindergarten for 4 year olds! of course, we are doing public school, so i guess we are restricted on when to start, and boys always seem to be behind girls at this age, so it’s good.
What a cutie! Love how she’s grown into her own little personality and you can see it in the photos!
Mazzy will be five in December 2014 so it’s actually public schools that say she is ready for kindergarten- their cut off is the end of the year. Private schools all have different rules, but mainly use September as the cut-off. We thought Mazzy should have been in the 4s preschool program this year and argued for it heavily, but lost that battle and she ended up being the oldest in the threes class. I have always felt that was the wrong fit for her.
Jack graduated from preschool eleven years ago (I almost can’t believe I just typed that).
The kids wore caps and gowns and a guitarist played and sang the song “I Hope You Dance,” which was popular at the time.
Seriously. Those lyrics should be illegal.
Maybe in eleven more years they won’t make me cry.
Congratulations, mama.
Believe me, you won’t ever be completely ready.
My oldest is starting kindergarten in the fall as well. His pre-k graduation is next week, and I also have mixed feelings about this transition. But I share 100% your sentiments about Mad Men. My favorite show ever. Don’t know what will fill that void after it’s finished for good!
Want Mad Men to live on forever? It’s called fanfiction, my friend. Where you can read stories about the continuing lives of your favorite characters as if they were told by a slightly literate kindergartner. (Okay, so some is actually really good, and I suggest you check it out if the withdrawals get too bad).
She is beautiful! I cried a little, too. Partly because how sweet it is to see her genuine smile and your description of it, and partly because goddamn it if those aren’t 200 times better than our crappy school photographer. We get to choose between electric blue textured background and a faux fence and barn background. It’s one step up from the laser show background from our youth.
My oldest turned 5(!) yesterday and will start Kindergarten this fall. I just can’t believe it! He absolutely cannot wait. And like what you’ve already been through, because the school we’re zoned in has a cap on enrollment, we’re unsure where he’ll go to school and may not know for sure until August.
Absolutely beautiful little girl!
She is just gorgeous!!.. and can I say I am a tad jealous that Mazzy had so much hair at 20 months! My 21 month old still has hair to grow in on top, she has the comb-over look going on uptop which only can be worn in so many ways.
Either way congrats to Mazzy on getting into her new school!
She is gorgeous ! Hopefully they’ll be taking photos of both Mazzy & Harlow together !! Precious years !
interesting how it varies! here in virginia sept birthdays are the cut off date for kindergarten.
meant to say for public schools for kindergarten. i am sure she will do great! i love seeing how much kids change!
#worldsmostphotogenicchild.
also- as a fellow manhattan mom, just reading “2’s program” sent shivers down my spine and made me throw up a little in my mouth. it’s a truly terrifying experience. when will harlow start school?
Oh really? I’m childless and this is one of my favorite blogs 🙂
As in… I check in on it multiple times a day so I don’t miss anything. And my husband knows exactly what I’m talking about when I say I’m reading Mommy Shorts 🙂
Awww this pictures give me bitter sweet feelings. They make me happy cause Mazzy is so precious and I’m happy for her milestone and the new chapter that she starts going to Kindergarten. Sad, cause I started reading your blog when she was 2! I can’t believe how fast the time goes by! and I know that my son is just following Mazzy’s steps, he is almost 3! I started reading your blog when I was pregnant with him. I’m glad that I’ve been here to see her turn into this amazing kid, and i’m happy that your career as a free-lance blogger is so successful! Congratulations and I can’t wait to keep reading about you and your family!
Aw. I remember sitting through two preschool graduations when my daughter went at 3 & 4. She’s 7 and a half now and is officially a second grader. Time flies and all that. But my BABY (my 4yo boy) starts pre-k in September. He’ll only go for one year though. The thought of his graduation already makes me want to cry!
I’m officially jealous of your school pictures. I love looking back at my son’s school pictures over the past few years but mostly with a snarky attitude as I can definitely take better pictures of my kids than that! Our favorite is his kindergarten picture in which he appears to have no neck and reminds us very much of Brick from The Middle. Someone needs to tell our school’s photographers that it’s time to step up their game!
I get you! I just think I am younger than the average readers.
My boyfriend knows, too! I told him a few stories about Harlow and this weekend he asked me if I was a little monkey just to see me say ‘NO!’, like she did at the pediatrician.
Nice to know I am not alone! 🙂
She’s a beautiful girl!
Ill admit I’ve got a case of the sads now though. My little guy ended his preschool career as well and I’m not sure how to feel about it. He’s just growing too quickly!
Makes sense. I’ll be looking to put my Harlow into a 3 hour playgroup next year because I think they need that stimulation.
And I forget you guys have wacky school terms that start in the middle of the year! I guess that’s so the school break occurs in summer rather than winter, right?
Awesome blog Ilana. I’m going to send you an email this week about a baby topic I’m researching.
I’m a childless teenager and I love this blog, which is DEFINITELY weird, but yeah.
It never gets easier! Each year I sob the last day of school because they’re another year older AND then I sob again at the start of the year because summer is over and they’re STILL another year older. If like to find a way to bottle time and make it happen more slowly!
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