Kindergarten Year Synopsis

The time finally came. Levi graduated from Kindergarten. And to tell you the truth, it's all a bit surreal for me. Do you ever have one of those moments where you're sitting there looking at your kids and you sort of space off and as you're looking at them, you can't believe that it's your life? And you have to touch them to bring yourself back to reality?
Well, that's how it's been with Levi lately. This past year has been a big one for him. Not only has he gone through a growth spurt and changed his look (ya know, since the big gangly permanent teeth came in), but he's big. As in, he's really not a baby anymore. He lost that 'baby' quality when he walked through those front doors his first day of elementary school. If you blink, you'll miss it.

I remember the first time I heard him read, I could NOT believe what I was hearing! My child is reading??! I remember the first really naughty thing he did shortly after his start of kindergarten that assured me he's been around other kids and not in the confines and shelter of home. You begin to understand that you can't protect them as much anymore. And it scared me. It didn't scare me enough to take him out of kindergarten and give up my precious time without him, but it did scare me.

Here's a chronological account of the past year of Levi's life:

Levi FINALLY becomes a big brother! He was so excited for Faith to come home. He was always very cute with her, but in the first three weeks of Faith's life, Levi completely ignored my existence. I was glad when he grew out of that. I missed him.

Levi is a ham in real life and in any and all pictures taken of him. He's got the 'it' factor. He came up with this pose all by himself.

There was a time we were extremely scared for Levi last year. He was experiencing frequent, severe headaches that would last anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. He had to have an MRI to make sure he was okay. John had just finished his chemotherapy and Faith was tiny. We just sort of sighed and asked Heavenly Father, "What else?" Thankfully, the MRI turned out normal. He has only had a couple episodes since the MRI. I'm hoping he's grown out of them.

Here's Levi on his first day of Kindergarten. He looks so much smaller there to me than he looks now. He still had that 'baby quality'. I don't know if it's because I have Faith that he seems so grown up to me or if he'd seem that grown up to me anyway. Either way you look at it, it's bittersweet. I'm happy that he's grown up, but wish I had a remote control so I could look at the young moments in his life now and then.

Levi has lost 5 teeth since his start of kindergarten, making it a total of 7 since he lost two in preschool. He is one of the youngest kindergartners, definitely the smallest in his class, but has the most teeth missing.

A picture before the ganglies came in.

Levi shot his first BB gun this year. Just proving how big he is. See him with his Dad? That's the person he would choose to be with 24/7. Just one more piece of evidence of how much he's grown up. He used to want ME all the time. He'd beg to snuggle with ME on the couch. I'm just the lady that gets him going during the day now. The real fun doesn't start until Daddy is home.

This last year has been met with lots of laughter...

And its share of tears and whining...

But what I've noticed most about Levi this year is how much he's grown. And I don't just mean that his pants look more like capris. I mean he's really grown. He's helpful. He makes his bed every day. He's learning. He just 'gets it' more. And he's happy. And that makes me happy.

Here's Levi on field day after school. I thought he'd be totally excited all day long. But he really wasn't. I think he didn't really get what 'Field Day' was and what it entailed. Would he have to pick up garbage in the field? Run around in the field? What exactly is a field anyway?

This post wouldn't be complete without a tiny snippet of the Kindergarten program. He's the one in the dark green and gray striped polo on the second to back row. Even if you're not family, you might enjoy this video. For some reason during the song, the music stops and all the kids from then on just can't seem to keep going. They're all in shock.

Here's Levi performing his magic trick for millions of people. Okay, not millions, but close. The entire ward feels like millions to a 5 year old, okay? I promise you won't be sorry if you watch this. This is what I'm talking about when I say he has the 'it' factor. He's a performer.