Today was Taelyn's last day of school at her South African preschool. We leave next week for our summer travels, and then Taelyn will start at our school in August. To celebrate her last day, Taelyn's teacher put together a going away party for her and her friend, Rafi, who is also ending at the school. We work with his parents, and they are now moving back to the US this summer.
In preparation for the going away party, Taelyn has been asking all week, "Is it my sailing away party today?!" After correcting the word "sailing" a few times, she would still ask the same question but then stop and ask, "Wait, mom, what's my party called again?"
At the party, Taelyn brought in cupcakes that we made the night before, and gave them to her classmates, the "Rockets." Taelyn and Rafi were the guests of honor and performed a little song before cupcake time. After cupcakes, they got to play with their friends on the playground for one last time.
It has been really interesting (and heartbreaking at times) to hear Taelyn's thinking process out loud as she puts together what it means to leave one school and start at another. It all began when she learned that Rafi was moving back to the US. For a couple of weeks, she told us how she didn't want him to go. We took that opporunity to talk to her about how someday we will move away from South Africa too. Then at the start of this past week, it hit her that she would not be going back to her school any more and that she wouldn't be able to play with her best Rocket buddies, Michael and Kale. Taelyn has been excited to come to our school all year long, but last week she started to mention that she didn't want to go there and leave her school. So we took her to her new school over the weekend to show her her new teacher's classroom (Ms. Kate) and her new playground. She LOVED the school and was thrilled that she will be going there. That definitely helped for this week as she said goodbye to her current school. She was completely okay with and is now ready to join the American school when we get from our summer vacation.
Here is a look at Taelyn's "sailing" away party and some of her schoolwork and artwork from the school year.
In preparation for the going away party, Taelyn has been asking all week, "Is it my sailing away party today?!" After correcting the word "sailing" a few times, she would still ask the same question but then stop and ask, "Wait, mom, what's my party called again?"
At the party, Taelyn brought in cupcakes that we made the night before, and gave them to her classmates, the "Rockets." Taelyn and Rafi were the guests of honor and performed a little song before cupcake time. After cupcakes, they got to play with their friends on the playground for one last time.
It has been really interesting (and heartbreaking at times) to hear Taelyn's thinking process out loud as she puts together what it means to leave one school and start at another. It all began when she learned that Rafi was moving back to the US. For a couple of weeks, she told us how she didn't want him to go. We took that opporunity to talk to her about how someday we will move away from South Africa too. Then at the start of this past week, it hit her that she would not be going back to her school any more and that she wouldn't be able to play with her best Rocket buddies, Michael and Kale. Taelyn has been excited to come to our school all year long, but last week she started to mention that she didn't want to go there and leave her school. So we took her to her new school over the weekend to show her her new teacher's classroom (Ms. Kate) and her new playground. She LOVED the school and was thrilled that she will be going there. That definitely helped for this week as she said goodbye to her current school. She was completely okay with and is now ready to join the American school when we get from our summer vacation.
Here is a look at Taelyn's "sailing" away party and some of her schoolwork and artwork from the school year.
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