Carter.

I have so much to say about this boy lately.  Ah, age 4 is so much fun.  Full of wonder, full of spunk, full of questions, and full of budding independence.  I wouldn't trade a thing, and I am doing my best trying to drink in each and every quirky, funny thing this sweet boy does.  I am such a fan of him!

At then end of May (yes, over a month ago!), he finished this year of preschool.  He was slated to miss the last day and end of the year/graduation party because we were to be in Idaho for Berkley's graduation, which I still need to blog about.  But his amazing teacher (she really is the best), held a mini celebration for him during class on his last day.  I was subbing, so wasn't there, but she emailed me the pictures.  How sweet of her.  You may realize that all the kids AND adults are in their pjs- she also moved the end of the year 'PJ Day' to that day so Carter could participate since she knew how he was looking forward to it!

Carter has grown up so much this year.  He was so excited to go to 'pee-sool' and loved it.  He also really loves his mama, so there were a few days of tearful goodbyes.  Thankfully those were the exception and not the rule.  Usually he sent me off with an, "I love you!", a "Drive Seeeefe!", a hug and a wave.  By the end of the year he was able to negotiate other kids to some extent and also let an adult know if he needed help or had a problem.  He also identified several of the kids in his class as 'friends'.  So proud of him and the big kid he is becoming.

With the coming addition to our family, there were times this year where I considered moving him to a different preschool next year.  We love 'our' preschool, but it's a cooperative, which means that families participate in different aspects of the running of the preschool; mostly by fundraisers and working in the classroom 2-3 days a month.  With all the unknowns of our adoption, I wasn't sure we could pull it off.  I still don't know what the future will look like in that respect, but one morning I went to pick Carter up and he told me he had to talk to his teacher.  He went to her, and voiced his concern/hurt/dismay/issue over something.  I have no idea what it even was now, but to watch him deal with something, especially when I was right there and he could have buried his head in my leg or acted out for me instead of approaching an adult and actually talking?  I realized then that I would move Heaven and Earth to keep him at that preschool next year, especially considering all the unknowns that the next several months of our lives may hold.