Mission Accomplished!

I know what you're thinking, but I promised Grandma Judy that I'd keep my political opinions off this blog. Therefore, the "Mission Accomplished" title does not refer to President Bush's declaration -- FIVE YEARS AGO -- that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended." No, I'm not going to go all political on your ass... no matter how corrupt, incompetent and embarrassing I might believe Dubya to be. He's just another out-of-touch neo-con Fascist -- who apparently has extremely high moral values -- but I've learned to accept this fact and am no longer bitter. Really. I've moved on.

Instead, I'm referring to Claire's recent graduation from INFANCY to TODDLERHOOD. Yesterday was Claire's last day of school AND Graduation Day. Next fall, Claire will move on to the Toddler Room in her Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) classes. So, to celebrate yesterday's milestone, Claire brought Momma to class for Show-and-Tell. She showed off Momma and told all the other kids "I have the best Momma in the world!" Oh, and Stew pulled a Cindy McCain by bringing Apple Kuchen and telling everyone "it's Claire's grandma's secret recipe" when he actually downloaded it from The Food Network website.

As usual, Claire was the first to arrive to class, so she showed Momma how she plays with toys while awaiting the arrival of the other kids. After 15 minutes, no other kids had arrived and one of the teacher's commented that Claire might be the only kid in school today. Stew, being the witty lad he is, replied that "it's like Senior Skip Day" (referring to the last day of school when the coolest high school seniors skip class to go drink beer and play cards at Mark Gibbs' house until Stew's brother phones to tell him "the school called Mom... she knows you're skipping class, and you're in deep sh*t... get to school NOW!"). Anyway, the three teachers all giggled like little school girls while saying "you're so funny, Stew"... all the while glaring at Momma with a you-are-so-lucky-you're-here-Linda-because-we-would-all-jump-Stew's-bones-because-he-is-so-darn-cute-and-sexy look on their faces. Then Stew added, "Claire must be a nerd for showing up to class on Senior Skip Day" thereby teaching Claire the all important lesson that studious is synonymous with nerd. Nice job, SuperDad...

Anyway, Claire wants to go outside to play, so I'd best close this post. I leave you with a slew of photos from yesterday. Enjoy!

It was also Water Day at school yesterday, so the kids got to play in some strange table that held water so the kids could touch and play in it. But here's Claire telling Momma, "but I don't want to play in the water... I'd rather play on the slide."

Claire really likes to go down the slide... backwards. This little girl follows the beat of her own drum!
Momma had to leave early to get to a meeting, but Claire was too busy playing to tell Momma "bye-bye". After she noticed Momma was gone, Claire headed for the classroom door to try to go catch Momma in the parking lot. But she got distracted by a stuffed, purple bunny and went back to playtime...
Then it was class photo time. Is anyone else wondering, "why did Stew sit up front... so close to the camera?" Looking at this photo, I'm thinking Stew must go to the same hair stylist as Claire. Yikes!
Then it was snack time...
When Claire and the others were presented with their diplomas (plus a container of playdough hand-made by the teachers)!
Stew made ravioli for dinner last night, but he left the pasta sauce too close to the edge of the counter... within Claire's reach. Don't worry... it wasn't heated or anything. It was in tupperware awaiting placement in the refridgerator (more on the dangers of Tupperware in a future post).
And finally... here's Claire posing with her diploma (certificate) this morning. Congratulations, Claire!