Griffin's Day

It is a tradition in our family that before starting kindergarten you get to plan the entire day for your last official Mommy Day.  Griffin has been planning his last Mommy Day for months and after hemming and hawing came up with his list of must dos:

- Snuggle on the couch
- Go for a Hike
- Eat ice cream
- Go to either Panera or Cheeburger Cheeburger for lunch
- Go to Build a Bear

We found out a week before his big day that he would also have to fit in his kindergarten screening and an open house with his soon to be classmates.  This led to a crunch time in the scheduling because we just couldn't get all of it in before we had to pick up his brothers at school.

We started the day with snuggles and read a few books cuddled up under a big blanket.  Then we were off to Build a Bear for our first activity.  After Griffin picked his bear and was getting it stuffed, the attendant asked him if there was any special reason for his visit today.

He nodded yes, smiled and replied, "It's my last day all alone with my mommy before I start kindergarten."

Griffin looked thrilled and proud.  I, on the other hand, welled up with tears immediately and became the crazy crying mom in the Build a Bear.  I am not sure how many parents break down and sob in Build a Bear, but from the look on the attendant's face, I am guessing not many.  (I wanted to cry again when I realized I just shelled out almost $50 for a bear we made in about ten minutes.  Yikes.)

After Build a Bear, we had to get to Griffin's kindergarten screening.  He walked into school like a rock star, chatting with the principal and the gym teacher as if he had been at the school for years.  The kindergarten screening lasted only about five minutes.  Usually, after the screening is complete, the teacher will have the child color while they discuss with you what they missed or what they need to work on, but for Griffin, the teacher came out of the classroom, gave a shrug of her shoulders, smiled and said, "He knows everything."

I laughed, but I wasn't surprised.  Our G is an old soul.

We stayed at the school for open house to chat with the parents and Griffin's classmates.  We got his school supplies unpacked, found his cubby and his desk.  But after twenty minutes, we quietly snuck out so we could go enjoy your lunch date.  After going back and forth as to where he wanted to eat lunch, Griffin finally settled on Cheeburger Cheeburger, but we had to sit at the counter.

So we did.  We sat at the counter together.  We played tic tac toe and made up jokes.  We talked and even snuggled a bit.  It was a perfect lunch date.

After lunch, Griffin decided we had to fit in ice cream.  We went to Coldstone where he picked his favorite treat - cotton candy ice cream with gummy bear mix-ins.  A happy guy indeed.

All too soon, Griffin's day had come to an end.  No more Mommy Days alone, just the two of us.  It's time to move up and on to kindergarten.