Big girl

There has been some exciting talk at preschool lately.  Class rosters must be shifting, because rumor has it that Zoey's good friends DJ and Maddie are moving up to the Owl room on Monday.  Zoey is thrilled and has printed 'DJ' painstakingly in the square for January 10 on her brand new Dora calendar.  I am also excited, as I know both DJ and Maddie's parents and actually like them.  It's been a long four months of listening to back-and-forth 'I love Alix and played with her all day!' at one pick-up to 'Alix doesn't want to be my friend and I told her to go away' the next.  It's a tricky business, cultivating friendships for your children.  While Zoey is still young and I have some say in the matter, I definitely don't want to encourage relationships with kids who have odd or annoying parents.  But daycare is a crapshoot because sometimes you don't meet the parents until it's too late.  Then you're stuck on a play date with a mom who believes in extreme couponing or wants to discuss the size of her third child's placenta ad nauseum. 

I'm just saying.  We're both happy DJ and Maddie are moving up.  But that means someone in Zoey's current class must be moving out.  To the big class...Pre-K.  The major leagues of daycare.  The final class before kindergarten.  The children and the their teacher, Ms. Cheryl, who inspire awe amongst all the other kids in the younger classes.

Zoey:  Mom.  I don't think Dan and David are in my class any more.

Me:  Oh.  Maybe they moved to the next class?  I heard Kelly is moving up, too.

Zoey:  Yeah!  To Pre-K, she's going to Ms. Cheryl's class.

Me:  She must be a little bit older than you.

Zoey:  (wistfully)  I think so.  She can swing across all the monkey bars on the playground, so I think she must be five.  I can only swing on three of the bars.  But when I'm five, I think I will do all of them.

Zoey delivered this news as though length of monkey bars crossed is the defining factor in whether you make it to Pre-K or not.  And who knows?  Maybe she's right.