Last-Day-of-Preschool Party

Oh, Illinois.  You're a great state and all, but it's frustrating when somebody plans a luau party for late May, and then everyone ends up crammed indoors because it's 50 degrees and raining.

And so that was the situation yesterday for Nathan's preschool class's "Moving Up Luau."  It was a combined gathering for the M/W/F class and the T/Th class, which meant a total of 36 kids and their assorted parents, grandparents, and younger siblings.  That was too many to cram into a small classroom, and spirits were ... stressed out. 

There was a pretty nice spread of food, because 36 families contributing to a potluck means a lot of food.  Nathan, of course, refused to eat any of it, save for a bite of cookie and a lick of cupcake frosting.  I made up for his picky eating by eating the food on both of our plates.

At the end, there was a little "Moving Up" ceremony, where each kid came up on the makeshift "stage" and got a certificate.  Since I was far away and the lighting was of the florescent variety, I got the following grainy picture of Nathan:

At the end, the teacher asked all the kids to get together for a group photo.  Much like at the Christmas party, my kid refused to be in a group photo.  WHY?!  What is so scary about a group photo?

Instead, he just sat on the rug and gave me this look:

Then, he apparently wanted me to know that he's number one ... ?!

At the end of the gathering, the teachers asked all the kids to come up and give them hugs.  Of course my kid was having none of that, so the teacher kind of teased him until he was forced to hug her:

Since my original photo of Nathan on stage came out so poorly, I asked Nathan to re-create the scene for a better close-up photo.  This other kid insisted on being in the picture too.  Now, you know I have a policy that I don't put other kids' pictures on the Internet, but this kid would not move, and, let's face it, he's making a better picture face than my own kid.  And what was I supposed to say, "You know, Alex, I have this blog and my policy on the blog is not to put pictures of other kids, so, could you please move?" 

This is also where Nathan began a series of photos wherein he was dropping his certificate on the floor to, umm, learn about physics?

Oh, for the love of all that's holy, can you just pose for one nice picture? 

Apparently not. 

As I was gathering up the leftovers from my vegetable tray, I overheard another mom tell the teacher something like, "Susie is the type who will just run across the hall to give you a hug at the beginning of next year."  The teacher said, "I always get sad when kids don't do that." 

Nathan will be the kid who doesn't give the teacher a hug next year.  He's also the kid who doesn't eat and doesn't pose for a group shot.  Maybe it was yesterday's downer weather, but I was kind of sad about these issues yesterday.  I know you get the kid you get, but I can't help but feel like this is all my fault.