Last Day of Preschool

Our youngest two had their very last day of preschool on Friday. We had gotten a shocking notice from the YMCA a little over a month ago that our preschool was closing down at the end of June. The parents banded together, met with the management, and tried to convince them to stay open. Unfortunately the plan did not work. The enrolment was well below capacity, and had been for years. With most parents choosing full day daycares, more and more half-day preschools like the Y's were closing their doors.

So with heavy hearts, we headed to class one last time. The teachers had only found out about the closure one week before the parents, and they too were shocked and saddened. While our girls will miss their friends and educators, the memories will certainly endure.

I spent several weeks researching alternative preschools for the next scholastic year. We decided on a school just a few minutes from our home, an thankfully a few of our friends from the Y will be joining us.

Spring Swimming Session Ends

The spring swimming session has officially ended. Our girls particularly enjoyed their last day, called "fun day" which involved minimal swimming, and maximal fun!

Our little swimmers cannot wait for our outdoor pool to open. While the pre-season has begun, the weather is currently far too cold to start our outdoor season.

Our three girls progressed well throughout the season. Our 4-year old even learned the basics of butterfly, arguably the most difficult stroke. She can swim about 5 metres of Butterfly before morphing into something quite different.

Our littlest swimmer

Our # 2 hanging out!

The Duathlon

Our kindergartener participated in her very first duathlon at school this week. After a quick warm up to dance music, the girls from all four kindergarten classes ran to their bikes. In the first part of the duathlon, they rode their bicycles around the block. After disembarking, they ran around the school's soccer field and finished to applause, and snacks. There were nearly as many volunteers as there were children participating. The girls were followed by the boys, all the way up to grade three.

The vast majority of kindergarteners still had training wheels on their bikes. We had removed ours last fall, and had practiced many times. As of last week, our daughter could ride over 1km on her on, and start, but not stop. So I asked the organizer for special permission to leave my volunteer post to run along while my daughter rode, just in case she ran into difficulty.

What I had not anticipated was that with Papa away at a work-related conference in the United States, our daughter would refuse to bike with me as her helper. In fact, she screamed, cried, and had me hold her handlebars the entire route. After a painful lap around the block, she disembarked, ran speedily, and surprisingly did not finish the race last. She was very proud of the participation ribbon the received at the end.

When discussing her behaviour later on in the day, she claimed that I was not "very good" at helping her with her bicycle, not "like Papa"...And sure enough, the day after the duathlon, with her father by her side, she was riding without a care in the world!

Thankfully, we have another year to get her accustomed to riding alone alongside someone other than her father...

Bike drop-off

The warm-up

Nearing the finish line

The finish line

A cool snack

The day after the duathlon!