Whatever Makes Her Happy

Mila likes to hit all of her milestones that make me feel old in rapid succession, so we topped birthday/kindergarten screening/dance recital week with preschool graduation. Because of course we did.

I have opinions about preschool graduation, by the way. Lots of opinions. Most of them revolve around BUT WHY ARE WE MAKING A BIG DEAL OUT OF EXISTING? I mean, kids don't do anything to earn graduating from preschool except maybe managing to stay alive, and they can't really take credit for that feat. They get a LOT of help, or maybe that's just Miss I Do My Own Stunts Mila.

Regardless, I managed to think preschool graduation was dumb at the exact same time that I was annoyed that our preschool/daycare went all sorts of lazy on preschool graduation. I never said I make sense. I especially don't make sense when I'm annoyed that something that shouldn't be a big deal isn't a big deal.

ANYWAY. Despite the fact that I personally have paid over $30,000 to this particular preschool (child care expenses suuuuuuuuuck), their idea of a graduation "ceremony" was tiny caps and gowns (cute!) and ... that's about it. Mila's teacher was fantastic and wonderful, but clearly the person who owns the center and kept the majority of that money I pay didn't feel the need to invest in ... anything. No real chairs. No extra teachers to help keep things organized. Just the bare minimum, and she did it during work hours because why would graduation happen after work? Of course I should leave work at 2:00 for graduation when the reason Mila has a graduation is that I pay someone to watch her at 2:00 every day ... o_O

Adding insult to injury, Mila got freaked out about something during the graduation and spent the entire thing sobbing. She was hurt about something, though I never quite managed to pry a valid explanation out of her. I do know that she was completely fine at her dance recital earlier in the week, so it wasn't that she didn't like an audience. I guess she didn't like THAT audience? I don't know. She was clearly very unhappy with everyone and everything.

Except the candy table.

There was a little table with bowls of candy on it for the graduation. That candy included Ring Pops, so basically it was THE BEST THING EVER. I have heard about how great the candy table was approximately 824985134 times. That table meant so much to Mila that I have already mentally scheduled a candy table for her high school graduation, wedding (instead of a cookie table!), and I probably should set one up for the birth of her first child as well.

The kid really knows how to party.