A Day in the Life: Ellie's month of firsts

It has been quite a month for Ellie D. She has had her first race with Mommy, her first dance recital and her first (of apparently many) graduation. It makes me both unbelievably proud and scared at how quickly the time goes.

The race was called the North Avenue Mile and was put on by my running group. I was initially going to race it, and then realized that I would probably hurt myself since I haven't sprinted in a while. At the last second I asked Ellie if she wanted to do it and she was all into it so we decided to sign her up. She got very excited about it and thankfully there were medals at the end for her. She loved the little "expo" at the end as well. The race consisted of short spurts of sprints followed by very slow walks but she really didn't complain much and finished it under 14 min! I was impressed!

Later that day was the dance recital. OMG it was so cute. Only lasted for about 45 seconds but I was crying just the same. Ellie did great and hammed it up big time. The best part was the completely horrendous rose Mike bought for her at the gas station right before the race. We had decided we weren't going to do flowers because she's only 4 and well, it just seemed over the top. Of course we were the only people there with that sentiment. So Mike decided at the last second to run out and get one, but apparently it was so pathetic he couldn't even bear to bring it in. Her little friend Megan was so sweet and gave her one from her dozen pink roses. I guess we suck.

Along a similar theme (the one where I refuse to buy into the crazy sensation and go nuts over little things like a pre-K graduations. And I swear I am not heartless), it was Ellie's pre-K graduation this past Friday. At the very convenient time of 12:30 on a Friday. Anyways, it was very cute, and I was crying again, and we weren't quite the only one without flowers but there was a very small group of people. Fortunately Pam bought Ellie a present so she didn't feel so left out. (but on both occasions did ask where her flowers were). It is definitely hard to believe she is almost 5 and going to start kindergarten. And I do think that is a big deal. But graduation is a bit much. I am more on the promotion bandwagon.