From a Panda to a Turtle

On May 26th last year, X-man started school at Next Generation in the Panda room. He could barely walk when we went to visit on May 9 after getting the call that they had a place for him (he was on the wait list for a year). When we visited, he noticed all the kids were walking all over the place and decided that he better start working out. By the 26th, he was walking enough to hold onto a teacher's hand at the back of the rope line. 

Now, he's prepping to go to a two-year-old room to be a Turtle. 

Part of me is super excited for him. He loves to learn, and a 2-year room offers all kinds of new challenges. It's easy to see that he's the big boy in his classroom these days. 

The other part of me hates that he's moving up because we really love Ms. Natalie, Ms. Melissa and Ms. Sonya. They've helped us with so much, and X-man adores his teachers (if adoration is measured by the number of mornings he runs in the room and hugs one of them). I appreciate the hard work they do with the kids every day encouraging them to learn. It inspired me to want to be a early ed teacher too. 

But on June 2, he'll be called up to the big leagues. 

So, here's a photo of X-man at 15 months...

And here's one of him at 26 months: 

It's the end of the Panda era.