{saying goodbyes!}

Today marked Aldon's last day at his school, Stepping Stones Learning Center. 

His very first day was January 10, 2011- he was just about 10 weeks old. I was nervous as hell to drop him off. However, that didn't last very long! When I came back later that day to pick him up, it already felt like a routine. 

Now he is just days away from being 18 months, and was just starting to transition out of the infant area & into the toddler area with all of his "big kid" friends. He even used the potty twice while in the toddler room! (I realize non parents who read this, or parents of infants, are not going to understand the significance of that, but it's pretty much major. Just trust me on this.)

To say thank you to everyone at the center, we made this for him to bring on his last day:

 Of course I didn't think to take pictures during the process like a serious blogger, but I'll break down the steps for any interested in replicating it:

Materials:
-terra cotta pot, any size
-primer (optional, looking back I realize I probably could have just skipped this)
-painter's tape, or something similar
-chalkboard paint
-yellow paint
-flexible ruler (like the kind used for sewing)
-black permanent marker

First I applied two coats of basic paint primer to the pot. In hindsight I probably didn't have to do this, but I had some laying around so I did. 

Once the primer is dry (if you choose to use it), I taped off the entire rim of the pot. I had spraypaint chalkboard paint on hand, so I used that. I found it was much easier to spraypaint the chalkboard onto the pot if it was upside down. Apply at least two coats (I only needed two).

Once that's dry, remove the tape from the rim and paint the rim yellow. I needed two coats for mine. 

Use the flexible ruler as a guideline of where to place the lines along the rim, once the paint is dry of course. I first penciled in the inch markers, then the half inch, and then just freehanded the other small lines, then went over everything with a black Sharpie. 

Then, all you have to do is "prep" your chalkboard base (rub the side of a piece of chalk over the whole surface, then erase) and write your message! I wrote "Thank you for helping me grow!" on one side, and then "heart, Aldon & Family" on the other.

We planted just basic petunias in purple, pink and red inside (I didn't trust myself to keep any other, more complicated flower alive overnight lol). As a "finishing touch", I staked a small thank you card in, using a plain wooden pencil as the stake. To the plain envelope of the card, I printed off a little quote I found online onto some cardstock to jazz it up- "Teachers plant the seeds of knowledge that bloom forever."

And that's it! The whole thing cost around $15, for the pot, card, dirt and flowers and a sample of yellow paint (everything else I had on hand). 


It was actually a lot more emotional than I thought to leave the center today, knowing that Aldon won't be coming back. We've made a lot of friends there, and his teachers were like extensions of us when we weren't able to be with him because of class. They surprised us with a keepsake book they had made of Aldon from his first days until now... it was unexpected and (of course, to the pregnant, over emotional me) very tear-jerking. Keegan and I have already flipped through it several times each. It's something that is definitely going to go into his memory box forever!

I'm taking next semester off from school after this move to let things settle down for him-- I'm sure the move alone will be tough, but to add a new sibling and a new school on top of that just feels like an overload. Hopefully our next learning center we find will be able to be up to par with the one we are sad to say goodbye to!