charlie’s special day

last thursday, charlie had his special day at preschool. since he had pinkeye earlier in the week I thought for sure we would have to cancel it, but by wednesday charlie was looking much better so we went forward with it. pappy had plans to come down and read to his class. originally, the girls were scheduled for mayo backup, but due to their pinkeye I had to cancel them. of course by wednesday night they were back to perfect again too so they could have gone, but I had already canceled their appointments. thankfully, my friend julia was willing to come over for an hour and a half with her little guy zane to play with the girls so I could go take pictures and observe pappy and charlie.

pappy met us in the parking lot of his preschool and walked in with charlie. charlie was PUMPED up.

 

charlie showing his teacher mrs. lange-pearson he could find his name and putting it into the milk/juice box.

so proud and giddy. he was bubbling over with excitement that pappy could witness “his” day. he is not someone to express that with words, but his actions showed it.

playing in the sand pit.

pappy working the etch-a-sketch.

charlie moved on to building trains.

introducing his buddy jack to pappy.

boys building trains together. charlie was working on his own unique thing.

pappy assisting with the building.

because it was charlie’s special day he was able to ring mrs. sohkitab’s bell. charlie was almost shocked that he was able to do this. once he rang it the kids instantly stopped and put their hands above their heads.

charlie amazed at seeing how the bell really works.

then the kids go over to the big carpet for circle time. charlie got to sit on a special chair with pappy and me along side of him.

delighted.

singing “the more we get together”.

mrs. sohkitab presenting charlie with the “bethany book bag”.

charlie was able to choose max or ruby to take home.

he chose max!

he was also presented with a bag of craft stuff and other little things (ie: junk), but charlie loved it.

then pappy went into a little “intro” talk about charlie. what charlie loves, who charlie is, his family. it was sweet. when that wrapped up – it was time to read The Grinch.

notice charlie’s finger. ugh- that kid always has his finger in his nose! wish I could stop that.

the kids know they are supposed to stay seated on the rug. since charlie was “special” and in the front of the room he was not very good about just staying seated. he moved around, picked his nose, walked up close to pappy, definitely not his normal self.

he was asked to “tap” each child on the leg to release them to play. originally, his teacher asked him to just touch each person on the leg, but charlie asked to use the “tapping” stick. apparently sometimes the teachers use the tapping stick to release the kids one by one to play. 

I had to leave for a bit to go pick up sisters. during that time the kids painted little wooden cars that we brought in and charlie and pappy played.

 

when I came back I brought the seestors along.

pappy brought some fun instruments for the kids. each kid went home with a kazoo (lucky parents). we were going to have the kids play them, but apparently with all the sickness the teachers thought blowing spit around might be risky. instead he busted out some jingle bells and drums and we used a few school instruments and the kids sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

pappy trying to quiet the kids before starting the song.

at this point – things were touch and go.

middle of the song. lots of jingling and drumming.

sisters were stunned. after that the kids went to snack and I took the girls and left. pappy was able to stay for a bit longer, but had to leave before charlie was done. I guess there were quite a few tears. I am SO glad pappy was able to come make charlie’s day special. bill was in surgery and would have loved to be there, but couldn’t make it work.

once at home we went through all of his special gifts and read the books. what a special day he had!