Proud Doesn't Come Close

Who needs Italy when you have Nursery School Olympics here in NY? Not us!



The excitement has been building for a couple of weeks now. The children have been practicing and making all the decorations for the big day. The day they would come together and compete in front of their families. They were the athletes and the stars of the day.

At 10:30, the parade of athletes began. As the children got ready to walk in, my heart started pounding and you can hear me on the video praying that Emma could do it. What was her biggest obstacle you might be thinking? It is being in front of people. That is right, I wasn't worried about if she was capable of any of the events. I was worried that my girl would revert back to the shrinking flower.

For everyone that doesn't know, last year Emma didn't speak at all to her teachers and very, very rarely to any children in her class. This year has been different. She loves her friends and has been participating in class a lot more. Why would I think she couldn't handle this? During her Halloween parade, she saw me and started crying and that was the end of the parade for her. Emma can't handle being in front of a crowd or in the spot light. She is a lot like me. I so wish she wasn't.

But back to the parade of athletes. This is MY daughter...

She is the second from the right. AND this is their second time around marching!! Can you say PROUD??? She did awesome. Right then, I didn't think my day could get any better.

Then it was time for the Pledge. That took a little while since many of the children couldn't figure out what hand to use. After that the children shouted "Let the Games BEGIN!!!"

The first event was Slide Skating. This was too cute. The children stood on wax paper and slid down to a cone, around and then back to the finish line. It wasn't a big group of children. They did it 2 at a time. This meant the spot light was full blown on those two children. All of the children participated in every event. So as I sat and waited I prayed that my daughter would have the courage to do this. It came her time and she got up and waited for the wax paper to be put on the floor and then this happened...

I sat watching with tears in my eyes. This was the moment my little girl had conquered her fear! At this moment, I was the proudest mom in the place!! All of the other children, never had a problem participating. These children have been together for 2 years and it was always Emma that dropped out. Not today! Today my girl did it. And she did it well!!! She won her competition. Not that there are winners or losers, but my girl crossed the finish line, when the other child was just getting to the cone. My baby did it!! She was in the spot light, had a smile on her face and succeeded!!!

Next up was the beach towel luge!! This was so funny!! One child lays on the towel while two other children pull them down to the cone around and back. Emma went 2 times. That is right TWO!!! She was the "Layer" as she called it. It was cute and the children did a good job pulling her. The second time, her "boyfriend" (that's what he says) Jake and her friend Lauren pulled her. I so wish I could put the video of that up. You would be doubled over laughing. They pulled her so fast (remember she is a light weight) that the other children weren't even to the cone when they crossed the finish line.



Here she is being the "layer"!

The next event was "Four Wheeled Curling". We didn't get a good picture of her, but here are her friends Alaina and Skylar getting ready to push their cars. They had to push them and get them in a brown square. And if you are wondering, Emma did it!!



The last event was the Snowpuff Toss. The children throw the little puff that you wash your skin with. It was cute. After that, they ran up to us and had a snowball fight with it. Here is Emma after she threw it at me.


We then had the medal ceremony and the national anthem!!




Here she is after all of the events. She made the torch and flag at school. The medal is from the awards ceremony. It was a GREAT day. One that her father and I will never forget!