During the final week of school there was the usual frenetic activity. The After School program put on its show: a series of sketches they wrote themselves.
The final publishing party of her class showcased the kids' poetry. Hatty's was about Baxter.
She was lucky enough to have a sleep over with her best friend Natalia. I was not quite so lucky though we had some peace and quiet when we went to the movies to see Jurassic World II and later when walking in Central Park.
On the Sunday it was New York Pride and we joined up with Natalia's folks to see the parade in the West Village.
The final day of school came tears were shed. It has been an interesting first year in her new school and there is no doubt that she loved it.
I am more ambivalent. It is hard to give up having a school one block away in exchange for one that needs a subway ride followed by quite a walk. Not only the physical distance but the school was distant in other ways and it is hard not to feel like an outsider because that is what we are. Nonetheless, Hatty loves it so I have tried hard and made sure I attend as many of the parent events as possible. I even attended the sports night and to my astonishment was the first parent to score a point at basketball.
The benefit of starting again in a brand new school that is undergoing a lot of change was that she would be in a gifted and talented program. Compared to last year when it was probably not challenging enough the pace definitely picked up and I very much liked the curriculum including dedicated science teachers and coding.
So we are looking forward to fourth grade but first the small matter of the summer vacation. We caught a flight to Denver and then a small regional jet whisked us to Cody, WY.
