Haemin's last day

This past Wednesday was Haemin's last day at preschool. They had a party for her to send her off.

"We had a ce-le-bra-tion, not a party," Ivan corrected me, when I asked about it.

Haemin is moving back to Korea with her parents.

Beyond saying it was a celebration, Ivan didn't seem to react much. We'll see.

When Maddie left in December, he kept talking about it. He even brought it up in the last few weeks, when we were playing waterfall mountain and sailed to Taiwan. "Why to Taiwan," I asked. "Because Maddie is there. Maddie is no longer at preschool," Ivan said.

In February, when we were looking at his school picture to see which kids he'd invite to the party, he systematically went child by child, and then when he came to Maddie he paused. "Maddie can't come to my party," he said. "Maddie's in Taiwan." The way he did that, it was also as if he were angry and upset.

And now Haemin is leaving, too. Maddie and Haemin were the first two kids he befriended in preschool. And Maddie and Haemin were really close too.

Haemin's dad told me in the fall that every time he picks her up from preschool that she's on the playground chasing Ivan.

I know he has other friends now and seems to be playing a lot with David and Noah, Akiva and Andre.

So maybe I'm just reading too much into it. Maybe he's not concerned nor upset about it. Maybe it's me. What are the odds that two kids he gets close to end up leaving.

Ivan, Haemin and Maddie in December at the art gallery day.