First Things First
Azul has officially finished his first full week of all-day Kindergarten and experienced a lot of firsts.
The first of the “firsts” was getting worked. The first day of school, when I picked up my exhausted, smiley-faced big boy, the first thing he said to me was, “Man, they really work you there.”
Of course this is after months of being on Summer Break and a year of a pre-school, where their moto was “learning through play,” which actually meant, “we just play.” Azul has three years of experience in pre-school and knows the difference between working and not. And now he is getting worked! He has no idea.
Second, eating in the cafeteria. He is very excited about this and I am very excited not to have to make lunch for him anymore. The day he was talking about his cafeteria ritual with euphoria in his eyes, I knew he was in love. He had his very first Sloppy Joe. I know, he is almost six years old and never had a Sloppy Joe, but I just don’t cook like that. I guess the Red Rice and Organic Beans with Roasted Beets and Broccoli is no Sloppy Joe.
“What did you guys have for lunch?” I asked
“Sloppy Joes!” he excitedly answered.
I repeated, “Sloppy Joes?” more as a question than a statement.
“I loved that sweet meat!” he said with his eyes slightly closed and his head tilted back.
I can’t compete with “sweet meat.”
Third, how to behave on the playground. He’s familiar with playing at the playground and already experienced lots of playground time, but now he is a big Kindergartener.
“Guess what I did today?” he asked me, and I had visions of him counting to one hundred, forward and backward in front of the class, or reciting the Preamble to the Constitution when no one else could (he doesn’t really know the Preamble, it was just my parental fantasy).
“What?” I responded.
“I had a wicked fall!” He continued, “I felt like I was punched in the stomach, but I didn’t tell the teacher or anything, it wasn’t an emergency like bleeding or like that. I didn’t cry, I just played through the pain.” He was talking non-stop with some sense of pride.
“Oh, my!” was all I could think to say without bursting his bubble or ruining his story.
“Yeah, like you know that, like rock climbing wall? I slipped.”
I guess we all, like, have a wicked fall in school.
Finally for the week, bribery. Making friends is a hard thing to do, and some of us go to great lengths for friendship, but this is one had to be stopped before it got out of control and too expensive.
Azul talked about his new friends, although he couldn’t remember anyone’s name, and one boy in particular (again, the boy has a name he just doesn’t remember it) who is his best friend. As the conversation continued, I began to feel uncomfortable as it took a turn for the worse. Apparently, Azul asked this boy if he wanted to play and the boy said no, so Azul promised him twenty bucks to be his friend. Well, the monetary offer worked and they played and had the time of their lives.
I didn’t pay out the “gentleman’s agreement!”
“Firsts” are awesome, they are the moments you always remember, or at least the things others remember when all you want to do is forget.
I can’t wait for next week…
Hall Pass
“Choose your battles” is advice every parent hears and practices at one time or another, and then there are the arguments you don’t even want to have to choose what to do, so you just give up.
Tonight my five year-old is sleeping in the hall in his newly constructed fort right outside our bedroom. He did a good job with three dining room chairs for walls, a blanket roof and sheets and pillows for the floor.
Azul presented his argument for sleeping in the hall by assuming it was already going to happen, saying “Since I’m obviously sleeping here tonight, I set up my turtle light.” His turtle light is his stuffed nightlight which is shaped like, well, a turtle. I appreciated his approach and thought that alone deserved some reward; besides, I had already come to the conclusion that I didn’t care where he slept tonight.
When it was eight, zero, zero and time for bed he settled into his fort and I turned off all the lights and laid down in my own bed. Again — I just gave up!
At this point you can decide to be the parent who paces around nervously, followed by a walk in the hall, a toe stubbing, an expletive and finally a conversation with your child on why they would be more comfortable in their own bed (actually meaning that YOU will be more comfortable if they are in their own bed), or you can be the parent who giggles in bed while listening to it all.
The choice is yours, good night and good luck!
No Ifs Ands Or Butts.
Today is my forty-second birthday and unlike last year, I am feeling some excitement! And I know I will not be wearing a skirt today, it’s still pretty hot outside.
Today I turn 41. I don’t feel any excitement or disappointment in 41, it is what it is. But, I remember the first time I did feel old, it was not the last, but of course your first is always the most memorable. It was the summer of 2007; I was only thirty-four, just months before I turned thirty five. It was an extremely hot day and I was outside with my best friend Ann Dee and her family. It was the day of her dad’s funeral and burial. It was an old family plot, mostly dust and sand, and the family was responsible for digging the grave. I’m not sure when the miscalculations took place, but when it was time to lower the coffin into the ground, it didn’t fit. So, as you could imagine, it was uncomfortably funny and the coffin had to be pulled out and more dirt dug…
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Carmelina Hart 