Andrew has his first day off of school today. I know! Weird, huh? I never got a 4 day weekend for Labor Day. Whatever. He NEEDS a weekend. Between the cold and actually being active in the afternoon...this boy is WIPED OUT. He cried for 40 minutes at our playgroup yesterday because he was "tired, and I want to go home". Poor baby.
Every day after school, I grill Andrew for details about school. He is obviously enjoying himself...but he has very few details. Let me rephrase...he has very few details that I am interested in. Just like his father. After 10 years of marriage, Jeff has finally learned that when someone we know is pregnant or is going to have a baby, I might be interested in finding out SOME DETAIL. Like...if the child is a boy or a girl. It has taken TEN YEARS to get this much information noticed by Jeff. So I guess as far as getting school info out of Andrew, I might as well wait until high school. By which time he'll probably be barely speaking to me at all...other than grunts and eye rolls.
So I pepper him with questions. Who did you sit next to today? Did you talk about letters today? Did you talk to anyone at snack? What are their names?
Andrew has told me about several games that they played this week to help learn each others' names. Like in music, they counted to the beat...1-2-3....1-2-3...and then interjected their names into it...Andrew-2-3....Lauren-2-3....Olivia-2-3...etc etc. I have to say etc, because out of a class of at least 25 (I still am not sure of the number), Andrew has only told me 2 names...Jagger and Olivia. I know Lauren, because she gets on the bus with Andrew. He knows NOBODY'S name. He doesn't talk about playing or talking with anyone. And yet? He seems totally happy about this.
Yesterday gave me a little insight into this. He told me that everyone was supposed to sit criss-cross-applesauce on the rug at the end of the day. The child that did this the quietest would be called first to go get their bookbag off the hooks. Andrew was BEAMING that his name got called first. And his teacher complimented him on being such a good listener.
BEAMING. He was.
And suddenly, I have a vision of what Andrew's week has been like. He has been concentrating so hard on doing what the teacher wants...on figuring out the new rules...on being the perfectly behaved child that he is...he probably hasn't said 2 words to anyone else. I can just see him tuning everything else around him out as he focuses on saying his name PERFECTLY to the beat of that music. Of focusing on sitting quietly so his teacher will be proud of him. He is so Type-A/People pleaser, it isn't even funny. I hope he relaxes soon and starts enjoying the other kids. But in his own good time...
He is noticing other random details that I DON'T care to know about. (again...just like a man...) We saw a bus, and I commented to the kids that "there is a bus like at Andrew's school!" Andrew told me that the number on that bus indicated that it was NOT a bus from his school. He then informed me that there are only 11 buses that come to his school. He proceeded to tell me all of their numbers and which bus was always called first and which was always last. This was after 2 days of school.
So he may never know his friends' names...but by golly...he could run dismissal at his school already.
Have I mentioned that I love this kid? And all his quirks? 'Cause I do...
4 comments:
My son started Kindergarten a few weeks ago and it is so hard for me to get the details out of him that I ask for. I'm used to it now, I guess, because last year at Pre-K he did the same thing. I wanted to hear about all the new friends he made and all the fun games they played, etc. All I got was "it was fun".
Similar to Andrew's story, Benjamin came home earlier in the week and said that he was the only student (out of 20) who got a 'perfect purple fish' that day (they get a different colored fish depending on their behavior each day.. 'yucky yellow fish', etc.). We were all so proud :-).
Oh Andrew - I think he and Harper are alike in a lot of ways, but I'm not sure she's quite the "pleaser" he is.
I'm glad it's going well - we're tired from the first week of school as well, it always takes a bigger toll than I seem to remember!
It's no wonder their first weeks of school wear them out. They are learning so much about how to behave and learn the classroom procedures.
If it makes you feel any better, N doesn't remember hardly anything academic about school, but she informed us last night that she kissed a boy named Mercury. When I told her she couldn't kiss people at school because she could get in trouble, she said, "But nobody saw me do it."
Great....I have a "ho" for a daughter.... ;)
Brayden can't remember a thing he did in the classroom but he can give me a step-by-step replay of the Star Wars Jedis vs. the Mermaids game they played at recess. Boys chasing girls is much more interesting than letters and numbers;)
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