"I'm known for that"

Yes, I'm having a root canal later this morning. NO, I have not Googled what it means to have a root canal. I will find out after it is done and I have survived it, thankyouverymuch.

Andrew is tall. Not outrageously so...it's not like he's the Shaq in his class or anything. There are several girls in his class as tall as him. So he's not a freak. But he is tall. Always has been...probably always will be.

Andrew is also with me on all of my morning errands. He is only gone for 3 hours a day, and that is during nap time for Michael. So poor Andrew gets dragged to the grocery, Target, doctor's appointments, etc etc. And almost every time we are out, we have the same conversation with the working people of the world.

Like this Wednesday when we had our follow-up at the ENT (Andrew's ear tubes have fallen out, his ears have re-filled with fluid, and his hearing is again impaired. All without any infections...whoopie! So new tubes to come in March!). Anyhoo, they call his name and as we walk back to the examination room, we had the now familiar conversation:

Nurse: Hi, Andrew! No school today?

Me: No, actually Andrew is in afternoon Kindergarten. So we get all our mornings together for one more year.

Nurse: Holy Cow! Are you really tall for a Kindergartner, Andrew?

Andrew: Yes. Actually, it's one of the things I'm known for. See, I'm known for 3 things in my class. One of them is I'm known for being tall. But that's just for the boys. Because you really can't compare girls and boys, it's not fair. But for the boys, I am the tallest. So I'm known for that. The other thing I'm known for is for being the smartest. Because I know the answers to everything the teacher asks. My friends think I'm really smart. So that's what I'm known for. And the third thing...

I usually don't let him get as far as the 3rd thing. Because Andrew speaks with such seriousness, such articulation and so precisely, that adults just don't ever cut him off. And then you get stuck with a 15 minute dissertation by a six year old.

He told me one morning, out of the blue, "Mom, did you know that I'm known for being smart?"

And I struggled...because he IS smart...but he doesn't need his head blown up any bigger than it already is, and yet I want to support his self esteem. So I replied, "Well, that's a really good thing to be known for."

And he nodded and looked back down at the racetrack he was designing and said, "Better than being known for hitting, like M. in my class."

Just a glimpse at how that little thinker thinks all day long...And it is amazing that the kids are labeling themselves and each other already. Doesn't take long to slip into that label...I wonder how you ever get out of it if you are stamped at 5 and 6 years old.