I just sent off Jonah to his Last Day of Kindergarten with a bag of fancy tea and cookies for his teacher. I also included a sappy note:
Dear Miss E.–
Thank you so much for taking such good care of Jonah. Every morning, he looked forward to coming to school and showed me his work proudly at the end of every day. Our children are so important to us that everyone who touches them becomes part of our extended family. Thanks again. LM
We at 11D wear our cornball badges proudly. The corn began yesterday as I thought about Jonah finishing Kindergarten and how fast it went for me.
Getting two kids dressed and fed every morning is no mean trick. This morning, I left Jonah with instructions to get himself dressed, while I was drying my hair. We were running behind but if Jonah took care of his own clothes, then we just might make it to the bus stop on time. After two minutes of bad hair drying, I came downstairs to find Jonah buck naked singing and twirling his shorts over his head, Ian’s banana had fallen onto the good carpet, and Ian was shoving a play shopping cart around the livingroom aiming for the fallen banana. Ugh! Late again.
So, this year has mostly been about corralling children, cooking the increasingly small subset of foods that will both eat, teaching them new tricks, keeping them out of the street, and preventing that banana from getting ground into the good carpet. It went by fast.
The corn started went I realized that this year was something entirely different for Jonah. We’re so alike that I sometimes forget that he’s a different being. That he has a life when I’m not around. For him, this year took a very long time. He can barely remember life before his first day at Blanche Smith elementary school. He spent more waking hours at school than he did with me. At that time, his friends and his teacher were the center of his life. All the playground alliances and phonics lessons were huge for him.
Everybody remembers their Kindergarten teacher, even if they can’t remember the names of their college professors.
Jonah’s teacher didn’t start off high in my regard, because I didn’t think she challenged the boy enough. I am not a big proponent of boring kids as a way to toughen them up for the boring business of adulthood. But she grew on me as the school year went on. I set up a couple of meetings with her to learn more about what was happening at school. Jonah didn’t reveal much. She won me over in those meetings because she had Jonah’s number.
Not did she have the basics like Jonah was especially good at math, but she also got the subtle stuff, like he still cries when he gets in trouble. Jonah is torn by his desire to make the kids laugh by making loud farting noises in class and by his desire to always get everything right and to be top in the class. Despite being very active, he prefers to sit with the quiet, good kids and made great strides this year in getting control over his body.
She got him right and won my respect.
So, a very different school year ends today for Jonah and me. Different challenges, different successes, different pace. I might be quite dense, but this realization has come slow to me.
I have a couple of hours to think up something really cool to do with the boys as a celebration, because the Last Day of Kindergarten is a big deal for small fry. I think we might go into NYC and ride the A train from one end of Manhattan to the other. Boy paradise. That much I understand.
Apt. 11d 