Glad to Have Him Home

Yesterday was our little rascal’s last day of Pre-School, at least until September; a transition he understands perfectly. 

All week, he’s been telling anyone who’d listen, “Friday is my last day at school, and in three months I’ll be in room 4 (room 4 said as though it was the most important thing he would say all day, and possibly all week).” 

Still, the reality of leaving his friends for such a long intermission didn’t seem to slap him until he was climbing into the backseat of the mini-van, where he buckled his belt and sat in thoughtful silence for the entire trip home; not at all what I expected, and completely uncharacteristic of any previous Friday, a few minutes from lunch time.  

When we got home he said, “I have a little bit sad.”  He pinched his fingers together to asure me that it wasn’t too much.  

“Why are you sad?”  I asked. 

“Because I won’t see my friends for a long long time.”  His bottom lip started to quiver.  I took his hands.

“But you’ll be at Mommy and Daddy’s school.”

“Yeah, I know.”  His pensive look went nowhere and his lip continued to shake.  He sighed deeply and fell into my arms, wordless.

Fortunately, Max rebounds quickly.  By this morning, he was already talking about his Summer with Mommy and Daddy, and how much fun he would have with all his friends.  

Daisy’s had the entire Summer schedule plotted for our pre-school since the second half of April.  She has about thirty thousand things she wants to teach the children (we have two groups: tater tots and hot dogs) and she figures she might have time to address around a hundred and fifty. 

Mia’s Spanish is off the hook, but her writing in English needs some attention.  She spells everything exactly as she hears it, and since 90% of her academic day es en español, her English words tend to assemble themselves within the borders of the Spanish alphabet. 

We’ll help her, and she’ll help the other children.  

Daisy’s gathered all of Mia’s homework from the last nine months and made a review book that Mia will use to teach the rest of us, tiny ones included.  Everyday, each student (including Max and Mia) will spend time in Reading, Writing, Art, Stories, Violin, Tennis, and Technology – for ten weeks straight.

Max’s school is finished for the Summer.  Mia’s will conclude this coming week.  That cuts our weekday shuffling down to nearly nothing.  I, for one, am happy to have my children home for a few months.  I miss them when they’re gone. 

I look forward to teaching them and seeing what they have to teach me.

I’m glad that Max goes to another school, away from ours.  It’s good for him to make his own friends in his own environment, with different teachers and different rules, without his mommy and daddy constantly around to supervise.  He needs a place to go where he can practice all the things he tries so hard to learn.

Still, I’m happy it’s our turn.

Writer Dad