It's all gotta go somewhere

Butterfly

As we break for Summer from Gardner, I am surprised to notice how much this little boy has grown, both inside and outside. He is polite, thoughtful, empathetic and quite chatty. Being at Gardner has fostered a level of independence I would never have expected at 3 (takes himself to big boy potty, washes hands without prompting, and cleans up after himself–most of the time, after only being asked once!). We’ve had some challenges, too, but I think the days of him blatantly breaking the rules upon seeing me at pick up (remember the sand throwing?) are over.

We are back at The Goddard School for the summer, where D has been reunited with his old pals. At first they all hardly recognized each other: faces slimmer, hair darker, all much taller. But by the 3rd day, D was wanting to pretend his friends–old and new–were playing with him at his house, eating with him, bathing with him, and, most importantly, sleeping with him.

He does get lonely in his bed at night and will sometimes make an appearance near my bedside complaining of a “sore leg” or of being cold.

(I was recently reminded of how, in other cultures, children sleep in the same room with their parents, sometimes until quite late in life, when reading Jhumpa Lahiri’s moving Unaccustomed Earth)

The other morning he came into our bedroom quite early, round 5am, and stage-whispered in my ear “Mommy, I love you right up to moon, and back!” Although he knew he hadn’t stayed in his room until “6-2-6” (6:26 am, a joke between us), he thought he could sweeten the blow by delivering this poetic message to me.

He just can’t wait to be out in the world each day…to get out and flap his wings, get some sand between his toes, earth smeared in his palms, blueberries forever tattooing his clothes.

Here is a great example of the confident young man he has become (in the first shot, that’s him toward the back, getting some help from Miss Liz. Since he is so light, he floats above the ground, a hovering butterfly).

2 Comments

  1. Grandma Beverly

    He is so brave. So confident. Such a grown up little guy. Wonderful he gets to do these extra activities.

  2. sherry

    Doesn’t that look like fun? Can the parents do it too?

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