The things is, Lexi doesn’t get a full summer break.  She gets a couplea weeks off here and there, but she’s engaged year-round at Woods Edge Learning Center.  This is good for everyone.  She got on the bus this morning after two weeks off and will undoubtedly sleep well tonight, only to get up tomorrow and do it all over again, amen.  I have prayed specifically for her cognitive development, and I can’t even begin to express how amazing it is to see her do things like say “hi.”  She’s doing great.  School is good for Lexi.  Her bored little fingers need something to do besides throw Doritos around the house.  Cool Ranch™, no less.  They smell like feet.  Everyone knows it.    

Mac, on the other hand, just started 3rd grade with great panache.   I’m so proud of that kid.  I am simultaneously amazed and intimidated by his increasing maturity.  What scares me the most is that I can distinctly remember things from when I was in 3rd grade.  This means that we can no longer count on child amnesia whenever Emily accidentally shames the moon or I make some odd non-sequitor, since everything we say and do can forevermore be reported to anyone with crystal clear accuracy.  Scary.  

Zac experienced the highest rate of change this morning as he began his official academic career with day one of Kindergarten. He was so scared.  I wanted to hug him and take him back home to snuggle with a book.  I wanted to let him hold off until next year.  I wanted to tell him about how I cried when my mom dropped me off in Mrs. Salsbury’s classroom at Douglas Elementary, Room 7, with the brown carpet and the yellow cubicles and the buzzing fluorescent lights.  Mom wore a green hoodie and a blue shirt with bluejeans.  Name tags made from manila folders with red pieces of yarn to go around our necks.  Salsbury.  That was her name.   

Huh.  I can remember things from the first day of Kindergarten, too.  

 Zac, by the way, did just fine.  All the kids were given a coloring sheet with a schoolbus on it, which he promptly turned over to draw a picture of a ghost flying through Frankenstein.  We walked to the cafeteria and the gym.  We checked out the library, which he loved.  We talked about tater tots, which I see as a metaphor for the beginnings of our educational journey.  The difference between Kindergarten and a Master’s degree?  Tater tots.  Both are difficult.  Both are stretching.  One has tater tots.  Man, I miss those elementary school tater tots.  

Yeah.  It was a good day.  I’m proud of my kids.