Free to Be...You and Me

This morning while rousing Parker from his cozy aero bed slumber,  – yes, we are STILL living Bedouin style, – he clumsily stumbled into the bathroom to take his morning pee pee and asked me to throw away his pull-up (yep, still in those too) in the RUBBISH BIN!  I stopped dead in my tracks and said, “Parker, did you just say rubbish bin?!”  He replied in slurred, sleepy speech, “Yes, Mommy, it’s right there,” pointing to the garbage can as if I didn’t know where the, “rubbish bin” was.  It’s happening already!  My boy has been in Kindy for 3 weeks and he’s already using Aussie lingo!

Parker and Reid’s transition to Australia has been almost seamless.  Reid hasn’t skipped a beat…

And Parker has evolved into a Kindergartner almost overnight…

He wakes up everyday energized and rearing to go; he LOVES school!  I’m still not sure whether his love for the uniform carries his spirits throughout the 6-hour school day, or whether he is in fact enjoying it for other reasons.  I do know however that he’s proving himself as quite the little academic, and fashion trendsetter, all while having fun and gaining some of the Aussie lingo. 

Shortly after the term began Parker had a one-on-one assessment with his teacher, Mrs. Bruce.  I dropped him off after school for 30 minutes and Reid and I cruised to the beach to wait out the 30 minutes by putting our toes in the sand and climbing on the rocks – rough life, I know.  I knew what Mrs. Bruce would say when I picked him up, but it sounds better coming from her mouth… As Reid and I anxiously walked down the Manly Village corridor to retrieve Parker we approached the classroom where Mrs. Bruce was standing with Parker.  Mrs. Bruce looked at me with wide eyes and said, “Wow, he did amazing!  He’s definitely going to be one of the tops of my class.  I was so impressed with him I had to stop him mid assessment and get a sticker for him because I was so blown-away!”  (I wish I could write the above in her accent because it sounds much more thrilling than what I just wrote).  Then she continued, “I can’t believe he’s only 4 ½!  He’s so ready for Kindy and is ready to read.”  I wanted to say, “Yeah, I know,” but instead I said, “I’m thrilled he’s already working hard and wanting to do well.”  Before Parker started Kindy I decided I wasn’t going to throw my teacher status on his teacher.  I’ve had THAT parent, and I didn’t want to be THAT parent, so I wanted to let it go.  But anyone that knows me knows I can’t keep anything inside, (unless it’s a really good secret), so in response to her praise and oozing over Parker I declared, “Well I’m a teacher and can’t tell you how thrilled I am to hear you say this!”  Why I needed to pull that out at that moment I have no idea, but ya know, open book this one!  She said, “Well no wonder he’s advanced already, you’re a teacher!”  I smiled, but really wanted to say, “No it’s because his parents are brilliant.” 

So Parker had his Back-to-School night last week, which is basically an informational session for the Kindy parents.  Being the teacher I am I judged everything, every step of the way; “Why are they doing that?  That’s a great idea!  Oh, that’s just wrong! I would do it this way.”  Obviously this was all an internal monologue.  Once in the classroom, after meeting in the, “hall” = “multipurpose room,” I was anxious to meet some parents and talk to Mrs. Bruce.  The parents milled about and signed up for random parent volunteer type things; sharpening pencils, covering books, organizing the book order - I am going to help with reading groups every Thursday for one hour.  I was tempted to sign up for, “class parent,” which they call, “CPR," which denotes all kinds of confusion; don’t they have life saving techniques in Australia?  Anyway, I talked myself out of CPR, which Mark fully supported.  As parents started to leave I hung around to get some teacher time; yes, I’m THAT mom.  As I cornered (not really) Mrs. Bruce to ask how Parker was doing, she started giggling – she seems quite giggly – and she started telling me a story about how he got up to give his “news;” the equivalent of “sharing” in the US.  She said, “He stood up, brought his water bottle with him and said, ‘Good morning, I got this water bottle in Boston, America.  We flew to Boston for vacation and my mommy left my water bottle on the plane, (thanks kid, way to take responsibility), so we had to buy a new one.  Are there any questions or comments?’”  She then said, “I just love his accent and I was so impressed he picked up on the 'good morning' and ‘questions or comments’ lines because that’s what I’m always whispering to the kids giving their news!"  That’s my observant, rule-following boy!  She also said there are a few boys in the class who are copying him and tucking in their shirts and pulling up their white socks.  Now we’re talking!  He’s setting a nerd trend!  I couldn’t be prouder!    

I left Kindy night with a spring in my step and a warm feeling that pulsed through my body and led me to giggle myself, and also shed a few tears.  Parker is just himself, he’s so stubborn and sometimes it makes me want to strangle him, but other times it makes me so proud, because he knows who he is.  I don’t believe he even hears any difference in his speech, than that of his peers and teacher, or notices that not everyone tucks in their shirts and pulls up their socks.  Or he might notice, but he doesn’t let it affect the way he conducts himself - let your freak flag fly, I say!  He marches to the beat of his own drum and is a proud little peanut.  He doesn’t judge or think twice about the phrase, “rubbish bin,” he’s just impulsive and speaks and acts on a whim.  I need to remember that impulsivity when he clobbers Reid and says, “I couldn’t help it, my body just did it!”  However, I might fall over in shock if he starts calling me, “Mummy!”