After taking a long week off before Labor Day to hang out with his grandparents and venture to Pennsylvania, Little Boy had a hard time getting back into the rhythm of routine this past week. Every morning he would wake up and ask us incredulously, “School again?” And we’d chuckle. Yes, school again, today and for the next 20 or so years of your life. Ha ha ha, school again.
His preschool had a parent’s night on Wednesday night. Little Boy was excited by the novelty of going back to school after dinner with both his parents, but his excitement turned to dismay when we plopped him in the babysitting room so we could gather with the other parents in his classroom and listen to his teacher explain the curriculum, which includes letters, numbers, sign language, and Spanish (if he picks any up will be his fourth language, and we haven’t even started him on the French). We talked one-on-one with the teacher and she reported that Little Boy is a dream from a behavioral standpoint; he never plays badly or hits the other kids, he’s obedient to the extant that he understands what is going on, he sleeps for the duration of naptime, and he loves to follow rules. What, is this my Little Boy?
The past week of rain has precluded us going to the playground in the evenings, but we have found other ways of amusing ourselves (think trains, trucks, and cars). One night, Little Boy watched me take of my calf-hugging black boots with great fascination — were they socks? were they shoes? Of course he wanted to try them on.
He looked cute standing in them, but as any woman can attest, walking is a different story.
One night as Mr. P and I finished our dinner, I noticed Little Boy was trying to put his straight leg behind his head and being quite successful at it. I then realized he was looking at my Yoga magazine and imitating the pictures. Being quite flexible as most kids are (he regularly sits in full hero pose, with his knees bent and his feet splayed out to the side, and he still sleeps in child’s pose) we oohed and aahed and showed him more pictures. He managed a triangle pose that rivals what I see in most yoga classes. Of course, most yoga practitioners aren’t wearing Thomas pajamas.
