on being my kids’ mom.

there are some days when i just really love being my kids’ mom.  ok ok, i love being their mom everyday… even the ones that involve getting poop on my hands (like on saturday), and the ones that involve a kid vomiting into my hands twice (like yesterday).  but there are a few days sprinkled here and there that make me really, really love being their mom.

this past friday was one of those days.

i had a parent-teacher conference with mikey’s teacher that morning and wasn’t quite sure what she would tell me.  i mean, i know my kid, but i don’t necessarily know how he does in a larger group school-type setting.  but as it turns out, she had mostly all good things to say (hooray!) and it’s looking like this extra year really did give mikey the boost in confidence and social/emotional development that he needed.  that was a big relief.

but the part that really warmed my heart was when we got to her assessment of mikey’s social development.  he has made lots of friends this year, though she noted that he’s lately been announcing, “i don’t like girls!” (not necessarily a bad thing in my book, heh heh).  this wasn’t a surprise to me since he’s been making the same statement with one modification here at home– “i don’t like girls-except-my-sisters.”  the ‘except-my-sisters’ part was hastily tacked on after he caught MY EYE when he first made that little announcement).  but she went on to tell me about how one day during class, a little girl was sitting in the corner by herself crying and ‘having a moment’ (as the mother of now two little girls, i am very familiar with these particular ‘moments’).  mikey, who was playing with his friends, noticed her crying and walked over to her.  he put his hand on her shoulder, rubbed her shoulder a little bit and kept looking in to her face and asking if she was okay.  the teacher (who was observing the whole incident from across the room), saw that the little girl was enjoying this extra attention and continued on with her crying.  so mikey walks over to the teacher and reports, “well, i checked to see if she’s okay, and she looks okay to me.  but i don’t know why she keeps crying.  why does she keep crying?”  (ah dear mikey, i’m afraid you may never figure out the answer to that one…).  so his teacher commented that it was nice to see mikey showing concern for her even though he’s lately been on this not liking girls kick.

so as proud as i was of him doing great academically and progressing as well as he is, i was most touched when his teacher shared that little story.  i love when my boy shows compassion on his own initiative.

another part of the assessment was whether or not he’s made special friends this year and she marked “yes- thomas.”  thomas is mikey’s first best friend and is another reason why i’m so glad we decided to keep him in the same school this year.  mikey had a hard time making friends in his class last year (i think it was just a rougher bunch of boys in that class) and so it’s especially nice to see the group of boys in his current class get along so well.  a lot of the other parents have also commented on what good friends the boys all are this year, too.  mikey’s been invited to six birthday parties already this year, in stark contrast to the one he went to last year.

but anyway, the one friend who mikey likes the best of all is thomas.  they became friends the very first day of school and have gotten along super well ever since.  they have similar personalities and many of the same interests (if transformers, star wars, and guns are considered interests!).  i’m only sad to think they’ll have to part ways after school ends this year as thomas lives in a different school district than we do.

the same day, i picked up allie at noon and her teacher came over to tell me how she loves seeing what allie creates every day in class.  lately, allie’s been really into drawing with markers and cutting out her little pictures (meaning there are little bits of paper constantly scattered all about the house- this part drives me crazy).  anyway, it turned out that day her class had done an art project where they cut out a snowman, glued him to blue construction paper and drew white snowflakes all around him.  allie had wanted to hold her project but they told her it had to dry first.  so she went and made her own snowman picture so she could take it home with her.  both her teachers said they were impressed by her creativity.