Breaker

It was the last day of school at my son’s Montessori school today.  My daughter has until the end of the month before she’s tracked out for summer, which I think she’s looking forward to.   To celebrate the end of school at my son’s school, dismissal is at noon followed by an all-school gathering at a local park.  

There is pizza and Italian ice and the P.E. teacher set up all sorts of activities in the open spaces under the branches of the old, king trees the park has all around.   My son ran off to join his friends as soon as we got to the parking lot.  He was distressed almost that he couldn’t get out of the car sooner while we drove around looking for a parking space in the overflowing lots.   But he made it eventually and for the remainder of the afternoon we saw very little of him as he went from one group to another.

He did come back to find us from time to time, mostly to ask for us to get in the long line to get him some Italian ice, which we did multiple times and socialized with the other parents waiting with us.  Some families were leaving that had been at the school with us since my children were toddlers and we wished them well in their future endeavors.   The topic of summer activities was probably the most common with us exchanging camp and other ideas to keep our children occupied over the summer break.

On the way to the park my husband and I congratulated my son on now being a, “second year”.   In Montessori school he will be in the same classroom for three years, this year being a, “first year” otherwise know as, “first grade”.   My son was excited earlier this week about being a rising second year so I thought he would be pleased when I told him he was now officially a second year.   Instead he told me, “I’m not a second year, I’m a breaker.”

I thought he had broken something in the back seat, and asked him what had happened?  He replied, “I’m not a second year yet, I’m on summer break—I’m a breaker”.

The Big Boy Update:  My son had a difficult time interacting socially with his peers a year ago.   It was painful to watch him on the playground, trying to engage with the other children and not knowing how.   He would mostly bark instructions to people and would be largely ignored.   This year is entirely different.  He’s calmly confident about his friends and the students in his class.   He readily joined in games and was at ease with everything that happened, including winning or losing as a team.   It was nice to watch him play with his friends.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to be on summer break.   She knows she’ll be leaving her current classroom and teacher, but I don’t think it’s set in yet.   She loves her class, I hope she’ll have the same positive experience in first grade that she’s had in kindergarten.