I'm thankful for these two. When I was a kid I always wanted to be a mom.
Awhile ago, Julia approached me with these questions: "Mommy, when you were a little girl, did you always want to have me and David? Are you happy you have us?" It caught me by surprise. I have no idea why she asked me that. But then again, she worries about death and has an obsession with the cemeteries. From that point on, I made sure I remember every night before they go to bed to tell them that I wanted them all my life in case me being upset at them earlier in a day caused them to doubt that.
What has been on my mind lately a lot is David. I don't write everything because he wouldn't want me to. I barely scrape the surface when I mention him, believe me. I used to think that he is so unlike me and I had a very hard time understanding him and sometimes I still do. I remember when I was pregnant with him, Seth jokingly sort of predicted what kind of child David would be based on his own personality. Most of it came true. David is a mirror reflection of Seth and whereas opposites attract when it comes to a marriage, having a child with an opposite personality as yours might not be easy.
Last summer I was worried who his kindergarten teacher will be. I knew that in order for him to be happy in school, she needed to appreciate his differences. And does she ever. I do believe she has a hard time with him every day, but she doesn't throw in a towel, but rather has long conversations with him. She tested his level of reading which is not done until a child enters first grade. She was concerned that he might be bored with a curricula and to keep him from misbehaving he needed more challenging work. She recognizes that he is a kind and bright kid and we, adults, need to work around his needs.
I had a chance to visit David's classroom with the other parents during their writer's workshop hour. They surprisingly do a lot of writing in kindergarten. The teacher told me David was mad at her. Then she placed a banana on each table asking the students to describe it. Some kids were jumping, yelling while at the same time working on the task. David sat motionless. I saw the teacher approach him and whisper something to him. Five minutes later she did the same. When everyone was done except for David, the teacher showed us the kids' works. Almost all of them drew a banana on a plate and scribbled a few misspelled words underneath the picture. I saw David's work a few minutes later. There was an elaborate picture of a boy sitting at the table and looking at an empty plate. Underneath, he perfectly and clearly spelled "I don't see no banana." After I told my friend this story, she was hilarious and asked me why I don't see a humor in it. Maybe I will years later when I revisit this post, but right now I am trying to find a way of helping David to deal with his feelings. He is a perfectionist and any mistake / misspelling/ misunderstanding sets him off and he shuts down.
So, this Thanksgiving I am thankful for my children who teach me to think outside of the box and that if you are to dress in the morning, you better do it with the style even if it's 5 am on Sunday morning.
