April 21, 2010

A Two Name Morning

Some mornings just don’t go smoothly. Take today for example. Henry comes running into our bathroom, puffy-eyed and half asleep and in his sweet, sweet morning voice asks me:

“Mommy? Is today a stay-at-home day?”

“No sweetie, today is a school day.”

“BLAHAHAKDHJAKDSHD$%##@#$#@#$#@!!!”

He continued with his “Bear Growling” for a good 30 minutes as Nate patiently tried to dress him and convince him that going potty before we leave for school is in his best interest.

Henry sat at the breakfast table dramatically howling “I’M GRUMPY!”
To which Charlie replied “I’m grumpy too!” with a smile on his face.

The ride into school was no better and I started sweating profusely as we neared school in anticipation of what our good-byes might look like.

They surprised me.

Charlie’s drop off was completely pleasant and he actually was more excited to dig into his oatmeal and blueberries than he was to say goodbye. Note to self*: expect a “blueberry diaper” from Charlie late this afternoon.

*Self = Nate.

Henry tried to play his “My legs are tired. I can’t walk. I don’t want to go to school. My body hurts.” game, but I forged on. Determined. And Positive.

And then we got to the “name signing” station, which is the last step of our drop off routine. Every child signs their name each morning. Henry’s name spot has always just said “HENRY” and so Henry has always just written “HEnry” (just like that). But today, his name space said “HENRY BARTON” and he noticed right away. He told me you can’t just write one name when it shows two names. So you know what he did? He wrote his two names “HENRY BARTON”. I had to help with the B and A, but he took it from there and then stood back, hands on hips and lips in “fish pose” admiring his accomplishment. “Look at all those letters.” he said. Indeed.

A couple kisses, hugs and waves later, I left. but watched as Henry returned to the name signing station to, what I imagine, admire his great start to this morning.

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