9/9/2012

Monthly Miles Memo #56

Filed under: — Aprille @ 4:58 pm

My dear Miles,

The latest thing your dad and I have been fretting about is what to do with you for kindergarten next year.  The school you go to now, Willowwind, goes through sixth grade.  You love it there, and we’ve been very happy with it as well.  In a world of unlimited finances, we’d have you stay there.  But it’s a private school, and it’s looking like you’ll probably want to go to college, plus you’ve got that brother who’s going to want an education, too.   The Iowa City public schools are very good, so right now we’re leaning toward sending you to our neighborhood school.  If it doesn’t work out well, we always have Willowwind as a possibility.

Photo by Gary Clarke

I spent most of a day substitute teaching Spanish there last week, and I’m going to do another day this week.  I’d never had the opportunity to see you in an academic environment before, at least not more than peeking through the window for a few minutes before your school day ends.  Miles, I was so, so impressed with you.  I’m sure a part of it is that you’re one of the older kids in your class now, and you’re well-accustomed to your classroom rules.  But even so, you were spot-on.  You had good manners, raising your hand to speak.  You were brave and eager to participate.  You got the answers to the tough questions right.

Photo by Gary Clarke

One of the bigger reasons your dad and I were considering keeping you at Willowwind is that it’s very small and very personalized.  It’s a really great school for kids who need a little extra attention and encouragement.  We always knew you were a bright kid.  That’s never been an issue.  We were a little concerned, though, that your personality might be a touch gentle for the wild world of public school.  I don’t think you spoke to another child for the first six months of preschool.

When I accepted the substitute teaching job, I was nervous, mostly because it would involve leaving Tobin with a care provider for part of a day.  Little did I know, that opportunity would relieve one of the biggest worries that’s been plaguing me. Will public school trample over Miles and break his spirit?  But no:  you conducted yourself so well in school that I have no doubt you’ll thrive in public kindergarten.

Photo by Gary Clarke

Plus, you want us to have five more babies (all named Thornando, ala George Foreman, I guess).  I don’t think that’s going to happy, but if you want to maintain any hope for any Thornando(s), we’ll need to keep our education costs low for the time being.

You’re excited for Halloween.  You’ve decided you want to be Spider-man, which your friend Theo is also planning to be.   I don’t know if that was a deciding factor or not, but it makes me a little sad that you won’t have one of your wildly creative home-made costumes this year.  It was always fun making them together, going to the fabric store to pick out green fabric for your green dog costume or purple fabric for your purple monster costume.  I guess we could try to make a Spider-man costume, but something tells me twenty bucks and a trip to Target would be a lot less painful for everyone.

Your favorite afternoon activity these days is a trip to the Museum of Natural History.  You like the giant sloth, of course, but what you like best is roaming around the Mammal Hall and Bird Hall.  You like playing hide and seek in all the little corners, and you like the interactive elements.  You make up storylines for us to follow, most of which involve us being detectives on a quest for the Screen Machine (aka a little touch-screen computer with bird calls).

You still love frozen yogurt, especially with cookie dough bites and M&Ms on top.  You’ve decided noodles and lemonade are the hot new flavor combination, even better than cookies and milk.  You have finally, finally started eating snack at school.  This is a good step toward kindergarten, when you’ll have to eat lunch at school every day.  We’re going to have to do some practice runs with a packed lunch, I think.

Last night we were at the playground, and we saw a dad with his 16-month-old daughter.  You had a great time chatting with him, comparing his daughter’s skills and development with your brother’s.  I could tell you were proud of all the things he can do.  You should be.  You taught him most of it.  You get a little possessive of things sometimes, but overall, you treat Tobin very kindly.  This is becoming more difficult as his grip grows stronger and he gets handfuls of your hair.  Still, you’re always happy when he wakes up from a nap because you get to see him again.  He’s always happy to see you too.

Photo by Denny Crall

Picking you up from school is the best part of my day.  I love watching you step out of your classroom, confident and happy, glad to see me but not clinging or crying.  You’re the kind of kid other parents can point to as a positive example.  I don’t know if they actually do that, because it’s not the kind of thing that comes up in conversation, but I imagine they do.

I love you, Little Scoop.  You’re becoming exactly the person I know you can be.

Photo by Gary Clarke

Love,

Mommy

 

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