Fun Is My Middle Name

Today marks our fifth day of kindergarten. It was Spirit Day so Sam got to wear his Rosemont Bison t-shirt and jeans instead of his uniform, which he doesn't mind so I suppose it isn't much of a perk. But I was really selling it this morning on the way to school.

"It's Spirit Day. It's Friday. We have a long weekend. Aren't you excited about your day?" I asked.

"Let me tell you something," Sam started. "I don't have a friend. We don't play and we don't do anything fun."

"Well, kindergarten is going to be hard work, but you should be learning in a lot of fun ways." I told him.

"What do you know from fun?" he asked.

Hmm. Fun? Can you use that in a sentence? Fun. Can I have a definition please?

Because he is right. I don't know what's fun anymore. If you asked me what I do for fun it would involve cleaning closets or spending money.

So this weekend, I will lead by example. I will have some fun, damn it.

Invented By Germans

So Monday was Sam's first day of kindergarten. In this day and age there seems to be less drama about starting kindergarten. Maybe because Sam has been in day care his entire, young life. Or maybe because every parent has his or her own drama - what's it to them that your kid is nervous about starting school.

In any case, to assuage five years of personal guilt and apprehension about school, I took off last Friday so Sam and I could have a Friday Fun Day. One whole day to do only what he wanted. I resisted every urge to slip into Anthropologie or convince him he could find a new pair of shoes at Banana Republic.

We started the day at IHOP, since pancakes are one of the food groups in Sam's food pyramid. Once we were teetering between satiation and nausea we headed to Zeus Comics for comic books and action 'figgers.' After Zeus, we hit Dave & Buster's for video games and lunch. Two hours later, it was the movie Underdog with his best buddy Owen. After the movie we had 30 minutes to browse through Froggies, a five-and-dime you could spend hours in, before heading to a classmate's house for a pool party.

It was a whirlwind day but we enjoyed each other's company. Sam's at the wonderful age where he can be goofy, mature, responsible and irresponsible in the course of a few minutes. He can carry on a serious conversation ... while holding his stuffed dog Sparky. He'll be excited to play "big kid" video games, but he'll still hold your hand. We've done a lot of handholding these past few days. Which leads me to ...



That is the face I had to leave on Monday morning. Me and hundreds of other parents, I realize. My gut instinct was to grab him and run screaming from the building, shielding his eyes and head from the fallout. Home schooling briefly entered my mind. For the next two hours I imagined the miserable life he would have because I had abandoned him in kindergarten.

Fortunately, at pick up, he was unscathed. He made a friend. He figured out his lunch. He gave the day a thumbs-up. So, we went back yesterday. And today. One of these days I hope it will be easier. One of these days we won't cling to each other like we were drowning. Probably about the time Jake starts school.

Ab Fab

My family photographer is also my friend and coworker Cindy Kau. And thankfully for her, I have some splendid photographs of Abby. Since I haven't put a single photo of her in an album, I am especially grateful. (Now that I think about it, I stopped putting photos in albums when Jake was Abby's age.)

If it is possible I think Cindy's photos capture what a little pumpkin Abby is (to quote her daycare teacher). My only complaint is that lately she thinks 4 a.m. is a good time to start her day. I love ya AbbyGirl, but I'd love you even more at 6:30.