“I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.”Gilda Radner

Friday, January 27, 2012

Today Is Report Card Day!!!

No, it's not.

Yeah, I bet the wind just went out of your sails like it did for me this morning. All week long our house has been filled with talk of Second Quarter Report Cards. Some days Joey comes home smiling from ear to ear: "I did AWESOME at spelling today, Mom! I can't WAIT for my report card!" Other days, he comes in miserably, averting his eyes as he hands me a paper all marked up in red (usually correcting what I call his "boy handwriting"). "I just don't even KNOW what my report card will look like, Mom."

Well, I can't help it. Spilling over from my own days of good grades and rewards, Report Card Day is just plain awesome. As a teacher, I love it even more. I love pulling aside that one kid who really put in extra effort for the last ten weeks and saying, "Hey, Johnny, I'm not allowed to tell you your grade, but You. Did. Awesome." Johnny's face lights up and a huge weight seems to just float off his shoulders. It just naturally follows that I'm gonna get totally psyched for my own kid's report card. Especially when My. Kid. Rocks.

PLUS, there's the added bonus of Joey snapping in line the second I mention the big R.C. He'll be teasing his brother, jumping off the side of the couch, making Tarzan noises or what have you, and I'll say, "Is this a sign of what I'll see on that report card?" He instantly drops to his bottom, like there's a magnet between him and the chair. Mischief Face reverts to Serious Face. "I don't know," he says fearfully. I hate to make myself sound mean and bad, but seriously. FEEL THE POWER.

Today I woke up, flinging the covers from my legs. I jumped out of bed and skipped up the stairs.

"Good morning, Joey! Time to get up!"

Joey, a morning person, always flies out of bed with the wind at his back and the sun in his smile. We helped Noah out of bed, went downstairs, and picked out our breakfasts. Joey went with his current fave, Cinnamon Toast Crunch. (When he was little he called it "Cinny Cereal." I'm so sad that's over.)

"Jooooooey," I said, nudging him excitedly. He looked up expectantly, like I was about to tell him we were skipping school and going to Disney World (which is totally on my Bucket List of Things to Do For My Kids Before They Grow Up Much More).

"Yeah, Mom?" he asked. He absentmindedly swatted Noah's thieving hand away. Noah has a thing about eating from other people's plates instead of his own.

"Report Card Day! Are you excited or scared??"

"Oh, it's not Report Card Day today," he said distractedly, turning the cereal box around so he could read the back. "It's next week."

"WHAT???!!" I all but fell out of my chair.

"Yeah. You know," he said, shrugging a shoulder. "I figure it's because Friday is Spirit Day, and they know we'll all be in really good moods."

Trying not to be distracted by my pride in his mature and sound logic, I prodded him on. "What do you mean?" I said. I was now unable to eat my oatmeal. "We've been talking about it all week!"

"I know," he said, shrugging again. "I just figured it's because you're, you know, weird."





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