Andy and his classmates getting funky

A historic event occurred last night in St. Paul. Tens of thousands of people wanted to get in*, but we were among the relatively few to get prime seats for…Andy’s last ECFE class. [Sniff.] Andy fled to the “big kids’ room” before song time, so we didn’t get that last Ram-Sam-Sam. Andy, of course, has pretty much refused to participate in song time at all this year, so missing it last night probably doesn’t make him sad at all…but even he might have enjoyed it this time, because this time the adults sat under the jingle blanket instead of the kids. Naturally I didn’t mention to him what he missed out on.

Andy’s ECFE experience almost ended in tears. As we were playing on the playground after class, Andy realized he had forgotten his bubbles, which the big kids’ teacher had given to each kid in that room. The doors to the school were locked by then, but I suggested that we walk around to the back doors just in case we saw one of the teachers there. All the while I was telling him that we probably wouldn’t see anyone and that I could e-mail one of the teachers in the morning (and silently wondering if I’d be able to find the exact brand and scent of the bubbles to just buy him one and claim imply I’d picked it up at the school). We didn’t see anyone near the back door, but as we were walking back to the playground, who should we run into but one of the teachers! Luckily enough, it was the exact teacher who still had the bubbles in her bag! Whew! (It was really a long shot; hers was the last car left in the parking lot.)

Technically we might not be completely done, since the ice cream social that was supposed to be last week has been rescheduled for tonight — on the playground, rain or shine. Which is weird and a little infuriating, since I know that the gym was offered and rejected as a back-up location, and it will likely rain again tonight. So we’ll see — I still haven’t mentioned it to Andy, but some of the kids were talking about it last night.

And I can’t close the story of Andy’s last ECFE night without a quote. I was watching Andy paint at the art table, and I remarked, “Look, Andy! You’re painting concentric circles.” He mumbled an “Uh-huh.” I asked if he knew what “concentric” means. He didn’t answer, so I launched into a definition. He cut me off, though. “Mom, I know what ‘concentric’ means.”

*At least I assume they would have, if they’d known about it.

We had kindergarten orientation tonight! We have officially accepted L’étoile du nord’s enrollment offer, and we were told that if we signed up for before- and/or after-school care tonight (we did) we would definitely get a spot, which we had been slightly worried about. Andy, for his part, was much more enthusiastic about the school than when we first told him about it. He got to have a snack and do fun activities — which he described afterwards as “great!!” — while we filled out paperwork and listened to speech after boring informative speech. (I hope Andy gets the kindergarten teacher who showed and told us what school supplies to purchase. If that woman can talk to a cafeteria full of adults as if they were five, she must be great with actual kindergarteners.) On the ride home, Andy expressed a desire to start kindergarten tomorrow. He also asked us to sing “Frère Jacques” to him…but when Jay started singing it in French, Andy clarified that he wanted to hear it “in the language that we speak.”

Yesterday we received our official notification that Andy won the lottery–the school choice lottery, that is–and can enroll for fall at our first-choice school: L’étoile du nord (the French immersion school). Le Woo-Hoo! Andy himself, however, did not express the great delight at this news that some of us did. His remark was: “I hate French!” We will chalk that reaction up to its being late and the end of a long, napless day when he heard it.

If you’re wondering why we kept him up late under those circumstances, the answer is that it was our ECFE night. And it was a first at ECFE for Andy–he spent most of the “separation time” (when the parents and children are in separate rooms) in the big kids’ room with the older, school-age children! Sarah was too scared to ask what prompted this decision on the teachers’ part, suspecting it might not have been his excellent behavior and gentleness around the toddlers and babies in the preschool room, but he certainly seemed to enjoy it–especially since the big kids get to go to the gym! Knowing this, he may never agree to go back to the “regular” kids’ room.