Shokufeh is... home

My cool kid

When will I be at peace that I've totally fallen off the wagon in regards to letters to my child? I come across bits of paper and post-its, where I, at some point, jotted down things to include in the letter of the month. Several months, I've started writing a letter. But at some point, before I start writing, or while writing, I grow overwhelmed by trying to document the changes. The multitudinous changes, the nuances, that are part of him. And with each month that passes, it grow a little harder to capture him in words.

Yesterday, when I picked MrMan up from school, I stopped in the office to sign him out. And the teenaged son of one of the staff members asked me if I was MrMan's mom. When I said yes, he responded with, "MrMan's cool!" I've got a cool kid! A not-even-two-year-old cool kid! And in the eyes of a teenager. He's definitely his own person when people, people I don't even know, deem him cool.

MrMan was playing with his classmates and when I showed up, he introduced me to them. By name. I could decipher only one, but I just thought it was so sweet that he pointed to each, and said something different (if unintelligible) for each one. On our way out the door, we passed the maintenance man, and MrMan said his name. That one was easy and understood, and I learned something new, as I hadn't known the man's name until then. Today, he introduced me to a boy who hadn't been there yesterday. Yes, my heart flutters at my son's social skills.

Just in case I haven't yet proven his mental acuity.... Yesterday, I pulled out some stuffed animals MrMan's had for some time, but hadn't yet seen. I'm sure you all have that stash of toys that you hold back for later. One of the stuffed animals was a dog, from "Are You My Mother?" By P.D. Eastman, who is also the author of MrMan's current fave, "Go, Dog. Go!" (Which he requests by name at least once a day. It sounds kind of like "yellow.") As soon as MrMan saw the stuffed dog, he exclaimed "Go, Dog. Go!"