East Side

Today was day two of preschool, and so far so good. Yesterday as I buckled Jasper into his car seat I asked, "What did you do at school today?" He replied, "Well, we got naked a lot." Not exactly what you want to hear from your preschooler about his first day with strangers. Turns out they had swim lessons and he was impressed by the changing process. While we were eating dinner on the porch he looked up at us as seriously as I have ever seen him look and said, "Today I climbed the ladder into the big house and there were two boys there and they said GO AWAY YOU CAN"T PLAY HERE. (pause) So I found something else to do." He was confessing this to us, sincerely and deliberately, as one might to a therapist, as if he wanted us to explain why it happened. My first instinct was to say, "Well, did you punch their lights out!?!" But I knew that was wrong. I did say, "Did you tell the teacher?" and then immediately realized that this was wrong, too. I followed it up with, "You did the right thing, Jasper. When people don't want to play with you, you can always find something else to do." But I am still wondering what else I should have said. My throat swelled with the realization that my little boy is heading out into The World and there will be jerks who won't want him to climb the ladder and play with them. They are going to scare him and break his heart and discourage him and make him feel like crap. And he'll just have to find something else to do. Or maybe if I sign him up for karate lessons he can throw the kids out of the tree house. Or maybe I'll throw them out, if I ever figure out which ones they are, the little jerks.

Despite the altercation in the tree house, Jasper returned to East Side eagerly today and went on his first field trip... on an actual SCHOOL BUS (!!!) to a beach at a state park. He ate well and slept well and did not cry (as he is quick to tell me when I pick him up). The honeymoon continues.