"I thought that this week should not go unsung, so I've decided to put Georgiana's first week in Kindergarten into an e-mail to friends.
"Georgiana had a great last year of pre-school with a great teacher, Miss Bonnie. This is the kind of teacher that they had when they invented the Leave it to Beaver show, I imagine. Miss Bonnie gave the kids gifts at the pre-school graduation. Maria [my friend's wife] attended and said that during the ceremony all the parents cried. This is pre-school graduation mind you. This is the kind of teacher that writes notes home, calls her students at home to say hello, drops them postcards from Martha's Vineyard. Gives them such unbelievable support that they can't help but do right.
"We suffered over whether Georgie was ready for Kindergarten this year or should we hold her back. She is the youngest in her class. She will not have her fifth birday until October 30. She is shy. On the other hand, all her classmates in pre-school were moving on to Kindergarten. We left it up to Miss Bonnie. At the beginning of last year, she wasn't so sure. But she put together a curriculum of play that tested Georgiana's strengths and weaknesses and pronounced her ready by the end of the year. How much are they paying this woman? God knows, we're not paying her much. Although at one point Georgiana said, 'I know why I'm going to Kindergarten!' 'Why?' I said. 'Because of money!' she said. Hmmm.
"So the big day came. And off she went. No problems. Ready to deal. Except that night she became obsessed with searching for Madeleine's pacifier, and when she found it, she sucked it for the rest of the night. The next great day was followed by an evening where she crawled into Madeleine's crib, and the next day when she came home from school she demanded to watch her favorite Christmas sing along video. Obviously big things are going on in that little girl. She has always told us that she has loved her new school. Until yesterday when she said she was bored. I think it is starting to sink in: she's in this thing five days a week for a very long time. 'I go to school when you go to work!' she said the other day. That's right.
"Maria thought she was ready to not take her right up and into the classroom the other day, so she gave her a big hug at the front of the school. And Georgiana went off and said, 'Okay, Mom. 'Bye.' She headed to her classroom. Eight steps later she turned around to see if her mom was still there, and there was a tear in her eye.
"Oh, these life transitions. They are tough, aren't they? At any rate, last night we went to parents night and the teachers who seemed like even better than Miss Bonnie ( I mean, where are they getting these people from?!) assured us that Georgiana was speaking up. When they told her to shout, she talked at a normal level. And that she was confident, just a ittle shy and smart as a whip.
"Georgiana is impressed because she has not one or two teachers. But FOUR teachers, if you count the adult helpers in her classroom. If I had had this kind of Kindergarten, I would be running Exxon by now. Hmmm. Maybe a good thing I didn't. Perhaps we should be worried. I would rather Georgiana run a school for children who play violin and sing in the key of E. Oh, well.