Fiona has started kindergarten. It's a long story as to why we opted to enroll her 3/4 of the way through the schoolyear (perhaps a future post on
casablanca). But in true White/Bennett family fashion, we decided better late than never.
So far so good. She had a good start. She's made friends right off the bat, she's learning about the wonderful world of addition and subtraction (an area of learning
completely overlooked by teacher mom), and truly grasping those tricky silent "e"s.
I don't want to leak too many skeletons from her new little school closet/cubby, but she did have a funny/sad episode on Friday that involved a Bingo game, being a sore loser, and tossing a card across the primary colored rug. Oops. Her daily smiley face looked more like a daily unsure-of-this face instead. "Inch by inch, life's a cinch... Yard by yard, life is hard." I keep telling myself that everytime I imagine her in college throwing her art history exam in the face of her professor.
I will be posting her zebra drawing here soon. It was rather extrodinary, if I do say so myself. Oh, and tht reminds me of this:
As I finished up the enrollment process in the principal's office last week, Fiona's delightful teacher met us down there. She was the greatest combination of funny, smart (didn't talk to Fiona like she was a child), and a straight-shooter.
Her: "Is there anything else I should know about her, before we go back to the classroom?"
At this point, I've listed her ethnicity, her doctor's contact info, the names and contact info for those who can pick her up after school, and social security number so many times on various forms, I was sure her teacher was referring to some fun Fiona trivia that she could pass on to the classroom of mediocre children that wait for her. (Only kidding.) So...
Me:
"Yes! She is an amazing artist. Her great grandparents were artists, her grandparents are still making art, and her father is an animator and designer, so it kinda runs in the family... you know..."{silence as her teacher is trying to think of how to write this in her notebook}
Me again:
"Seriously, I'm just sayin'... tell her draw you a bird. It's ah-may-zing."{the secretary who is witnessing this stupid braggart go on and on awkwardly looks down at her paperwork}
Her teacher:
"I'm sure she is a fine artist. I was thinking more about what she's allergic to... you know, milk allergy and whatnot?"Me:
"Oh. Nope."I'm sure she'll change her allergy tune when she sees one of her awesome birds.
{visions of Fiona being lifted in the air by all of her classmates and teachers, crying "more bird!, more bird! more bird!" during art time.}