lunch at school

So, I went to school this morning to have lunch with Michael (at 10:30). It was fun to see him in his class (I was a few minutes early) and enjoying himself. He's been complaining every morning about his stomach, which I generally figure is a bathroom issue, but it just keeps me wondering if he is still jittery about school. Andy went to "Curriculum Night" last night and Mrs. Roman asked him if Michael ever mentioned specials at all. Andy asked, "What are specials again?" (It is hard to keep specials, centers, and everything else straight) Upon hearing that the specials were PE, music, art, and science, Andy said, "Well, it's all he ever talks about." Mrs. Roman was evidently relieved because Michael had only stopped asking to not go to specials on Wednesday of this week! We were very surprised to hear that because they've been the highlight of his days.

I sat with Michael at lunch and discovered that as the only parent there, I was kind of a table parent--there are ladies in the cafeteria who monitor the children and help with milk boxes, spoons, napkins, etc. but they can only be in so many places at once and kindergarteners need a lot of help! So I found myself bouncing up and down retrieving spoons, opening milk cartons, juice boxes, and pudding containers, but it was fun. The kids were all very polite and all of them (not just my own son) seemed to be happy that I came. I'm looking forward to helping in class soon. When I asked Michael to pray with me, he said, "Oh, we don't pray at lunch here" which saddened me, but I told him that I wanted to pray with him. He inhaled his food but oddly enough refused to touch his chips, which I've been puzzling over for days but hadn't figured out--"I don't want to have junk food in my stomach when I'm running this afternoon." I also discovered that Michael has the smallest packed lunch of any of his classmates--these parents were evidently packing for a major expedition! Two juice boxes; chocolate pudding, chips and oreos; ravioli/meatballs (an entire can by the look of it), chips, peaches, and cookies: this is just a sampling of some of the lunches. Maybe I am starving my child but he hasn't complained yet. I evidently just need to find something for filler that's not "junk food."

After he finished eating, he told me that he's been trying to stop the other children from saying "Oh my God/gosh" and not having any success (he got busted for saying the latter after the first day of school). So we talked about being Jesus' disciple and how we need to follow Jesus' example even when the people around us are not. Sometimes I have my doubts about this whole kindergarten experience! We'll keep on it for now and keep loving him as hard as we can. What else is there to do?