Jack To School

To be honest, before I had preschool-aged kids, I didn't really get the school class nomenclature. It seemed a little silly, and probably still is, to be a hawk or a brown bear or a minnow instead something more descriptive. Naturally, however, anything that you once rolled your eyes at before you had kids becomes SO cute and SO exciting once you've got your own little shark or polywog or blue footed booby starting the school year. And so it went as Jack moved from Bumblebees to Crickets this year (SO cute, right?). We had been pumping up the change because we all rather adored his teacher last year (most of all, me, probably, although Molly latched on to Teacher Katie's daughters this summer and when they gave her some hand-me-downs, well, the world may have stopped spinning for that moment), and we wanted him to be excited to meet his new teacher, Teacher Miriam (by the way, I don't know if it's a Seattle thing or a west coast thing but preschool teachers all seem to be Teacher XYZ and not Miss Honeybucket or Miss Coco or whatever honorific I was used to in preschools back east. Anyhoo...).We shouldn't have worried because Jack has embraced being a Cricket like a train loves a train track. He l-o-v-e-s Teacher Miriam (though, to be honest, his biggest crushes are still on two of the dads in the class. I can't hold his hand to the park if either of those dads are around. Or today, he DID ART BY HIS OWN FREE WILL once Dad Crush #1 asked if he wanted to come into the art room). Teacher Miriam knows the way to a preschooler's heart -- she sings songs about race cars, does a mad freeze dance, does not jump out of her skin when a not-so-small, tow-headed little boy runs up behind her and yells "BOO!" at 9am... she's great. And so, we get all excited about our little Cricket and we talk to our friends about how Dragonflies is going and what the new Bumblebees are up to and these silly names don't seem so silly anymore. They seem perfect, actually, because they embody, in their own entomological way, our kids' developmental stages. It's a common language within our community and it denotes growth as they move from one class to another, as they gain more freedom, explore bigger things and relate to one another. It also gives these little people their own sense of belonging and community. It's exciting, when you're two and a half to do a cheer or a song about your class at the end of the school day. It's cool when you're off somewhere else, and you spot a schoolmate, to be able to say that so-and-so is a Cricket friend. It fills them with so much pride and there is so much engagement and rallying around a common theme. So, yes, it's sort of nutty to talk in these random kid codes but it's meaningful nonetheless. I should also learn to not roll my eyes at these conventions since I will inevitably embrace them once I reach that milestone. See, we're never too old to learn...