Joy to the World
Usually when I pick up Wombat from daycare, I find myself doing the adult equivalent of pulling on Daycare Lady's dress hem and saying, "Look at me. Look at me. Look. Look! LOOK! Look at me! Look what I can do!" Only I don't want her to look at me but at Wombat because, even though she's just spent the whole day with him, I want to impress her with all the things he can say and do when someone prompts him in the right language. These days I barely have to prompt him anymore--he strolls around singing letters and numbers, and if he knows the word for something, he'll shout it out--but I still feel this urge to make sure everyone in the vicinity is paying very close attention to every little magical trick he pulls out of his size-small hat.
Yesterday when I went to pick him up, he shouted "Hi!" at me from across the yard and then ran to the EXIT sign and started saying "A! B! D! F!" which is his standard shorthand for "I know these are letters, but I'm not going to bother figuring out which ones they are right now because I'm too excited because letters! LETTERS!" Usually I have to tear him away from all the things he wants to show me, but yesterday Daycare Lady had something to show me. His latest Japanese vocabulary acquisition--after "ear," "nose," "hand," "downstairs," "dirty," "elephant," and "peek-a-boo"--was "ashi (foot)," and when she said it he lifted up his right one and giggled. She kept saying it and he kept lifting, and even though it wasn't that great compared to some of his other skills, I was still so busting with pride that I almost puffed up too much and ripped my shirt Hulk-style.
It wasn't until I got home and watched the video from that day's "school" session that I realized why she'd wanted to show me his newest trick:
I can't for the life of me figure out what he found so uproariously hilarious about "nose, nose, nose, nose, foot!" but he's done this before--gotten fixated on a word and had a hearty chuckle over it. When Moose came over for drinks a few weeks ago, he got equally and randomly stuck in a giggle loop over a line in Where the Wild Things Are that he'd heard a hundred times before, and sure, maybe he's a little weird, but there's really nothing to do in these situations but encourage him, as Daycare Lady has so recently demonstrated.
At daycare they have fun all day long, but it's not very...spontaneous(?) fun, so I was surprised to see her indulging Wombat the way she did. She runs a tight ship, and although there's a lot of playing, there's not a lot of silliness, so seeing his sense of humor shine through like that--subverting the dominant paradigm with contagious laughter--is really wonderful. "He has a lot of energy," said Daycare Assistant to me yesterday as we watched him squeal "Wheeeee!" while riding a rockinghorse so hard I thought it might flip a vertical 360. Yes, he has a lot of energy, but he also has a lot of joy.
Here he is during judo class (on the far right in the second part of the video). The shrieking tells you he's having ten times the fun of everyone else. But then? Then? Everyone else starts shrieking too.
When we first left him at daycare two months ago (has it only been two months?), I worried a lot about him being liked, both by his peers and by the adults. He already stood out as the White Kid, and I didn't want him to suffer for also being the Loud Kid, the Headstrong Kid, or the Kid Who Doesn't Understand the Rules. He still kind of is the loud, headstrong kid who doesn't understand the rules (or chooses not to follow them), but I'm getting the impression that because he is all those things--because he is who he is--his presence is also a breath of fresh air.
Confession: I'm finding it hard not to obsess over his intellectual development (although Twitter has assured me I'm not alone in keeping a list of all the words he can say), and it's not because I think it even matters so much at this age but just because I've always been obsessed with my own intellectual development. (I used to beg my mom to make up math problems for me and to emcee my one-woman spelling bees. Summer school would have been a treat.) With Wombat, I'm constantly reminding myself that smart is good but it's not the end-all-be-all and we also need to make sure he is caring and polite and confident and secure and emotionally well-adjusted and all of the other things that make up a good human being and citizen of the world. Being liked (or at least likeable) is a part of that (though also not an end-all-be-all), and I sigh with relief to see him playing with his friends and amusing the adults.
I put him in daycare so he could be socialized, and I hoped he'd quickly find his place there, either as a leader or a follower, a clown or a nerd, a teacher and a student, pretty much anything but a bully or a victim. I thought a lot about what daycare would do for him socially, mentally, and emotionally, but I didn't think about what he might do for daycare. I knew letting him out into the world was giving him the gift of opportunity, but I never considered that sharing him with the world would also be a gift to everyone else. As a wise man once said, "Ask not what daycare can do for you but what you can do for daycare." (Or instead of "daycare" substitute "the world." Or " your country." Whatever.) The bottom line is that none of us is the center of the universe, and what we put out is equally if not more important than what we take in during this life.
This morning when I dropped Wombat off, Daycare Lady and I talked a little about how funny the "ashi" thing was, and just as I started to run off at the mouth again about how clever and brilliant he is, she stopped me dead in my jabbertracks with one of the biggest compliments I've ever gotten as a mother:
"He makes everyone here happy," she said. Now, I've heard people say he's cute and smart and funny and all of that before, but of this--he makes everyone happy!--of this I'm proudest of all.
Besides, maybe I shouldn't be so proud of his brains when he manages to get his ashi into fixes like this:
Ahhh yes, our brilliant child.
Omg he is seriously the cutest damn thing. I love how he was DYING laughing and doubled over in the first video.
And dude in the second video? He's just a little soldier lining up. I'm wicked impressed.
The last one? HA HA HA HAAA! And he just sits down and puts out his foot like, okay, let's get this taken care of and forget it even happened.
I'm smiling so huge right now and I don't blame you for wanting to burst with pride right out of your clothes.
He's an amazing little man. I'm so happy for you.
I love this daycare so much, you lucky duck. :)
oh man. your kid is FUN. it's no wonder he makes them (and us!) so happy.
Uh, I kind of want to go to his daycare.
Mwahahahahaha. I love how foot is the! funniest! thing! EVER. He's such a ham.
I love the foot stuck in the door, so cute! And what's better than videos of babies laughing?
Thank you for this! I'm sending my son to daycare in a few weeks (he's with his grandparents during the day now) and I think it'll help to focus on how much fun he'll have and how much he'll learn, instead of how much it hurts to be away from him.
I love this post, even without being able to hear the audio because my husband stole my speakers.
Omigod. I'm moving to CA so my child can attend this daycare. Judo? Seriously? Ashi? Wow! Don't get me wrong, my kid knows "Hi Joe" (we thought he was saying hello) but that is because we watch way too much Blues Clues. Wow wow wow - seriously impressed at your daycare situation!
ASHI!! Oh my goodness. What a magical little man you have there.
You are very lucky indeed to have found a daycare so wonderful, with teachers who obviously think a lot of Wombat. I realized my youngest's daycare was not the place for him when I picked him up and daycare teacher's 7 year old son said, "Oh good Mom, the devil child is leaving." The teacher turned all shades of rid, and I instantly knew that's how she was referring my kid. My amazing, happy, kind and affectionate kid. He just happened to be 2 and 2 interfered with her OCD lifestlye a bit too much. Now he hangs out all day with a nanny (my husband's sister) who adores the crap out of him, but yeah. I really wish I had known when he was in daycare he was making others happy.
This is absolutely lovely, and I just about fell over and died at the cuteness of those tiny kids in their judo gear.
Oh my amazing benefits! an amazing post guy. Thanks Nevertheless I am experiencing issue with ur rss . Don't know the reason why Not able to subscribe to this. Can there be anyone obtaining similar rss issue? Anyone you never know generously respond. Thnkx
Your location is actually valueble personally. Thanks!…
Nice post. I learn some thing tougher upon various blogs everyday. It will always end up being stimulating to see content through additional authors and exercise a little something from their store. I'd would rather apply certain with the content material upon my personal blog whether a person don't mind. Natually I'll provide you with a hyperlink on your internet weblog. Thanks for discussing.
Awesome job! This is the kind of information that should be distributed more on the online community. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher!