The paperwork for preschool came in the mail a few days ago. I've been putting it off because I can't believe they are going to school in a few months. But I sucked it up and started on it today. It covers the basics, health info, vaccine records, emergency contacts, who can pick them up, etc. The last page was a little more personal, who lives in your house, what pets do you have, what do they call grandparents, what are some of their favorites, etc.
The last question was: "Please tell us anything else about your child that you would like us to know."
I thought about it in terms of what they would need to know to help them learn, what their barriers and challenges might be in school. To help them understand them a little better. I wrote:
Nick is very caring. He can be very impulsive and ends up in his own little world a lot to the point of ignoring everything around him. He is very curious.
William is a very sweet boy. He can be overly cautious at times. He's currently in speech therapy twice a month. He gets frustrated if he doesn't think he's doing something "right" and might stop trying despite reassurance. He is very independent.
But those two tiny paragraphs don't begin to cover what they need to know about my boys. If I had about three more sheets of paper, maybe I could begin to cover it.
Both my boys are very empathetic. They worry when the other is sad. They make sure we know if they hear a baby cry and they look after the baby until he stops crying and declare BABY HAPPY AGAIN! with relief. They hug and kiss each other unprompted. William loves to give bear hugs and tell us he loves us all SOOOOOO MUCH. Nick wants to snuggle every night before bed. They think hugs can make anyone happy. They want to know how the world works, but they want to figure it out for themselves. They're rarely content with a simple answer you give them and want to know more, more, more. Their tiny little heads hold so much more knowledge then I would think possible at this age. Nick can count, at least to 15, maybe higher, and recognizes all his letters, shapes, colors, and knows the sounds most letters can make. He can write a few letters and I suspect he could probably start reading sooner than you might think. His favorite shape is an octagon, but lately he's also been partial to hexagon.
William can count, but he skips two. But if you ask him how many objects there are, the answer is almost always two which makes no sense. He'll ask you to help wash his two hands or put on his two shoes and I'm sure he knows those things are really two. But if it's a larger number, he'll say two as well though I know he knows there aren't really two. He can't count as high as Nick, but he knows all his letters too. He knows colors and shapes too. He knows these things and I think it's important you know he knows these things, because you might not know that 'di-dan-da' means triangle. Or 'oh-wah' means orange. But if you don't know, and you can't figure it out, he may shut down and not try anymore. He wants so badly to do it right and if he doesn't think he can, he won't do it at all. You might catch him practicing quietly though so he can get it right next time.
I want you to know that they are very used to being together at all times. They go wake each other up before they'll wake Dave or me, having been apart for too long overnight. They make up silly games to play with each other. They have a twin language thing sometimes that is both really cool and slightly creepy. They haven't been apart more than a few hours at a time and worry about the other one when they aren't. While Nick was getting the back of his head stitched up, he kept asking where William was. William worries about Nick if Nick takes a longer nap than he does and wants to go check on him. I'm worried how they'll do in separate classrooms. If they get upset, can you let them visit each other so they know the other one is ok? A hug and "It's ok Wee-um" or "It's ok Nay" should make everything better again.
I want you to know that they've never been apart from me before without another family member around. Grandparents and aunts and uncles have been their only babysitters. People they know and love and trust. I want you to know how so very, very much we wanted them in our lives and what we went through to get them. I want you to know that I'm trusting you with my very heart and soul. Please take good care of them; they mean everything to me.
This is beautiful Jenn - so wonderfully written.
Posted by: MsPrufrock | July 06, 2009 at 10:27
Jenn, this made me cry.
Posted by: Flicka | July 06, 2009 at 12:23
After I get done crying, I will go back to work. I think you should add this in their paperword!
Posted by: Trina | July 06, 2009 at 15:50
Oh.....yeah. I understand.
Posted by: Ginny | July 06, 2009 at 20:21
OMG, I can't even post, I'm crying so hard.
That was gorgeous, a beautiful, heart warming and wrenching post. From one mom of two boys to another ...thank you for writing that.
*hug*
Posted by: Kir | July 07, 2009 at 12:05