Proud Mama

Several times this year I've had the privilege of helping out in Lucy's Kindergarten classroom. I've enjoyed watching the kids interact, putting names with faces from Lucy's classroom stories, observing the teacher and how she expects great things from the kids, and getting to know just a smidgen of what Lucy experiences every day.

This morning, I snuck into the classroom just a few minutes earlier than when I was scheduled to come. Her teacher, Mrs. S., and few kids saw me, but Lucy didn't. I sat down in a pint-sized chair behind a table in the back (which, by the way, is just ever so slightly awkward when pregnant!), and got to witness something that I thought was very special.

Lucy had been chosen to "show and tell" some of her school work. Her workbook was displayed on the screen at the front of the classroom where the kids all sat on the big rug, and she used the pointer stick to read her sentence to the whole class.

"I can go on the monkeybars," she read as she pointed to each word she had written on the page.

What was of particular interest to Mrs. S. was the spaces she put between her words. She explained how she put a finger or sideways hand after one word before she started to write the next. A very nice example, said Mrs. S.

It didn't matter at all that the word "monkeybars" was completely misspelled. It didn't matter that the tail of her "g" was completely above the line. It didn't matter that her stick-figure drawing had all kinds of mysterious swirlies all around it.

I suddenly found myself misty-eyed with pride and realizing I needed to pull it together before the whole class saw me blubbering over her handiwork.

The class gave her the "seal of approval" where they clapped as if they had flippers and made sounds like seals. Very cute.

And then she saw me. (Thankfully I had pulled myself together by this time.) And her face lit up like Christmas lights. I think mine did, too. As soon as they were dismissed from the rug for the next activity she came and gave me a huge hug. (I think I got three big hugs from her in the classroom today.)

I love that she loves that I'm there. I know one day (all too soon, I'm sure) I will probably be a source of embarrassment to her, and on those occasions I'm going to have to remember this morning -- the look on her face and those precious hugs she gave me in front of all her classmates.

In more than just one way this morning, I was a very proud mama, indeed.