Friday, May 16, 2014

Big or small: a lesson in perspective

She said it quietly, nearly under her breath, as if she wasn’t sure she should say out loud exactly what she was thinking.

“He’s SO big.”

Eli sat at the top of the red slide attached to the preschool play structure. His size 11 shoes dangled about a foot from the bottom.  His trip down was very short but he didn’t seem to mind. He climbed back up with enthusiasm.

I looked up at the face of his preschool teacher and raised my eyebrows. I hear this said in different ways all the time and have no good stock response or retort.

“I mean REALLY. He’s taller than all the pre-K girls.”

This catches me off guard a little. Really? Taller than the five-year-old girls? He's 3. I looked down at my smiling son now running around the gym. I know in my head he’s a big kid but in my mind he’s my little buddy.

Hearing this come from an educator who has seen a lot of kids in her career made it all a little more real. It's very likely I won't have as much time as most parents do to look down at his face and pat his head while we walk and talk. I just hope I'm not looking up to him when he's 8!

3 comments:

Wendy said...

Tall, sweet, funny, precious spirit, good natured, smart as a dickens, looks like his mommy. . .tall is just one of the many adjectives to decribe our bubbie boy

Barbara and Doug said...

Having raised 2 handsome, tall boys I can guarantee you there are many benefits for you and him ahead. Granted, their beds were never long enough and their jeans always a bit short. But they were able to help me get stuff off the top shelf and I could always find them in a crowd of kids. Just watch out for those shoes-very easy to trip on!

Barbara and Doug said...

Having raised 2 handsome, tall boys I can guarantee you there are many benefits for you and him ahead. Granted, their beds were never long enough and their jeans always a bit short. But they were able to help me get stuff off the top shelf and I could always find them in a crowd of kids. Just watch out for those shoes-very easy to trip on!