Nearly the end of an era

Friday is Emmett's last day of Day Care. He has been out there for three semesters now, and it has been a good experience I think. Emmett is counting down the days, so he knows he is finishing, but I don't know that he really knows what it is going to mean to be finished. I don't know that we know. For sure it is going to be a lot of long days stuck with me while Andrea finishes up her school year (I finish on Friday).

I have taken to trying to keep track of some of the things Emmett says during the day, so I might list a few here. Before I start, though, I guess I should bring up one phrase that has not been great. About 3 months ago Day Care sent out an email mentioning how to deal with foul language coming from kids' mouths. It was clear that there was a cussing problem in the classroom, but we were pretty sure it wasn't Emmett. The next day that we were there, I joked with the teachers about how Andrea and I were hoping it was Emmett, but they said it wasn't. Over the next few days I learned who it was. First, it is worth describing this child: he is one of the smallest, if not the smallest kid in the class. He still uses a pacifier at times, which makes him seem even younger. One day while I was dropping Emmett off in the morning, that kid walked it ahead of his mom and said "Good morning, f***ers." It was surreal on so many fronts: he is so small, I had never heard such language out of so small a child, and it flowed out of him and into what I had always felt was a wholesome, warm environment so easily.

Over the next weeks I realized that this kid was very talented with his cursing and could use it appropriately. If a child took something from him or even simply had something he wanted he would say "f***er idiot". I heard him call his teachers this. It was everywhere in the class suddenly.

It didn't seem that Emmett was picking up on this, but one day we were riding the bike home and a driver and I had said something back and forth (not even heated), and as he drove off I heard Emmett call him a "f***er idiot." I should say that I thought he said that---I wasn't sure, but it really did sound like it. A week or so later was our camping trip, and while I was setting up the tent Emmett was singing me songs. One of them he broke into was "f***er idiot," which I wasn't familiar with. It was kind of funny to hear it come out of his mouth, but from what I had read from Day Care, I knew that I shouldn't overreact in any way, so I simply asked him where he learned the song. He told me it came from the little kid. I wasn't surprised, of course, and I told him it wasn't a very nice song.

Jump forward a few weeks. If Emmett now gets mad at anything, but in particular me or Malcolm (Andrea doesn't seem to get it as much), he turns red and calls the offending person or feline a "f***er idiot." It has lost its charm. We have been on walks and people have stopped in their tracks as what appears to be a nice, young kid starts talking as if he just stepped out of a Tarantino movie.

We are not the only family to have been plagued by this. Other parents are complaining about it is now the phrase of choice to let out frustration in Day Care by most children. This is definitely something I will not miss from Day Care, although I am sure Pre-school and the rest of Emmett's education will bring many more choice phrases into the house.

Here are some less shocking recent conversations Emmett has given us:
Andrea showed Emmett and I a very large bruise she had on her upper leg. Emmett looked at it and asked "how did you get the bruise?" After Andrea answered that she didn't know Emmett offered, "maybe it was from a seagull?"

Emmett and I were laying in bed and Emmett said "I'm thinking of babysitting. Maybe Ethan and I could babysit Greta." Greta is Ethan's three-month-old sister, and the quote was interesting as it came completely out of nowhere.

Post toilet, during flush: "When I am a diver, when I grow up, maybe I can put on my snorkel and you can flush me down the toilet into the ocean."

Today, as I tried to put on Emmett's boot but couldn't as there was already a sock in there. Emmett said "I feeled the sock in there." Me: "you felt the sock." Emmett: "No, I feeled the sock." Me: "when you talk about feeling something in the past you say felt." Emmett, "No, I like feeled better." ....I bring this up as I realized he had a point and then thought that I wouldn't say I pelt a potato, so why can't he be right.

I realize now that none of these quotes are as interesting revisited as they seemed when he said them. It just feels like kids approach the world in such a different way that we adults do and this kid that I am around has me thinking about things in a new way all of the time. For example, we have talked about the seasons a lot recently and Emmett is incredibly excited about summer's coming because of corn and blueberries. However, when we are going through the panhandle or other parks, there are often leaves on the ground and he is always asking me why leaves fall from the trees if it is not fall. I tell him that I don't know and offer up that maybe some leaves get sick or injured and then fall, but I realize that I am guessing at the answer to a question that I had never thought to ask even though I have spent thirty-some years on this planet. What have I been doing?