field day

i'm sure that whatever your kids do for school, things are winding for you. we are counting down the days on our little sticker chart- 8 school days left for us. and today is the last day of math. i've already heard about that fact 4 times (5 since starting this post) this morning. the last day of math, people. worth celebrating.

some homeschooling mom friends of mine put together a little field day to mark the closing of the school year. we were invited. i asked samuel if that sounded like something he'd like to do. he was immediately excited.

and then i started to panic. see, my kid isn't the most coordinated kid on the block. he still can't ride a bike with training wheels. he's never been very fast. and he gets very frustrated when he can't do things that he really wants to do.

also-- i remember field day when i was in school. i dreaded it. i couldn't handle the pressure. i wasn't good at it. didn't like it.

so i went in to field day with some seriously low expectations. and a pact with my kid that if he wasn't having a good time, he would tell me and we could leave.



as the first race began, i stood at the end to help kids with the race's task. my kid ran to me and as he got closer, his face fell. and by the time he reached me, he was crying. "i can't do it, mom!"

we spoke a few words, tried a couple of things and he made it.

same thing happened during the 3rd race.

the 4th race was okay.

and before i knew it.



i had a field day kid.



proud and excited. thrilled with his successes. bursting to tell his daddy all that he had done- how he hadn't dropped the golf ball off of the spoon and his team had won the tug-of-war.

these expectations of mine. they get me in trouble almost every time. i almost missed a great day with my kid because i thought i knew what he was capable of. he is full of surprises, folks. chock full of them.