The only downfall of the last day of school is the amount of paperwork they bring home in a paper bag. It can be stressful depending on the personality of your child.
Daniel is first born. He responds to authority, schedules, lists and deadlines. We have to go through each piece of paper (each holding extreme sentimental value) and discuss, inspect and decide if it goes in the memory box or put in the recycling bin. I learned early on never to assume anything goes directly into recycling without at least acknowleding it first (even if it is a spelling test from 3 months prior). Daniel is our rule follower...for now.
Calvin. I will come back.
Molly is our youngest and just completed Kindergarten. She is a very proud student and even though it is summer, she still wears her name tag. I love her teacher, Mrs Rigazio. Each of our kids have had her as a teacher. She is considered a rock star in our house. She calls her students "my little friends" and sings about everything from new shoes to new haircuts to missing teeth. She is also no-nonsense. Molly only brought home about 6 items. Each had sentimental value and I was 100% sure that we would keep each one for her to look back on when she gets older (a journal, her first alphabet book and other extremely cute, crafty memorable items). Only 6 items, but 6 items that needed to be to be reviewed one page at a time, every day and shown to anyone that visits.
Calvin is second born. The middle child. Calvin is our easiest child. His world consists of hand me downs and used toys. He often takes back seat to his older brother or his younger sister. He is easy going and is a very funny little man. The only person that can truly make Calvin mad is Daniel. Calvin is a mess most of the time. Messy hair, messy face, stuff on his shirt, etc. He recently got his beautiful hair buzzed off so that he wouldn't have to comb it. He prefers cargo shorts so that he can catch frogs and keeps them in his pockets until it is time to release them into the wild. He likes to stare out his window at the trees blowing in the breeze. He is not a fan of showers, washing his hands or flushing the toliet. Calvin is salt of the earth.
Calvin's end of the school year paper bag was just short of disgusting. It was a complete mess and he could care less what I kept and what I threw out. All Calvin wanted was for me to take that bag and take care of what was in it so that he could get outside and take a look around. I started sorting through the contents and easily tossed out most of the bag, which consisted of crumpled up papers. Like my other two children, Calvin had a journal (there is not even enough time to explain what he wrote about in his journal) and then a few other notebooks. The journal was basically the only notebook that had any writing in it. As I put his unused notebooks on his shelf in his room, I did one last flip through. All empty pages, except writing on one page within one of the other notebooks. This is what it said:
Safety Tips
1. Never go to sea alone.
2. Never make somebody laugh while they are drinking lemonade.
Since Calvin has never been out to sea before, I asked where he learned such an important tip. Apparently, my Dad taught Calvin safety tip #1. This makes sense to me, as they have had quite a few man to man discussions. And, I can only I assume Calvin knows #2 from experience.
Calvin might be a man of few words (being overshadowed by his siblings most of the time and empty notebooks and all), but at least you know he is thinking things through.
So, from all of us at our house have a good summer. Enjoy the beautiful weather. Enjoy baseball, boating and watermelon. But, make sure to be careful at your neighborhood lemonade stands and use the buddy system when out at sea. Other than that you, you should be fine. Enjoy!
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