Back To School

It’s Back To School Day for Charlotte. She’s officially a second-grader now.

We got to meet her new teacher last night at the school’s open house. Charlotte knew her a tiny bit from last year, but it was their first real introduction to one another, and our first introduction to her at all. Charlotte’s first grade teacher was a sweet lady who had been teaching for twenty-plus years and loved the little kids; once she and Charlotte got to know one another, it bloomed into a mutual admiration society. Her new teacher is very young and just got married over the summer; she’s not a rookie but she’s not as settled into her teaching career as her immediate predecessor either. I think they’ll be fine with each other, but I won’t be expecting the same amount of lovey-dovey as last year.

Charlotte was afraid that she wouldn’t know many kids in her new classroom, but a quick glance at the names on the desks showed her otherwise. She probably knows about half of them well, and several more at least in passing. Her “arch-enemy” from kindergarten is back, too. That will bear watching. None of her many male admirers are in her classroom, for which we will have to slip the principal an extra twenty the next time we see him. In fact, none of them are even on the same floor of the building as Charlotte. I am already filling out my application to the French Foreign Legion to join up when she hits puberty. Actually, she’s really just one of those kids that seems to get along with everyone. Everywhere we go, she seems to bump into some kid she knows from school, and they all seem glad to see her. She never complains about being picked on by bigger kids or by rotten ones in her own grade. I envy her that, but I am also very glad for her sake that she will probably never have to endure the peer abuse I took as a child.

My summer has pretty much sucked rocks, but Charlotte has had a great summer. After the school day camp finished up, she spent a week at a local YMCA outdoor day camp and loved every second of it. It rained the first two days, but cleared up for the last three, so they swam and canoed and played in the woods all day long. She came home weak from exertion every day that week and went to bed early each night. Next year she wants to go to the Y camp for the whole summer. Considering her extreme fear of bugs and her general lack of interest in playing outside so far in her life, that was a very surprising thing for us to hear, but if she’s serious we will gladly sign her up for the whole she-bang next time. There’s nothing wrong with the school’s day camp, but they don’t get the same kind of outdoor activity, and it’s too much like going to school all summer.

Last week, she spent the entire week up in Maine with my in-laws. We were afraid they were going to bail out at the last minute. My father-in-law just had knee-replacement surgery and isn’t very mobile at the moment, so my mother-in-law wasn’t sure if they could entertain Charlotte all week. They rose to the occasion, though, and Charlotte and her Grandma had their usual special time together. She came home with all sorts of junk from the Dollar Tree store, a tiny potted sunflower, and a bag of gravel she “collected” from my in-laws’ driveway, so I’d say it was a success.

This has also been the Summer Of Recycled Pop Culture for Charlotte. She discovered the Muppets, Pokemon, Harry Potter, and Star Wars this summer. Pokemon didn’t last too long, just long enough for her to drag us to the Toys R Us looking for card sets and a notebook to keep them in. Harry Potter, however, is definitely her new Big Thing. She’s watched all the movies on DVD several times each, pretends to be Hermione every time she and I are in the car together (I am the cab driver taking her to Hogwarts, if you must know), plays some Harry Potter dress-up games online, bought a Harry Potter audiobook at the second-hand bookstore, and got her grandmother to start reading her the first book as her bedtime story last week. I am now compelled to read it to her, pre-empting our string of Little House books that I was enjoying so much. Hmmph.

Her activity calendar will start loading up quick, too. Dance classes start next week. She opted out of fall soccer (which doesn’t break MY heart), but she says she’s interested in karate. I’d also like to find another theater program for her to try, since the last one was pretty lame. Having learned our lesson this spring, though, we will make a concerted effort not to overload her (and ourselves).

My own memories of second grade are vague but not unpleasant. I, too, had a cute young teacher, and remember enjoying second grade a fair degree more than first (and definitely more than any subsequent elementary school grade). She’s been very lucky so far to have had such good school experiences, and I really hope that the string continues. I’ve got all my fingers crossed just for you, kid.