Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Noah came home from school a few days ago with a take home handout that he got during "Art in the Classroom." Basically it was a black and white photocopy of the above picture along with the name of the painting and the artist--Lobster and Cat by Pablo Picasso. I held up the handout and asked Noah what the picture was and he said, "Lobster and Cat. A seventy year old man painted like a kid!" Such valuable information he's learning.
This morning as I went through Noah's backpack I came across an envelope with Noah's name on it. Oh good, I thought, an invitation to a birthday party. Now I realize most parents' responses to a birthday party invitation would be quite the opposite. But in this case it was a relief to see. Not because Noah isn't popular and doesn't get invited places. It's just that all of the parties Noah has been invited to are on Sunday and Sunday is our family day. We don't do birthday parties on Sunday. Instead we go to church. Noah has yet to be invited to a party that's not on a Sunday. So when I saw the invitation I was ever so hopeful he'd be able to go. Noah tore the sucker open in anticipation and wowed me with his ability to read the entire invitation right down to the "Sunday, April 29th from 1-2:30pm." Then he stopped and reread the date again, only instead of saying Sunday he asked "Saturday. . . April 29th" like he was sure he'd made a mistake. One look at my face and he knew he'd been right the first time and immediately burst into tears. We barely had time for a hug and an "I'm so sorry Noah" and we had to head out the door for school. As we walked the very long and depressing block up to school, Noah hung his head and stifled his tears as best he could. Then Stefano appeared cheerfully calling Noah's name and waving, hurrying over to catch up with us. As soon as he saw Noah's tearful face he said, "Ah Noah, what?" (He sounded just like a very sympathetic mother.) I explained to Stefano that Noah wanted to go to Sean's birthday party but that he couldn't and he was very sad about it. Then Stefano smiled and said, "That's okay Noah. Nobody can go to the party today. It's a school day!" Then Stefano and his mother bubbled along down the sidewalk like all of the worries of the day had just evaporated into thin air. Poor Noah. I'm afraid he has his mother's luck and that's a very bad thing to have, indeed.
posted by Shana # 1:36 PM 
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