Proud Mommy moment

There was an ice cream social sponsored by the PTA at A's school last night, and the whole family went. It was really interesting to watch him on his turf; someplace where the rest of us are complete outsiders at this point.

First of all, I can see that school fuels his desire for clearly established rules. As soon as we got out of the car and stepped onto the sidewalk that leads to the front of the school, he and sis began running excitedly, but then he suddenly stopped and said to us "Oh, wait! No running on the sidewalk!" It's cute watching him try to keep himself from running, LOL!

Later, he and N. were across the sports field as hubby and I watched from the playground. They were both headed back towards us, when A. started to veer off towards a group of older girls who were standing back in the trees along the fence on the far side of the field. Hubby muttered "Oh, here we go..." as we watched A's hands go to his hips as he strided purposefully over to the group of 8 or so girls, obviously to read them the riot act. It became apparent that the area was off-limits, and that he was going to remind them of that. Sure enough, shortly after he disappeared behind the trees, the girls began to swarm out the other side, coming back towards the playground... with A. following behind, hands still on his hips. Two girls were walking behind him, smiling and talking to each other, when one put her hands on her hips in imitation. Both of them laughed (it was really funny), and he stopped in his tracks, turned to face them and then obviously told them off. They giggled and ran to go play elsewhere. He had a big scowl, and stomped back over to us to let us know that he'd let all of them know that they weren't supposed to play over there. He also let the two girls know that he could be angered very easily, LOL! They were really good sports about it. I'll be curious to see where this leads A. in the future.

The other thing that was really cool to see is just how well-developed his social skills really are. I've always taken him as being a loner in big groups, even with kids he's known for a couple of years now. Last night he was really excited to introduce us to kids from his class that he ran across on the playground. We met Piper, Andrew F., Garret, Ethan, and ran into Riley (who we already know from his bus stop). He would go up to them and say "I'd like you to meet my sister, N." He was really animated, not in his usual silly way, but like he was really engaged in what was going on. This was in contrast to the kids he introduced us to, who seemed startled to be approached by another child, let alone know how to respond to being introduced to someone. I was pleased to see that he's evidently been properly socialized in the past five years (in spite of not attending any kind of structured school environment). I was equally pleased to see that his sister obviously holds a really special place in his life, and that it was important to him that his friends meet her, and that she meet them. I'm now wondering if some of the activities we participate in with our homeschool group are just too overwhelming because they are so loosely structured, and because there are so darn many kids there. Yesterday's LEGO club at the library had 70 people in attendance, and A. spent most of his time sitting in a small corner by himself. He didn't want to leave, and he said he was having fun, but he really didn't want to deal with all those kids. He tends to be the same at parkday. Maybe in his kindgergarten class of 20 kids, he'll come out of his shell a little bit - more like the way he is with us at home.

When it was time to go and we were driving away, I commented to Hubby that the whole experience felt really bizarre. Something about attending a function at your child's school that makes it very apparent that you are, in fact, an adult. By homeschooling these past 5 years, we were mostly able to avoid that reality. I think that last night's little ice cream social easily aged us five years, in less than 60 minutes time. I'm steering clear of that place in the future! LOL