With a play cash register, some plastic food, a marker, a small pad of paper and a reusable grocery bag, my children started the day playing. Together. A grocery store. A list. Shopping. They played in one room as I sat in another, drinking coffee, listening to their imaginations float through to me. I smiled. I laughed. I made a grocery list for them. They were the cashier and the customer. They called for a price check and a cleanup in aisle 9, or their own equivalent of each. I tuned out and tuned in as I sat, doing something, though I don’t remember what. Flipping through the paper? Folding laundry? Making a list?
The day continued on. There were probably arguments. Time outs. It was just another day. A day of this vacation. All of us home. The days together and loud. Then naps and quiet times. Books and puppet shows. Baking bread and eating grilled-cheese sandwiches.
And then it was bedtime. And Sweetie was upstairs doing the preparations with the kids. And I was downstairs decluttering, searching out spilled Goldfish crackers. And I found it. The grocery bag. With the listed items inside. All of them. Corn. Onion. Green pepper. Oil. Tomato. Chips. And the list, with backwards red checks deftly drawn beside each item. And there was one other thing. A white piece of paper. With a different color red writing on it. It was “The RiSET.”
I never paid it. The playing ended. The day continued. And then it was over. Bedtime. But I found it. I’m glad to know it was there. And now it sits. On my desk. Right beside me. These eight letters written by my kindergartner who is so unsure of his own writing. He did it. All by himself. This son of mine who still occasionally asks if his father or I will sleep beside him at night. Here it is. A mark of his learning. Of his independence. And I just don’t want to let it go. I can’t stop looking at it. And assigning to it a greater meaning. A meaning that has absolutely nothing to do with me. No matter how much pride I feel for its pure, independent creation.
Read More in chores, home, Jen Writes, oldest child, siblings, three kids
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Aren’t those “spellos” adorable? I remember one card from first grade: Happy velementins day. I love you. You give the best kissis.
Definitely a keeper.
I have such a hard time not framing those sweet and simple early signs of what will soon come. All too soon, the words are correct and the hesitant strokes are confident and uncompromising. Enjoy your little guy while he is still so young and earnest.
Play time is precious. Essential to a child’s development. It is even more wonderful that your children can play together. Explore. Share. Imagine.
Your son, he wrote! He wrote because he was playing. No rules. No competition. A simple, silly, game with his siblings.
As for us? Should we not take a lesson from your son? Should we not let go of expectations and write? Write even when we make mistakes? Because, those mistakes? We learn from them. But, we don’t learn when we refuse to try.
Your boy is brave. He sure is lucky to have such a wonderful momma.
Yet another lovely post. Such a light touch. Happy New Year!
So sweet! All of it. The chaos, and the found treasure. Lovely :)
I love the milestones! I love seeing how their brains work. Just another sign of their innocence which I wish I could just bottle up and save. Hannah signed in with the question of the day at Pre-K today (What is your favorite toy?) with:
culrd pensls and papr.
She didn’t understand why I gave her such an enormous hug and looked like I was going to cry after she wrote it.
how cutttttte. what a sweet life. :)
My oldest is going to be ten this summer.
I’m not getting rid of anything.
Now if my kids were playing grocery store they’d probably imitate the time mom unloaded a hundred items in the “15 items or less aisle” by accident. I get flustered by the time I’ve battled up and down every aisle with them!
But watching my daughter in Kindergarten made me want to join her there. What fun to learn the magic of learning to read and write!
When he gets his first job – packing groceries at the local grocery store, he will love receiving this back in a frame. It would be similar to a businessman framing his first dollar he made.
Wonderful times!!!
As a reading teacher, writer, former librarian, and overall word nerd, I can not wait for my boys’ first attempts at full blown spelling. I saved a post it that Ben once did when he was like 2…it is simply lines of scribble…very organized, very linear. It was his grocery list. I had been making one on my own post-it. I would surely keep the riSET.
A. dorable.
I remember when my sister and I would utilize our parents’ minivan as a fast food driveup. We would “order” at the drivers window and “pay and collect our ‘food’” at the sliding door. I will never forget playing imaginary but real-life games with my sister. :)