The Up-and-Downsides of Maturity

The other day our SYO made us extremely proud.

During her last "five minutes" of the day, she gets to spend a little time with one of us talking about everything and anything before she goes to sleep.

The other night she told BioMom a story about her day. I will attempt to paraphrase.

She was at school and had gone to the bathroom while they were doing a project in which they were making some sort of wreaths for Christmas. While in the bathroom, she missed an important and emphasized instruction to NOT turn the center of their wreaths into Santa Clauses.

[I'm a little fuzzy on this part as I can't even imagine how that would seem so natural to the first graders that the teacher would have to emphasize it so, but I digress.].

Upon her return, our SYO, in working on her wreath, immediately turned the center into a Santa and went on, working on the wreath. While doing her work, the supposed-to-be-subliminated-Santa was pushed slightly onto her neighbor's desk. When the teacher saw the Santa, she punished the boy on whose desk it was found.

To our great delight, our SYO, realizing it was her's, told the teacher so, not wanting the neighbor to get in trouble for her behavior.

We got this email from her teacher:

I have never had such a heart warming experience than what [the SYO] did yesterday. It sounds like what she told you is pretty accurate. I told the class over and over that you can only take four cotton balls because then we would have enough for everyone and she was in the bathroom and missed that. Poor [kid who was sitting next to her] got in trouble and then [the SYO] told me it was her and it almost brought a tear to my eye. I am glad you were able to talk with her about it because it is a situation that doesn’t happen often. I am very proud of her for doing that and I let her know yesterday.

After the SYO finished telling BioMom her story, BioMom expressed to her how proud she was of taking responsibility for her actions.

SYO: Can I have a piece of candy?

BioMom: You have already been rewarded for what you did! Three times, in fact!

SYO: How?

BioMom: Well, first Ms. [First-Grade Teacher] let you keep the Santa; second, it made you feel so good about yourself; and, thirdly, I am incredibly proud of you.

SYO: But. . . Can I still have some candy?