Presidential woes

Every so often I see a photograph of one of my kids and it's like a smack in the face - the realization that they're growing up. Such was the case when AJ came home with his kindergarten pictures.

Holy cow! He's not a little boy anymore. This is a kid with big aspirations. Though his bid for the presidency has hit a few road blocks in recent weeks. Don't get me wrong - he's as enthusiastic as ever to serve as Commander in Chief, he's just started realizing it's not all rosy in the house with a famous rose garden.

For instance, when he moves to the White House, Mommy won't be able to snuggle with him at bedtime. Likewise, he's going to need to learn to tie his shoes because Mom and Dad won't be there to help. (Granted, he'd probably have plenty of staff there to help as needed, but we won't tell him that.)

Another issue, he now has a blot on his record. He's no longer perfect. As he walked in the door Monday afternoon, he immediately confessed to Jeff, "Dad, something bad happened in school today."

"What happened?" Jeff asked.

"I'm on yellow."

At least he still feels comfortable telling us when he's gotten in trouble. His teacher uses the color system as a threat to the students and to report any problems to the parents. Green is good. Yellow means the child received a warning about something. Blue means something worse than that, which I don't exactly remember because it just got added to the system. And red means a trip to the Principal's office.

In AJ's case, it appears Mr. Chatty had issues in music class, preferring to socialize rather than sing, despite several warnings to stop talking. I'm curious how he reacted when the teacher told him his perfect behavior record had come to an end. Her note to us included a smiley face with the line, "I'm sure the one color turn will stop this!"

It better.

In the meantime, AJ continues his fascination with presidential history. Each week he brings home a different book from the school library. Recent books have focused on George Washington, Millard Fillmore and Thomas Jefferson. I'm fairly certain he's the only kindergartener who's ever checked out those books. They're definitely written for an older audience.

I found a U.S. President's app to add to my iPhone. AJ is starting to recognize the presidents' pictures. He's also starting to pick up on some of the other details about them he can learn despite his lack of reading ability. During a drive last week, I could hear him in the back seat, "Jimmy Carter's on the donkey team. Ronald Reagan's on the elephant team."