All About Mom

Willem's classroom's Mother's Day celebration was yesterday. He'd been looking forward to it for weeks, telling Shaun about it at bedtime over and over. I was expecting to get a manicure like I did from Nels when he was in first grade, but apparently they've revised the program since then. I can't imagine why.

All of the moms showed up at eleven, forming clumps and milling about awkwardly until the kids came in from recess. Our students gave us a (very congested) tour of the classroom before seating us at their desks and serving us muffins and fruit, accompanied by the big surprise: back-rubs. Willem was super excited about it, but when he asked "Can I stop now?" and I said yes, I'm not sure which one of us was more relieved.

After we ate, the kids showed us their "get the wiggles out" dance and recited a poem and sang a song. The song was "Put a Little Love in Your Heart," which I thought was a weird choice. I can't imagine any group of people less in need of that admonishment than a group of mothers being sung to by their six or seven year-old children.

The best activity came at the end. Portraits of the moms lined the back wall, and each mom was supposed to guess which picture her child had drawn of her. Each drawing was accompanied by an info sheet, so you'd think it would be easy to figure out. Not necessarily.

ALL ABOUT MOM

Let me tell you about my mom.

My mom is 42 years old.

I'm 40.

She likes to watch cooking shows.

Haven't watched one since we got rid of cable TV well over a year ago.

The best thing she cooks is chickin pot pie.

Marie Callender's.

Her favorite food is salad.

No.

Her favorite thing to do to relax is sleep.

Can't be any more relaxed than asleep.

We like to hug together.

Very sweet. Weirdly put.

She is really good at cooking cornbread.

Again, Marie Callender's.

As you can see, my mom is special because she loves me.

Yes. Exactly right.