A Boy By any Other Name....

Today was the first day of standardized testing. Our homeschool group commandeers a local church for 3 days and runs it like a mini-school. The kids are divided up by grade level, with each grade level having its own proctor. Kids come with sack lunches and have recess breaks on the church’s playground. It’s a lot of fun!

This year I had the opportunity to proctor the exam for the high schoolers. They are a nice bunch of kids. It surprised me how quiet they all were, refusing many of my attempts at small talk and thereby triggering memories of my tortured high school years, but then I realized that:
a) They didn’t really know each other, and
b) It was 8:30 am, and
c) No coffee was allowed in the exam room.

While I was with the high school kids, Brogan and Colson were in the nursery. They had a great time playing with the other kids. At lunchtime they got to eat with me in the cafeteria. Two high school boys sat near us and Colson entertained them while they ate. It’s hard to look cool while a small two year old is pretending to burp and make faces at you. The more Colson hammed it up, the more they laughed. The more they laughed, the more goofy his antics became.

Braden had fun in his class and seemed to think the tests went well. But at the end of the day, while we all herded our children from the playground to our cars, Braden’s teacher approached me. She started off by telling me that she wanted to talk to me about something that happened during class. My stomach sank and I prepared for bad news.

She told me that she couldn’t remember Braden’s name and that she’d accidentally called him “Brandon” all day. She’d felt badly, but couldn’t seem to remember his name.

At the end of the day, as the kids left her room, she pulled Braden aside and apologized for not being able to remember his name. She’d promised him that tomorrow she’d do better.

Braden breezily replied, “Oh, that’s all right. I rather enjoy correcting you,” and left the room.

She was still chuckling when she found me later.

That’s my boy!