I am three decades past preschool and kindergarten, but a few big memories still stand out. Like the time I was cast out of the ballerina role in the preschool graduation event ("too short", apparently). Or the time a boy I "loved" in kindergarten was kissed by another girl (devastating!).
Now that I am Mom to a kindergartener, I am glad that I still have a couple of those memories. Especially now that my girl is dreaming up wedding plans at age five and a half.
She is in love.
The boy is apparently the ladies' man; he hangs out with all the girls. Amelia says they all want to marry him, but she is the one he sits next to at lunch. She is the one whose hand he grabbed as they ran through the playground. My little girl is already tallying her wins vs. the other ladies and imagining the rest of her life with this boy. She was shocked when I told her that marriage is a good twenty years away!
Frankly, I am wearing thin from hearing his name. Tonight, I found a drawing of a boy with his name written (in rainbow, of course) all over the page.
No matter what, it isn't very comforting to see such behavior in a child so young. My child! But it does help that I am able to conjure up memories of similar feelings and behaviors from my own childhood. I survived and married the right guy when I was in my mid-twenties. I suppose there is hope for my smitten darling too.
I'm just really, really tired of hearing his name!
