He Did What

LAST FRIDAY YOU CAME home with your class behavior chart for the new school year & it reminded me of your chart from last year. Last year the color-coding was; Purple (highest ranking) - following all directions, Blue - one warning for not following rules (maybe talking out of turn, etc.) = 2 minute lost at recess, Green - two warnings = 5 minutes lost at recess, Orange - serious rule violation = no recess (one) & a call home to parents, Red - an even more serious rule violation = no recess (all), a call home, & a trip to the principal's office. I am happy to report that you had purple almost all days, for all weeks, for the entire school year with only two blues (which I was fine with). However, there was one orange. I was horrified to see the note come home & subsequent phone call home later that night. When I saw the note I thought, "Tanner, he is not an orange kinda kid. He generally makes good choices". Then my mind wandered to wow, what possibly could you have done that was so horrible to warrant being orange carded as orange signified a "serious rule violation". Flipped off the teacher? Destroyed school property? Stole something? I didn't know, but none of those were you! Then the call home from your teacher..."Mrs. Bourlier, we have a very serious matter on our hands"..."OK" (here it comes)..."Your son & another 1st grade boy were in the bathroom"...(oh goodness, what WHAT, is my son on the path to juvie)..."& they were knocking on each others bathroom stalls & telling jokes to each other"..."Rude or inappropriate jokes?"..."No, but we take school rules very seriously & their focus was lacking in the bathroom & violates school property usage & student privacy space"...."Uh huh, so were they destroying anything in the bathroom"..."No, but you need to hear me. We take student behavior very seriously & we just cannot have kids telling each other jokes in the bathroom as it's a very inappropriate & deceptive use of the bathroom & school facilities"..."I see. Well I will definitely handle this very important (in my best disguised sarcastic tone) matter with Tanner"...."Thank you. The school appreciates your commitment to addressing the seriousness of this matter with Tanner. It is important to address such intentional disregard for school rules at an early age"..."Um, OK. Click". Dear Tanner, if telling goofy knock knock jokes between stalls is the very worst thing you ever do, I am grateful (& relieved). I seem to remember doing this myself all through elementary school, even passing puffy Smurf & scratch 'n sniff stickers between friends under the stalls. In fact, we very rarely asked for the hall pass to actually use the bathroom as a bathroom. It was our meeting place to laugh, talk about boys, pass notes & make plans for what we were going to do after school. Thx for being a purple kid most of the time, but thank goodness you have a bit of silly being-a-boyness in you too...& for taking your punishment in stride for your orange card.

Translation Please

WHEN YOU WERE YOUNGER I loved hearing you say words with such confidence, even if they were incorrect. For example, you would say "hocidoctor" for helicopter, "agitator" for alligator, "efelant" for elephant, "ocstible" for obstacle, "binocliars" for binoculars, ocopriate" for cooperate & one of my personal favorites, "kadomadome" for the Tacoma Dome. Another cute thing you would say is "Miccole" instead of Niccole when telling someone my name. It was so cute that I didn't have the heart to correct you & you eventually figured it out - I knew you would. I even video taped you saying it 'cause it was so darn cute! All these crazy words have put many a smile on my face, but none more than your first words - "kee kat" for kitty cat. You were 7 1/2 months old - YES, that's no typo, 7 1/2 months when you were reaching to pet our cat Buster & you said "kee kat". We couldn't believe it. It was so amazing that we didn't even care that your first words weren't "mama" or "dada". You have always loved animals so it's no surprise that you would have your first words be animal related. Then at 14 months you said "applesauce" as clear as day! Even your daycare teacher looked stunned & had you repeat it, again clear & concise...applesauce! You had seen her grab it out of your lunch bag & wanted it. You are my special little guy & I look forward to many more words to come.

The Heart of a Friend

TODAY MY SWEET BOY, you once again surprised me with your sensitive nature. We were driving to the lake & out of the blue you asked me if I had invited the brothers Jason & Christopher* to Starbucks the other day when we ran into them there. I said, "No, it was just a coincidence that they were there". A few minutes passed then you asked me if you had said "Jason & Christopher". I said yes, & you continued to say "Good, because I don't want to leave Christopher out. When we were younger, Nathan* & some of us boys would tease Christopher, but I'm a kind hearted boy now Mom. Christopher & I are friends & I know he appreciates my buddyness & I appreciate his buddyness." I had to laugh my sweet child at your sincerity, rivaled only by your matter-of-factness. It is music to a mother's ears to hear her child make such unsolicited & independent decisions of kind heartedness. I pray that you will always be such a tender soul & to always choose to be a good buddy.

*Names changed for privacy.

My Adventure Buddy

THERE IS SO MUCH about you that I love & one of the things I love most about you is your love for adventures. Some of our favorite adventures are at the lake & you especially love Vasa Park at Lake Sammamish. You silly boy, on your first trip there you decided to dive off the diving board - it didn't go so well - you haven't done it again since (yet). I love the pure joy on your face with each jump & the little giggles that always follow.

Pictured: Tanner Bourlier at Vasa Park

Voice of an Angel

THOUGH SOMETIMES the noise that comes out of your mouth is loud, VERY loud - borderline eardrum piercing & anything but like an angel, today I listened to you singing a lullaby to Sophie as she was curled up next to you napping & it was absolutely angelic!

Pictured: Tanner Bourlier & Sophie