Not Quite As Planned

At noon today I went to pick up Coops from preschool and I was so excited to hear about his costumed field trip.  They had gone to the elderly residence area of a care center to show off their costumes, and I knew his froggy costume would have been a hit.

I stood in the hallway outside of his classroom, looking at the art projects they’d done today after their return from the field trip.  All of a sudden, one of his teachers is standing beside me and says “So…uh, Cooper.”  Oh no.  A blur of all of the shocking and appalling things he could possibly have done in front of the old folks flashed through my mind.

“What happened” I asked, scared for the answer.  Ms. M. tells me that after they arrived at the residence, they all went in to a room where the residents could check out the kids.  Cooper’s costume was, in fact, a hit, and the old folks had sort of circled around a few of the kids, pointing and marveling at their cute outfits.  Apparently there is a limit to the amount of attention Cooper actually seeks out.  Who knew!?  He wasn’t hip on it, I guess.  Ms. M. proceeds to tell me how amazed she was that he maintained his composure, waded his way through the sea of elderly residents, parent chaperones, and numerous other children to find her, at which time he announced “I don’t like this so much, and I wanna go home now.”

Ms. M. asked if he was a little scared by the attention and he nodded in the affirmative.  She asked if he wanted her to step outside in to the hallway with him, and he did.  After getting out of the craziness, he was just fine, so all was well, and Ms. M. told me how impressed she was at his verbal skills and non-melt down.  Awww.  My boy.

She said he was still apparently a little freaked out and asked to sit by her on the bus ride back to school.  She said he sure could, and he not only sat by her, but climbed up in her lap, which is not really like Cooper, so he must have still been nervous.  Not nervous enough, however, to not notice that they were sitting in an emergency exit row and ask Ms. M. why the door looked bigger and different than the main door.  She said “because this door is for emergencies” to which Cooper responded “Well!  I hope that doesn’t happen!”

I was sad that Cooper’s field trip didn’t go quite as planned and that he didn’t have a great time, but I must admit, I was bursting with pride when Ms. M. told me how proud she was of him, and how impressed she was with him…and I admit to having to wipe my eye when she finished up by saying “he’s an excellent little boy….exceptional, actually.”