First Grade, Presidential Debate

The other night Ethan was still awake half an hour after we put him to bed, and he wandered out of his room at 9pm when the presidential debate between Obama and McCain came on. I figured we could do something like my friend Andy does with his cats – he only opens the front door for his felines when it’s pouring rain and sleeting outside. I figured, hey, hey, that Ethan would get bored silly and sick of the debate in about three minutes, or fall asleep from pure boredom, thereby learning that watching TV instead of going to bed is more like torture.

Well, mama was ever so wrong. Ethan sat rapt in attention, quiet, listening to the debate. A half hour later, he was still going strong, and even interjecting comments like “He’s telling a story, isn’t he” when McCain launched into one. At his age I would have found this intolerably dull, and I am left to wonder what he could possibly have found so interesting about the impact of the recent fiscal crisis on Afganistan? Could our little budding politician be absorbing lessons about oratory skills? Was he just that determined to show that mama was wrong? Who knows, but at least he was watching something educational. As dad carried him upstairs our cutie waved at the TV and said, “Goodby Obaba”.

Ethan has been in first grade for a couple of weeks now. I can’t believe how fast time is passing! So far he likes his teacher, and has a bunch of friends in the class. The teacher has a great reputation, and seems to know how to keep the energetic boys in line. She’s hardly taller than the kids themselves, but is an incredible bundle of energy. Ethan won’t talk much about school (“I don’t want to talk about it!”) but sometimes I glean things from the parents of the girls in the class.

This year seems to be a lot easier for him than last, since he’s used to a longer day (kindergarten last year was half day), and he’s caught up on a lot in terms of reading. His hand-eye coordination has progressed a lot in the last year, with his drawings getting more intricate, and the lettering getting more even. The other night he drew a picture and wrote “I LV MEO MOM” and “I LV MI DAD” along with an adorable drawing beside it. Under it he wrote “ALEORIT”, which was his way of writing out his and his dad’s favorite car, the Audi R8. (Their favorite car under $1million that is -- over $1million Ethan prefers a Bugatti).