A major award

Today after school I found two fun things in WCK's backpack. The first was a "Super Student" award. In the blank explaining why WCK received this award, the teacher had written "Friend to others." I was so proud, and I got all misty-eyed thinking of my sweet little girl actually getting an award because she is such a sweet little girl.

Of course, WCK remains tight-lipped about school. She would make an excellent international spy someday. She denied any knowledge of this award or anything she might have done to earn this award. (Did she pat someone gently on the back when he/she was sad? Share her muffin? Carry other preschoolers out of a burning building?) She also wouldn't say if any other kids got an award, too. It's entirely possible that everyone in the class got the "Friend To Others" award. The award is sponsored by Mimi's Cafe (yes, my three-year-old's friendship award has a corporate sponsor), and the recipient gets a free kids' meal. I suppose everyone in the class could have been named a good friend as part of the promotion. At least we have an excuse to go out to dinner now. I mean, we'd be bad parents if we didn't celebrate our child's major award, wouldn't we?

The next fun thing was a Scholastic book order form. Book orders! I hadn't thought about these in years -- decades maybe -- but book orders were probably my favorite part of elementary school. My parents always let me order some books every month. I still remember filling out the form and checking the little boxes. Then there was the thrill of coming in from recess and finding a shiny, smooth, brand new paperback book or two on my desk. Book order day was THE BEST DAY EVER. I also remember that the book-order books sometimes came with free posters of kittens or puppies or ponies or things like that. Anybody else remember this?

Anyway, I had no idea that schools still did this or that three-year-olds could get book orders, too. The order form still looks exactly the same. WCK and I spent a long time after school browsing through the little catalog, trying to decide what to get. Should we get the set of dinosaur books or the set of Halloween books? Decisions, decisions. I suppose we can discuss it further over dinner at Mimi's Cafe.