Political Aspirations

Yesterday when asked about his day at school, Nathan told us that one of his little friends was not there because he had a cold.

"I should make him a card. I'll work on it right after dinner".

Nathan has such a good heart and it isn't uncommon for him to suggest making cards or gifts for family, friends, and people he has just met. But often, in the chaos of the evening--eating dinner, playing with Daddy, taking baths, getting ready for bed, etc--his good intentions are forgotten and we don't always follow through. However, yesterday, he did not forget his friend (even in the chaos of a visit from our landlord) and did make a card.

Nathan's school is considered the "American school" in Brussels because there are quite a lot of Americans there. There is a big push at the school to be recognized as "truly International" and honestly, there are many different nationalities represented there. As we read Nathan's class list when we first received it, we discovered many of the names were unfamiliar to us and it was difficult to tell the gender of some of his classmates. After such a short time in Maple class, (the classes are named for trees and the entire PreK and Kindergarten is called Timbertops) Nathan has learned the names of all of his classmates. He brought home his class picture yesterday and there are 9 boys and 9 girls, all of whom Nathan pointed out to us by name.

This particular friend who was out sick yesterday has one of the names that was difficult to read so when Nathan asked me to help him write his friend's name, I had to return to the class list for help. I realized it is actually a simple name to spell once I looked at the list, but seeing his last name I was glad Nathan hadn't asked for help with that. His last name appears to have just about every letter in the alphabet in it and it is hyphenated! This little guy is going to have a heck of a time learning to write his name this school year! But he won't be alone, many of their names are long and hyphenated

Some of Nathan's classmates do not speak English as a first language and when Nathan was writing out his card, he mentioned that he wasn't sure if his friend, Ikeke, would know how to read, but his mom probably would. I asked if Ikeke speaks English and Nathan's reply was, "Oh yes, Mom, his English is perfect and he plays just fine with Ysuke and me".

This morning Nathan gave his friend, Ikeke, the card and his face was beaming. This boy has such a big heart and amazes us with how he thinks of others first.

Because we love the SNL spoofs on the 2000 debates, we couldn't resist comparing Nathan's knowledge of some of his classmates' names with round two of these skits. "Um, Jim, I've got some more Nigerian names for you..."