The summer is almost over and the school year is about to begin, and I am fretting about it big time. It is super hard to acknowledge that my baby boy is growing up and starting big kid school this year. I am equally, anxious, sad, excited, and proud of my little tyke.
Well, truthfully, I am more proud than anything else. The Pizzmeister is such a good, kind hearted kid. I can't help but overflow with pride, and, sometimes, the overflow comes out in the form of tears, like it almost did at the store this morning.
Our county sponsors a yearly event that they call "Stuff a Bus," right before school starts for the year. They park school buses at local retail stores, hoping to fill them with school supplies for children that otherwise will not have all they need for the following school year.
This event was going on this morning while I took the boys shopping for school supplies. I figured I would buy a few extra notebooks and some paper to donate to the cause, but that was not enough for the Pizzmeister and Two-zy. They were furiously filling a basket with a variety of supplies laughing and smiling.
When I stopped them and told them it was getting a bit expensive, and we should put some of the items back, Two-zy did his normal thing and acted like he couldn't hear me, but the Pizzmeister stopped and stared at me oddly.
Then he admonished me saying, "Daddy, would you want me to have this, if I couldn't have it for school? Yes, you would. Now, let's just get it for some other little boy or girl who needs it."
Then he proceeded to finish filling the basket with more school supplies as I looked on perturbed that my brat talked back to me like that. I again told him that it was getting expensive, then he did the unthinkable.
He parroted my words back to me and used them against me!
The little brat actually told back to me my whole spiel about it being important to share and make sure everybody has enough, and if you don't need something and someone else does, you should give it to them because it's the right thing to do.
Then, to put the nail in the coffin, he took the toy I was going to buy for him out of the cart and put it back on the shelf, so we could buy what was in his little basket to donate.
Honestly, I was flabbergasted. I didn't know what to say or think or do. I was touched that he actually listened to me enough on occasion to repeat back to me verbatim my own words to him.
I was proud of him for being so giving and kind.
I was amused at hearing my words being spoken from such a tiny mouth back to me.
I was ashamed of having to be reminded by a 5 year old how to be a good person.
And, I was saddened by the fact that my baby boy understood that he was lucky for having what he does, and he recognized that not everybody is so lucky.
When did he get so old?
How did he get so big?
All these feelings and emotions came to the brink of overwhelming me, and I almost cried right there in the aisle as I smiled at my little brats proudly.
I retrieved the toy the Pizzmeister wanted from the shelf, handed it to him, told him I was proud of him for being such a generous and kind person, and then went to the check out line pushing a cart with a three year old giggling at me while being followed by a super smiley 5 year old toting an overfull basket.
