A glimpse into the teens

I finally see why my mom bugged me so much when I was a teenager.

We took Elizabeth to kindergarten today. She was so excited, and a bit nervous. She walked right in and sat down on the floor with her class and I jumped around embarrassing her by taking photos and calling out her name. "Elizabeth!! Look here!! Smile!!" I was really happy and doing fine, until a little boy came in with his mom. One look at the class and he started crying, very silently, but his breath was hitching. His mom was doing the same thing I was... big smile, a big hug and a big kiss. She cupped his chin and said "You are going to have so much fun today!! I can't wait to hear all about it!!" and he looked at her like she had repeatedly run over his dog and said "But why can't I just stay with you?" very quietly. For some reason, that made me start bawling. I blew Elizabeth a kiss, she pretended not to know me. I whispered loudly, "I LOVE YOU!!" and she gritted her teeth and said "I looob yoo too" in a way that told me she was not really loving me so much at the moment, and proceeded to start talking to the boy next to her. We were dismissed.
Marty, Colby and I left, and Marty didn't notice until we were in the car that I was crying.

So, I wait all day. I try to figure out at any given time what she might be doing. HMMMMM... its 11:30, I bet she is eating lunch... It's 1:33, I bet they are getting up from resting time... OOHH! Its 2:35, almost time to go and pick her up!

We did the whole family thing in the afternoon too. It took us a while to find her, but when we did, we immediately started excitedly pelting her with questions. And she started the "you-are-boring-me" answers...

"So!! How was your first day of kindergarten?"
"Fine."

"Do you like your teacher?"
"yes"

"Were any of your friends from daycare in your class?"
"No"

"Did you make any new friends?"
"Yes"

"What were their names?"
"dunno"

Ok, this isn't working. What would the child psychologists tell me to do? OH! Don't ask yes or no questions!

"Tell me about your day, honey!" (did I just actually use that old worn out question? Yes.)
Blank stare, closely followed by, "Huh?"

"What kind of things did you do in class today?"
*huge sigh* followed by her reply, which obviously took extreme effort to force out of her mouth, "Kindergarten THINGS!"

I flash back onto all the papers I signed last night. The Volunteer Parent sign up form... The Permission to Videotape your Child form... THE DRUG FORM!! I start panicking. Maybe that is why we had to sign the drug form! This school is infected with pint sized drug dealers! I bet she is on drugs! Some 5 year old addict probably gave her a joint on the playground! Or a benny! (not really sure what a benny is, but i have heard about it all my life... It must be something bad!)

I start looking at her eyes, searching for pupil changes. I can't really tell any difference. And besides that, she is looking at me like I have lost my mind. So maybe its not drugs. Maybe this is when it starts. Her own life. She doesn't have to share with me anymore, because she doesn't need my validation in her life.

I am hoping she was just overwhelmed with joy.