blausea 我在這裡慢慢潛泳,緩緩漂流前進著

連續兩天早上七點鐘,媽媽跟小男孩一起走去 Starbucks, 清晨的路上沒什麼人,我們一邊走一邊聊天.早晨精神正好,兩個人都很有聊天的心情,雖然伊利諾時間已經是早上九點,遠端的同事和客戶都在線上.但我發現這樣使用早上半小時的時間,跟小男孩有點 quality chat, 讓我一整天上班的心情都很愉快.

這兩週我跟爸爸工作上都很忙碌.我們讓小男孩三點下課後在學校待到五點才去接他.週三足球練習日,更是每次都踢到晚上七點才回家.一晚回家晚上的時間就顯的很短,九點鐘入睡前可以好好跟他聊天的時間實在不多.於是我特地安排了早上的散步時間,我想不只是我感到愉快,小男孩上學前有段小談話,也很 pampering 的.

昨天看到發回的作業,是他留在學校 after school 寫的,除了漏掉一大題數學沒寫被圈起來外,他寫的數字比平時凌亂許多. Something is going on. 今天早上問他, how are you doing in school?  Still pretty strong in math and language art? 他有點遲疑的說, I am not ahead but I am not behind either. 我說, I just want to let you know that you can always come to us if you need help for homework. 我再問他是否看的清楚白板上的字(我知道視力的衰退是很多小孩學習狀況變化的原因之一),他說他看的很清楚.(所以不是這個問題...)

今天我特地請爸爸三點接他放學,我想觀察一下寫功課的狀況.爸爸去換兩天前破掉的輪胎.我的工作還沒做完,我讓小男孩跟我一起在書房,我繼續工作,他在爸爸的書桌上寫功課,我偷偷注意他,不像功課有問題的樣子. There must be something else from school, I thought.

晚上九點送他上床後十分鐘,我又跑回他的房間,他還沒睡,我問他可否讓我在他旁邊躺一下,跟他聊聊天.我們聊到學校,我問他是否還在繼續 do mileage club (學校獎勵學生走路跑步的活動),是否記錄了我們在公園跑步的 mileage.

Magically, B opened up, "Ms. A said I am not allowed to record my mileage in the next couple of days.  Nico and I hid in the bushes and Ms. A wasn't too happy about it.  A lady complained to school that the noise was too loud."

I responded, "So you and Nico made some noise and a lady complained?"

"No, everyone did.  That's a seperate issue.  The other side of the fence is that lady's backyard.  Since we all touched the fence (我看是 pounding on the fence 用力拍打吧!), it was really annoying to her.  So now we do air touch." (他們固定在一個定點和學校的圍籬間來回走路跑步,每次到達圍籬的時候拍打圍籬一下,圍籬另一頭的可憐住戶可能已經被絡繹不絕的拍打聲給吵死了.於是他們做 air touch, 一個假裝觸碰圍籬的動作)

I went on, "I don't know you were doing your mileage with Nico.  I thought you were going with Grant."

"We three did the mileage club after lunch.  But when Nico and I wanted to hide in the bushes Grant said he didn't want to come join us."

"Hmmm....what Grant did is what I call "making a good decision and not just following your friends." (原來這幾天 bother 他的原因是躲在樹叢裡被老師禁止參予活動幾天!)

當然,福爾摩斯媽媽我還想知道更多. "You said before that you asked for more math problems when you were done before other kids in the class.  Do you still do so?" (如果數學真有問題,就不會先寫完,又跟老師要更多的題目來寫)

B said, "I don't anymore.  We are not handed an extra piece of paper anymore.  Grant, me and Mattew are usually done faster than others.  Can I tell you something?  Mattew always asks Grant for the answers to the addition problems so he can get done faster."

Hmmm... new piece of information, I thought.  "So do you ask too?"

"No, I don't ask people.  I use my brain to figure out.  I think it's kind of cheating to get answers from others. (Way to go! 聽到這裡我差點要鼓掌!忍住繼續聽下去...) And what happens if others get the answer wrong?  I would rather figure things out myself."

"Bennett, this is what I call thinking things through and making good judgements." (聽聽他說的! He must be so proud of himself!)

聊到這裡我確定,數學沒有問題.但是更重要的是,學習態度沒有問題!

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前幾天要開車去接小朋友放學時發現右前輪完全扁了.打電話給爸爸請他去接.爸爸跟小男孩說八成是有根釘子插進去了,小男孩的第一個反應 "We should go find where the nail is and remove it from the road, otherwise other people's tires will get poked too." (事後爸爸非常驕傲的轉述小男孩這段話給媽媽聽,聽完換媽媽也驕傲起來了.他真是個心地善良的孩子!雖然我很想跟他說, I know where the nail is.  It's in my flat tire!)

這已經是短短三年內的第三根,我感覺我一天到晚在換輪胎,米其林輪胎是否特別會吸引釘子? 是否該放下品牌迷思,換個 firestone or goodyear 看看?

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小男孩今晚說他的今天十分完美,只有一件事讓他有些難過. "What happened? Sweetheart?" 他說 Mrs. C 一個十二歲的朋友,生病住院了. "We all wrote a wish-you-well note to her.  Mrs. C said it's okay to write to her even though we don't know her.  Good wills always count." 小男孩繼續說 "Mom, I hope she can be out of the hospital soon.  We should put her in our prayers."

我輕輕的摸著他的頭, "That's very nice of you Bennett.  This is what I call having a big heart."

今晚我們聊的有點晚,我告訴他 "I really enjoy talking to you and I guess you feel the same way too.  We gonna find a way to stop me from taking your good night sleep away." 他笑著睡了.

離開他的房間,今夜的我是多麼的興奮.他的 emotional tank 今晚被裝的滿滿的.我沒有單刀直入的問他為什麼漏了數學功課,為什麼寫的這麼草率,可是我什麼都知道了...我的 emotional tank 也被裝的滿滿的,我好高興他有一顆 big heart, 好高興自己沒有選擇 yes or no questions to nag him. 我是多麼珍惜這些小小的 chit chats.  It's sooooooooo REWARDING!