I'm a Cowboy, on a Steel Horse I Ride

Another Sunday reflection with Katie is due tonight.

I sometimes feel like the slow, smooth jazz radio DJ, Delilah as I begin my posts because I feel like I need to be in the right mood to post. I need to snuggle up to my computer, have my glasses firmly placed on my face and my cup of water neatly placed beside me before I can begin. And then I gain this sense that I need to "slow down and share about someone I love" and as Delilah so aptly puts it in her show: "slow down and love someone." So tonight, I am slowing down and sharing a story about a wee one I fell in love with.

His father is the lead prosecutor for DC but he is all of maybe three feet tall and is so incredibly eager to make my co-teacher or me happy. He always raises his hand, follows directions and smiles with a glint of suspicion in his eyes when you are kidding around with him. He is my favorite and I would take 20 of him in my class.

He is four. He is four but his personality is big. He is four and when he gets excited, he fumbles and stutters on his words because the sentence is just too exciting to put together. When at recess he tells me that I have to be the monster and chase him and then when I am doing it wrong he makes sure to help me out by telling me how to be a better monster. When he isn't running from me at recess, he's pretending the bottom half of the playground is his ice cream shop and sells ice cream cones for $2. Then, he always gives me an extra free one.

I have two favorite moments with my four-year-old friend. One, was when we were making a giant floor puzzle this week. He asked me to help and I said I would (of course I couldn't back down from puzzle making). As I was helping and he was starting to get piece after piece to fit, he grew more and more excited. His sentences quickly escalated to "we're doing it! We're getting it!" to the fumbling and stuttering of words. When he completed the border, I looked at him and said "great job, man!" and he looked up at me, with his little brown eyes and got caught up on his words, "you-and-puzzles-and-so-much-and-the-pieces-and-puzzles-and-fun-puzzles-this-is-great-puzzles-and..." (takes a deep breath) "will you be my best friend?"

This is why I teach. This is why a four-year-old and I can hang out for hours and never get bored.

The second occasion was on Thursday. In class, we've been learning sight words. This week's sight words have been "the", "A" and "I". To help the kids learn how to spell them, we hold up pretend lassos and swing them around once for each letter so "t-h-e- THE" would be four lasso swings over our heads. Well, at lunch on Thursday, my new best friend was making a nasty, mean face which made me worried. Why had this once very joyful boy have a scowl on his face? I asked him what was wrong and he said, "I'm a cowboy and I am here to protect this class from bad guys."

I looked at my best friend and asked, "so do you want me to call you Cowboy Tito* now?"

He said, "of course, because that's who I am and if anyone is a bad guy, I will get them."

I said, "well thank you Cowboy Tito. I'm sure glad we have such a brave friend to help us out."

He smiled and said, "Ms. Katie, it's me, it's Tito. But don't worry, I will be Cowboy Tito if bad guys ever show up."

This little man, my new best friend, has stolen my heart and I am so in love with the work I get to do. Whenever I am exhausted or sick of repeating the same direction over and over again, I think of Cowboy Tito and his smile and remember why I do what I do and why my heart truly belongs with children. 

*Names have been changed