GAYS MILLS - I know I often indulge in the young parent trait of being in complete and absolute wonder that my kid is actually aging, maturing and growing. But, I can’t lie; signing the little dude up for his 4K Screening just didn’t seem possible. 

We’ve been discussing and contemplating and weighing options for schooling and are still up in the air. We would love to have the opportunity to send him to the Montessori school in Viroqua because we feel he would blossom in that style of teaching. We are both fans of the Montessori philosophy of child led learning and our fiercely independent Thatcher seems like a good fit for it as well. But when I drive to Fennimore every day and would be the one to take him, 75 miles before I even hit my desk in the morning is a little daunting. 

On the other hand, we both attended North Crawford and both graduated from the school. I started in the eighth grade and Chasca in Kindergarten. We know the layout of the school, remember many of the staff members and are familiar with the style.  

So, we will likely end up going to both the 4K screening at North Crawford and the informational meeting at the Montessori school in Viroqua. Allowing us some time to weigh our options and make our decisions. 

Stepping foot back in the school we both attended and  where we met is always interesting. For me, who has been there several times since graduation for school board meetings and other functions it was no big deal. High school was a long time ago and really, not so bad. For Chasca on the other hand, who probably hasn’t been in the school since he walked out in 2006, it was admittedly a little weird. 

Things had changed and I felt kind of like an ole lady when I said to myself, “This isn’t how it was in MY day!” But, we were able to get around just the same.   Everyone was welcoming and warm and it was kind of fun to see classmates from both our classes (2006 and 2007) in attendance with their little scamps for 4K screenings as well.  

We had requested that Mark and Janey ensure Thatcher take a nice, long nap so he would be cooperative at the screening and luckily they were successful and it paid off. Thatcher made it through the technical check points of eye and hearing test with no problems. Our next stop was speech, which I felt pretty confident in, because as my more faithful readers may know, my kid never shuts up. 

The woman screening Thatcher flipped through a book of images and asked him to identify them. He seemed exhilarated by the game and began answering faster and at times in funny voices. It wasn’t until he got to the picture of the lamp did we encounter a bit of a split in the road. 

“Thatcher, can you tell me what this is?” The screener asked politely.

“A lantern!” Thatchy answered with the upmost confidence. 

“Could you tell me another name for it?” the woman countered.

“Uh, a light?” Thatcher answered, with just the slightest hint of impatience in his voice, causing the woman to chuckle a bit. 

Thatcher was then presented with a blank page, where the woman instructed him to make a picture in his mind, from her description. 

“What is something that comes from a cow and is white and we drink it?” She asked.

Thatcher paused. Internally, I kind of had a little bit of a panic because this is a situation ready made for a serious Thatcherism moment. We’ve had this conversation over the dinner table a few times, especially recently. Thatcher, a breastfed baby and his brother who was also breastfed, has at times, kind of had trouble wrapping his head around the idea that milk we drink doesn't only come from Mamas but in fact from cows. He has even displayed some feisty dinner table arguments in this defense. I fully expected this to come out of him, or even just go totally rouge and tell her that milk is actually his next favorite joke, “Chicken Juice!”  But, luckily, he stayed true to the course and responded, “Cows, I suppose.”  

He continued to do, really by all accounts for a three year old at 6 p.m. really well. He listened, followed commands and answered questions.  The 4K teacher even noticed that Thatcher seems to really have a mind for numbers, something that is rather impressive to me as a total number dunce.  

Chasca and I walked out of the screening pretty proud of our little person. It felt like all of our struggles and efforts, hard work had a small payback in that moment.