Repeat

We have decided that the eldest will be repeating Kindergarten next year. I have written of the difficulty A had adjusting to the Spanish Immersion Program he began the year in. You can read about it here and here.
Aidan has thrived at his new school. It is the quintessential kindergarten class with blocks and dress up and lots of play time. They have cooking on Mondays, library time on Tuesdays, P.E. on Wednesdays, Music on Thursdays and Big Buddy Days where they bond with their very own Fourth Grader on Fridays. Aidan's teacher is just impressive. She is everything a kindergarten teacher is supposed to be. Loving, kind, gentle and warm. But she is also firm when she needs to be and she runs a stimulating and fun classroom. And, best of all for Aidan, it's all in English.
Aidan has been doing really well in his new environment but he still bears some scars from his first experience. He is the first one to put himself down. We still hear him call himself a failure when it comes to anything academic. His confidence was shaken and he is still recovering.
The thing is, I hadn't planned on sending Aidan to Kindergarten at all this year. He's a summer baby and I just felt he needed an extra year to play and grow up a little. I felt in my gut it was the right thing to do. I had started researching good pre-k programs in search of the perfect fit.
"Are you nuts?" many of my friends asked me. "if anyone is ready for Kindergarten, it's Aidan."
Aidan is an extremely verbal little boy. He said his first word, "kitty" at seven months and there was no looking back after that. At thirteen months, he was counting to ten.
It was actually kind of creepy.
One day, we were at Best B*uy and Aidan spontaneously began counting backwards from ten. I couldn't believe it. And then, I looked up to where he was looking and realized he wasn't counting at all. He was reading the numbers attached to each check out lane as we walked by them. The kid was recognizing numbers!
At fourteen months he was speaking in full sentences and singing the ABC song in it's entirety.
At eighteen months, he was telling jokes.
Everywhere we went, people were floored by his verbal abilities. Even his pediatricians were amazed.
And the other mothers hated me. I learned very quickly not to talk about my son around my mommy friends. Rule #1 in the mommy code. If your kid does anything that could be considered "special " or "advanced", don't talk about it. Don't draw attention to it. Ever.
There was one significant problem that arose from his verbal skills. And that is that people always assume he is much older than he really is. They are always stunned when he throws himself on the ground in frustration or refuses to go back into class because he just wants his mom. Many people just forget that he is a little boy with a very big vocabulary.
So, I reluctantly sent him to kindergarten this year hoping for the best.
He has spent much of the school year telling me, "I wish I could just go back to preschool. I just need to play."
And no, I am not saying this stuff in front of him. He just knows what he can handle. He wasn't ready for kindergarten this year. He just wasn't. Hindsight, you know. What are you going to do?
Next year, he will be repeating kindergarten along with six other classmates only this time, instead of being a "Sun" in the morning class, he will be a "Moon" in the afternoon class with the "big kids". And for me that's ok. My guy is bright, he just needs a little more time to grow.