Thursday, January 22, 2009

The Biggest Little Guy

This week Ashton has done two very brave things in my eyes. I can't stop thinking about how proud I am of him. Let's start off with what happened first this week:

It was the day Presidential Elect Obama was to be sworn in. Ashton goes to a Catholic school, 1st grade, and every 4 years when this happens the whole school goes across the parking lot to the church for a mass. The teacher collected all of Ash's classmate in his classroom to have them put their coats and stuff on so they could walk across the parking lot to the church. Well Ash was having problems with his coat zipper and when he finally fixed it he looked up and the entire class including his teacher were gone. He ran out to the hallway and no one was there. He knew where they were going but wondered why they left without him. His first instinct was to take the tunnel to the church. (The school has an underground tunnel that connects the school to the church. Not like a coal mining tunnel but a nicely lit and paved one. Still to a 6 year old that tunnel can be scary). So instead of going outside across the parking lot all alone to get to the church he ran thru the tunnel, later telling us he almost cried because he was so scared.

Meanwhile the teacher had all the kids at the entrance door to the church and asked the kids in back why they were holding the door open. One of the kids said, "Because Ashton has not come out of the school yet." The teacher said her heart dropped to her feet. Ashton is like her teacher's aide...how did she not notice she thought to herself! She looked out the door for him and he was no where in sight. She was taking a second to think of what to do with the kids when all of a sudden Ashton appeared behind her. She grabbed him and gave him a hug because he looked a little shook up...and she admitted she was pretty shook up as well and the hug was just as much for her as it was for him. He told her the whole story and she sat beside him at the mass and kept Ashton at her side the rest of the day to help the both of them feel better.

Now I don't blame his teacher or Ashton. His teacher is a great person and Sue's family has a long history with that school. She went there along with her two sisters and brother and her father went there along with his brothers and sisters. I am just very proud of Ashton and how he was able to think so well on his feet and take the safe route to where he needed to go. I am so glad he did not go outside where he could have been all alone without supervision. Of course going to the office may have been a better solution, he knew everyone would be at the church and that maybe no one would be in the office.

Not 24 hours later Ashton had to do another brave thing. About a month ago the teacher asked us if they could have Ashton stand up and do a reading at Wednesday's mass the day after the Presidential one. Ashton was okay with doing it so we were okay with it. Every day he practiced his reading to get ready for it. He worked on voice projection and he even started working on eye contact all by himself. Remember he is only 6. So yesterday Sue along with Abi, her parents and mine went to church to watch Ashton do his reading. Sue said he was awesome. Can you imagine when you were 6 standing up in front of your whole school and reading something like doing a speech?! Sue said he was so poised and calm. We were worried about what had happened the day before but Ash shook it off and did his stuff. So many people came up to Sue after the mass to say what a great job he did. Ashton has always been good at reading and has been reading chapter books for about a year now and that is why the teacher asked him to do it.

Quote from the 8th grade teacher who sent Sue and email:


"Sue -Wanted to talk with you after Mass but needed to get my class back asap.
Ashton did a fabulous job with that reading today. Such composure and such understanding. You must be so proud!!!!! He took my breath away. I want him on my Forensics team now."

My kids often amaze me with the things they do. I just thought these events were good ones to share.

Aryn - (A very proud father )