BeeMan

Andrew has created this super hero persona named BeeMan. He has written three books (40 pages, front and back) about BeeMan and all of his adventures. Andrew will bring these books to me, and ask me to staple them so that he can bring them to school the next day to show his friends. Mostly, BeeMan does a lot of the things that Andrew does during his day, but it's way cooler because it's BeeMan doing it. And BeeMan is awesome! He's always trying to avoid that darned giant spatula! (I think he means fly swatter, but he calls it a spatula.)

Last night was Andrew's parent/teacher conference. I was really excited to hear how he's adjusting to the first grade. I talk to him about it and he's having a great time, but I really curious about his teacher's perspective. I say this because Andrew is........um, chatty? He. Loves. To. Talk. In kindergarten, his teacher said she had to remind Andrew quite often to be quiet. He just has a lot to say. All the time. Even in his sleep. But I digress...

The first thing his teacher said to me is:

"So, I'm sure you're familiar with BeeMan."

I instantly smiled.

Me: "Oh, yes, I'm quite familiar with BeeMan."

I was a bit surprised that she knew about BeeMan.

Teacher: "Did you also know that he's got the entire class writing books about BeeMan?"

Me: "Uhhhhh, no?"

Teacher: "He's been bringing his BeeMan books to school and reading them in front of the class. And now all the other children have been writing their own books about BeeMan. BeeMan has sort of taken our class by storm. I keep telling them that they can write books about things other than BeeMan, but all they want to write about is him."

At this point, I was just laughing. I had no idea that he had started this little trend in his classroom.

Teacher: "I typically don't introduce story writing until later in the year, but all the kids have started doing it early because of Andrew."

Then she went on to say how she taught both second and third grade prior to teaching first grade, and Andrew's books aren't something she'd expect out of the average child in the second or even third grade. She also said that in her 20+ years of teaching, she's never met a child like Andrew.

I told her that I've always felt like he was unique. She agreed, and added:

"Unique, in a good way. I wish I had more time just to sit and talk with him. He's definitely one student I'll be thinking about in 20 years wondering what happened to him. Who knows? Maybe his BeeMan books will be his retirement!"

I walked out of there feeling so incredibly proud of my son. I'm always proud of him, but it really made me feel so good to hear his teacher say such wonderful things about him and confirm that my little guy is frickin' rad!