Oct. 19, 2008

Meet Jerry-mi-NAH

Two days in a row baby. Bring it on. I know you all remember the great stories I used to share from my dear pal Jaquan. It was a sad day last June when he graduated heading off into the big scary world of kindergarten. I knew my Jaquan story days were over. Little did I know that the saga would continue as now Jaquan's uncle is actively attending as one of our typically sighted peer models. Let me introduce you to Jeremiah. Jeremiah is 3. My Catey-bird causes him Jerry-mi-NAH. Landon continually rubs his head, and Olivia has found a partner in crime. But I digress.We were thrilled this summer when Jaquan's grandma (one year older than me) called to see if she could enroll Jeremiah. He came bounding into school the first day and has been delightful from the word go. By delightful I mean providing story after story nearly every day, often several a day. It takes approximately half a second to fall in love with him. He has beautiful bright eyes, a mischievous grin complete with two dimples, and dresses with 3 yr old ghetto flair. When you pass Jeremiah in the hall he winks at you. Or sometimes he puts out his fist to knuckle up. I also crack up when he does the head flick "sup". Have I mentioned he is 3? He also never calls me Miss Dana. When he sees me for winking, knuckles, etc I am always "Hey Girl". Not in the rude way, but in the "I haven't seen you in ages.....HEYYY GGGGIIIRRRRLLL".

All of my old kids are now in the class with Jeremiah. The first week of school I was observing and helping out with the transition and the kids were walking from the bathroom to the classroom. Jeremiah made a sudden stop and Britny bumped into him with her cane. With significant attitude Jeremiah turned around and said "Girl, you better start looking where you are going!" Ummm, Brinty is totally blind. Apparently, Jeremiah was still grasping the concept of being a student at the school for the blind.Two weeks ago his teacher did a unit on careers. She gave the kids magazines and had them looking for pictures of what they want to be when they grow up. (A little side note here, can anyone see why I have such an issue with this teacher, because tell me how the kids who CANNOT SEE are benefiting from this, none of them have enough sight to distinguish photographs....ok, enough venting). Jeremiah looked through the magazine and after a few minutes closed it and put his head down on the table. When asked what the problem was he said "There aren't any pimps in this magazine!"Last week I was standing in the hall talking to Cate's mom, as she waited for class to let out. She was wearing a nice pair of shorts and a top, very modest and conservative. She also was wearing a pair of 3 inch wedge heels. Jeremiah comes walking out of the classroom and said "Girl, look at you! You goin' to da club!" as he bent down and admired her shoes. This mom turned beet red. Later that week she told me she immediately went home and changed her shoes.Hopefully this provided you with some laughs. I am sure to have additional Jerry-mi-NAH stories as the year progresses. Gotta love a kid from da 'hood!