last thursday evening, i found an email in my in-box from finn's teacher asking parents to pack a bag of warm clothes for their child because the class was going to antarctica the next day. it was my first time hearing about this and c explained they were doing some role playing. i made sure to pull finn's ski clothes down from the storage and had them all set out for him.
i saw finn briefly before i left for work the next morning and let him know i had his winter clothes ready. he asked me if i made extra food because antarctica was far away and he would need more food in his lunchbox". i smiled and let him know he wasn't *really* going to antarctica and that it was just for pretend. he quickly dismissed it and said "but miss hawke didn't say it was PRETEND mom. we really are going!" he was adament, explaining they made passports and everything. as nicely as i could, i reiterated they weren't really going but he didn't want to hear it. i let c know he might want to have a conversation with him on the way to school.
when finn arrived home from school, i asked how his day was and he said "it was the worst day EVER!" he explained that they didn't really go to antartica. he said he was so upset he even cried. (oh goodness i thought - a drama queen). i reminded him that both his dad and i tried to prepare him by telling him, but he didn't want to hear it.
he then explained all the fun things they did - waiting in the jetway to get on the plane, sitting on a pretend plane but they had a REAL pilot pretending to fly to antarcica. they encounteered a snow storm, saw lots of animals, and did some research while there. i commented that his teachers must have worked very hard to set up this 'pretend trip to antartica' and that it sounded like lots of fun. he agreed but said he was "still disappointed." he did give mrs. hawke a big hug at the end of the day which i was happy to hear.
our conversation ended with him showing me the stamp in his 'pretend' passport. i smiled and told him soon he will be getting a stamp in his 'real' passport. i have something special planned in april with the boys and with my mom and my sis, jen. it required grandma getting her first passport. at 60-something it's never too late!! we sent her all the paperwork in december and she filled out and sent off.
she has no idea where we are going. it a complete surprise! all i've told her is it won't be anywhere cold! *grin* i'm counting down the days now...
