Six

I’ve talked a lot about Finch this past week. In addition to losing his first tooth, he learned how to tie his shoes. Two major milestones occurred in a matter of days! For a few months now, he’d been receiving comments about his inability to tie his shoes. It was as simple as this: I never set out to teach him, and he didn’t ask to learn. His older siblings had both been through preschool and public kindergarten by his age, and so learned to tie theirs much earlier out of necessity. He chose to wear “velcro shoes” for the most part, and I didn’t mind tying his laces when he didn’t. With first grade upon us, the laces became more of an issue. Even though he’s in a small class, his teacher obviously can’t spend entire days tying laces. I said nothing at all, figuring he would ask for help when he was ready. The breaking point was when Teacher asked who could tie their shoes and pretty much everyone but him raised their hand. (I dislike that she did this.) Finch likes being able to do things well. It bothered him that he couldn’t. And so, that afternoon, he came home, and we practiced a few times. A child who dislikes being called cute and can’t stand too much hugging and kissing, he leapt into my lap to be comforted the first time he tied them on his own, washing away the stress of the last few months with his tears.