Seriously!

Ethan loves his school.

A month or two ago, Tim and I got to go to our first parent-teacher conference. The teacher had a whole folder of examples of Ethan's work (he had only been there about a month at the time) and ideas of activities we could do with him at home.

One paper was an interview where the teacher asked him to name something that's blue, red, big, quiet, funny, strong, etc. Ethan's example of something quiet was "my sis" and something that is beautiful was "my mom." Isn't that so stinkin' cute?

Before picture day, Ethan showed me different smiles that he thought he might use when it came time to have his picture taken. He had some nice smiles, and I was looking forward to seeing how the pics actually turned out.

Here is his distinguished individual pose:

And here is Ethan with his classmates (the other girl was missing--I think there were a lot of boys born Ethan's year, because all the 3-year-old preschools I am aware of have only a few girls):

I love the silly, exuberant joy that all the kids show, and how much of his own personality Ethan portrays by just standing there, perhaps overwhelmed, perhaps confused about why they can't just stick to the regular routine, perhaps reluctant to say "cheese pizza" or whatever it was that the photographer asked the kids to chant.

I keep telling Ethan that this picture just "warms my heart" and that I love him so much. He replies with a cute little smirk and a comment like, "Don't cry, Mom."