A Tale of Kindergarten Romance (Maybe?)

On the first day of winter break, Greenleigh greeted me with, “Mommy, I need to go to the store.”

Puzzled – since she had already finished all of her holiday shopping at the school store – I inquired why she needed to go shopping.

“Colin lost his Spiderman watch today and he’s really sad about it.  Really sad, Mommy.  He just got it as a present and he wore it to school for the first time.  At lunch, he took it off and left it on the table and someone took it.  I need to get him another one.”  There was a sense of urgency in her voice, one that made me want to hug her and laugh at her all at the same time.

I tried to explain that he’d probably get a new one for the holidays and that his parents would understand.  But she was relentless.  In the end, I agreed that we’d buy Colin a new Spiderman watch, mainly because there was no getting around it.  In that moment, “Get Colin (a kid I’ve never actually met) a Spiderman watch” went on the very long list of things we needed to get done over the holidays.

But while I’ve never met him, that wasn’t the first time I’d heard Colin’s name.  Earlier in the year my husband and I were sitting in the all-too-long car line when he happened to see a little boy give Greenleigh a hug.  “That must be Colin.  She says he is always hugging her.  I’m watching that kid.”  He said the last part in a tone similar to one you’d expect from a dad that just heard his daughter got asked to prom (as he’s cleaning his gun), not a dad waiting to pick up his kindergartener.  When we finally got to the front of the car line and picked Greenleigh up, she confirmed that it was Colin who hugged her.  And she was a bit bashful about the whole thing, which only seemed to make my husband all the more nervous about “that Colin kid”, as he soon became known.

Throughout winter break, Greenleigh reminded me about the Spiderman watch.  Once in South Carolina.  At least twice in Georgia.  And multiple times on the ride back to Florida.  There was a point on our 10 hour road trip back that I almost begged my husband to pull over to find a Spiderman watch.  Any Spiderman watch.  I. Couldn’t. Handle. It. Anymore.

So on the evening of the very last day of winter break (please note the procrastination), I found myself in Walmart with a very determined 5 year old.  We were not leaving without a Spiderman watch.  No way.  No how.  And lucky for us, they just happened to have a few in stock.  I seriously don’t know what we would have done if they hadn’t.

As we entered the house, I announced to my husband that we were currently proud owners of a Spiderman watch.  Well, at least until the next day when it would be gifted to Colin.

“Oh, good.  Now she can get her Muchkin Money,” he replied.  Munchkin Money is a form of currency in Greenleigh’s kindergarten classroom; it’s earned when they complete projects or after a week of good behavior or doing something really nice for someone else.  Once a week they’re allowed to use it to purchase trinket-type items from the classroom treasure chest.

“What Munchkin Money?,” I responded.  “She told me that she just wanted to do something for her friend, Colin.  She said he was really upset about losing his watch.”

“Well maybe she did, but she told me that if she does something nice for that Colin kid her teacher will give her Munchkin Money.”

Something was amiss, so we did what came natural to two attorneys – we called Greenleigh in for questioning.  But in the end, there was no clear answer.  She said she did it to be kind to Colin because he was really sad his watch was taken…but she was definitely excited at the prospect of Munchkin Money.  In fact, the only thing that was clear after questioning Greenleigh was that my husband liked the Munchkin Money motive a lot more than the puppy love angle that I much preferred.

So she did it for love or for (Munchkin) money…I guess we’ll never know.  Either way, my husband is definitely keeping an eye on “that Colin kid”.