Sweet CeCe's Date

So yesterday, I had a date with my buddy from last year. Here's a quick blurb for those of you who don't know him. He came to me in the beginning of kindergarten not knowing a single letter of his name. His behavior can be characterized as extremely defiant. He was aggressive, hateful, and rude, had no language skills (could hardly speak; his older siblings are selective mutes), and let me tell you, I fell in love. He was my baby. He grew so much in my classroom, and I loved the challenges he presented me with, daily. And sometimes I hated him just as much, because he knew how to try my patience and get under my skin, and I learned a lot about teaching and about myself, learning how to not react. Whoo. It was hard. I considered having him in my classroom again this year, and decided I better not, because we learned so much from each other, and love each other, and I didn't want to ruin that with another year. And he is thriving this year. It's so fantastic. I am so thrilled.

So, anyway, when we see each other this year, he smiles (this smile that can melt your heart), and we talk, and he is so sweet. So I asked his mom last week if I could take him for hot chocolate or something after school one day, so that we could catch up and have some time together. She was excited, but he was PUMPED. It's all he would talk about for the last week. "Mrs. Flynn, I never had hot chocolate before. Where do we get it? Is is hot?" etc. etc. etc. Then he was sick on Friday, which was supposed to be our day. So we replanned for Tuesday.

Tuesday, at recess, he was still super excited. "Mrs. Flynn! Come here!" he said as his class lined up. "My mom said we could just go right now." he told me. I somehow convinced him that we were going to wait until after school.

Well, after school came, and he was so freaked out that it was finally there, and we were going to hang out together outside of school, that he refused to speak to me or come near me. Hilarious. He finally warmed up to me, after about 45 minutes. By the time his mom got there, he was starting to talk to me again. (Oh, and we ended up getting Fro-Yo, since the temperature went up significantly this week.)

Today, he brought me flowers. Then, when he saw me at dismissal, he said for the first time this year, "Mrs. Flynn, I love you."