big school for the big boy

today was the big day. my son roque, 4, was going to be assessed whether or not he will be accepted into his big sister's big school. mom was of course anxious. and who wouldn't be? a few days before, i was told by the school admissions officer that they had very limited slots for his level, as in one or two slots left! oh my.

i primed roque about the assessment the night before the big day.
me: we will go to ate's school tomorrow and meet one of her teachers.
roque: yipee! can i go to the playground?
me: surely, after you meet the teacher, ok?
roque: why?
me: because the teacher will show you the classroom and toys there before going to the playground, ok?
roque: ok-- whatever.

that morning, i made sure he had his favorite hawaiian polo shirt on, with his "big" pants ("i don't like short pants, mom!"), and his basketball shoes which he loved. packed some snacks, a thermos of calamansi juice which he liked and extra clothes in his backpack, as if he was just going to his old nursery school.

roque was welcomed by the school admissions officer with a handshake, and "what's your name?" to that, he immediately answered in his usual low monotone, "i'm roque." as he extended his left hand and then his right to shake hands, he mumbles "it's supposed to be the right." just then teacher miguel, who will do the assessment, was introduced to him. to my relief, roque agreed to go with him without me. whew!! the twenty minutes or so which followed as i waited for the assessment to end seemed so much longer. when they finally returned, roque had a big smile on his face. i asked, "did you have fun?" and he says, "yes, i wrote on the chalkboard!" teacher miguel said he was quite pleased with roque, who was excitable and cheerful. he made him do various tasks which roque willingly did. however, he noticed that roque easily got frustrated with a buttoning activity which he found difficult to do. he was quite impressed though to find out that roque already knew how to read and spell a lot of words. and when he wanted to check if roque also knew his numbers, he told him to write the number 10 on the chalkboard. to that, roque scribbled "T E N" and "10" under the word... end of assessment.

before we left the big school that morning, the admissions officer handed me the acceptance letter.

i was ecstatic of course.
me: so it was fun, huh?
roque: yes!
me: so you want teacher miguel to be your teacher next year?
roque: maybe.