Confusion reigned

Awhile ago I was told I was getting a new student.  A boy. 

Then a few weeks later, I got an email from the secretary.  It had the name and it was a girl.  No problem.  There must have just been a mixup.  

My students found out last week we we were getting a new student and that's always super exciting news.  They wanted ALL the information and I didn't have much except a name.  "It's a girl," I said, like we were having a gender reveal party.

I spent time Friday labeling everything.  I made a nameplate for the desk, I labeled a Chromebook and headphones and a take home folder and all the text books and notebooks and everything.  I went to town with my label maker.

A mother showed up at my door yesterday with a masked child.  I figured it was the new girl.  I said, "Are you ____?"  

The mom said, "Oh, no.  That's my kindergartner."

Oh.  Oops.  No problem.  I asked the third grader what her name was.  I said, "I'm sorry for the mix up, but I'm glad you're here!"

The mom asked me about the pickup time.  I said, "She'll leave out this door at the end of the day."

The mom said, "He's a boy."

"Oh!"

He has long beautiful braids and I already had girl in my brain but once I really looked at him, it was 100% clear that he was definitely a boy.

I was wondering how many ways I could botch this poor kid's first day of school.  Everything he had was labeled with his little sister's name.

I introduced him to the class and everyone kept referring to him as a she because that's what they had been prepared for (and the braids).  I told him again how sorry I was and that I would fix all the labels.  He said, "It's OK.  It's just a misunderstanding."

I think I love this kid.

I had them clean their desks like I do on Monday and then they can read silently in the remaining time.  His desk didn't need cleaning of course so he asked me if he could do origami.  I figured I owed him!  Pretty soon he had a circle of students doing origami with him.  One of my world class tattletales asked, "Aren't they supposed to be reading?"

I said, "It's fine.  It's his first day."

He made origami Yoda and I chatted with him about Star Wars.  He showed me his Star Wars sweatshirt and then he showed me the t-shirt he had underneath it that had Star Wars ships with sequined lasers shooting out of them.  He's pretty much an awesome kid.  I loved talking to him.  When I was setting up his password for his Chromebook he wanted Bugatti in the password.  Maybe.  He may change it to something else.  I said, "So you like cars?"

And that opened another chatty floodgate.  That's when I realized, this kid is basically Mark.  That's why I loved him right away.

I want to remember forever his grace when I thought he was a girl and labeled everything wrong.  "It's OK.  It was just a misunderstanding."

A little child shall lead them.