BIG GREEN BLOCKS.

Alas, the fateful day arrives for all of us.

The time to leave the nurturing comfort and loving warmth of our home,
bid a tearful goodbye to our family, 
and head out to continue our education and enlightenment 
in a strange new place with strange new faces.

Admittedly, my journey was made a bit easier. 
My pursuit of academic discovery took me… 
around the block.
Literally.

I’m talking, of course, of …
my arrival at Kindergarten.
PS 91.

Now, up to this stage of my life, 
I held a special place in my “ insulated community”.
Being that I was the first and only son, grandson, nephew in my family,
I was unquestionably the  “star”, the center of attention…
and I relished in my status.
But now, as I entered the kindergarten classroom…
I was surrounded by a bunch of other “stars”.
Some cuter than me, some bigger than me, some smarter than me.
I was suddenly  “just another 5 year-old”.

Something would have to be done about it.

After my Mom and I shed some tears at the classroom doorway,
I checked out my new surroundings.
Not too shabby.
Lots of pictures of farm animals and trains with faces 
and stars and colors on the walls.
Bouncy red rubber balls.
A real live turtle in a cage.
Two smiling ladies who talked softly to me.
OK…I could live with this

And then I saw THEM!

Big, giant, clunky wooden blocks!
Shiny green hunks, about 2 feet wide, 2 foot high.
I was mesmerized.

All the while sitting cross-legged on the floor with 
the other better-focused kids...
and (supposedly) listening  to some lame-o song…
I could think of nothing else but those BIG GREEN BLOCKS!

And then I heard the magic word…
 “Playtime!” 
I took it as a clarion call-to-action!

Some girl classmates ran to try on various costumes.
Some of the boys rolled and bounced the balls to each other.
A small group fed Willie the Turtle.

I made a b-line for those BIG GREEN BLOCKS!

Exercising my intellectual curiosity…
my budding interest in architecture…
and my vast potential as a child prodigy…
I devised a simple plan.
I would build up several of the blocks as high as I could,
creating a “fortress” or some kind of wall.
(Probably making a precocious political statement about what was going on in Berlin)
And then…what else?
I would throw my entire body into the blocks with abandon,
knocking them down and creating quite the commotion.

Oh yeah…I had arrived!

I had already managed to get my first (of many)  “cautions”,  
(delivered somewhat lovingly),
about my behavior.

After my dazzling day one debut…
my sister Ellen,, a 3rd grader, walked me home, around the block.
I was excited to tell Mommy and Daddy about my new adventures.
When they asked about my teachers and their names…
I mumbled (as I often did)…

“Itkin” and “Kunken”. 

My sister was immediately assigned to accompany me to class the next day 
to discover their real names.
And she reported back.
Indeed…
“Miss Itkin” and “Miss Kunken”.

Not easy for a speech-challenged 5 year-old.

Over the following days, weeks and months, to gain even more attention,
I used my burgeoning wit and clever humor… 
which consisted primarily of …
“eating” crayons and paste.
Oh yeah…big laughs.
I was a regular Noel Coward.

Snack Time was a highlight.
Unfortunately, “snacks” were basically “milk and cookies”.
I was never a big milk drinker.
And the milk provided in class came in these red, square, mini wax containers… 
and, after sitting on the  sunny window shelf,  
was always served at an un-delightfully warm, room temperature.
Yuck!
It always tasted sour to me… 
and I threw up on a semi-regular basis.
The chocolate-covered Graham crackers almost made up for it.
.

Another vivid and rather odd memory…
It seemed that for some strange ritualistic reason,
every day the class would construct and wear paper hats!?

In any of my old kindergarten photos…
There I am…
(back row,3 kids to the left of Miss Itkin)
decked out in some strange crepe paper haberdashery.

Never quite knew why??

But all in all…
I was kinda diggin’ this whole school thing.
I figured for the next dozen or so years I could be pretty happy…
Hangin’ with Itkin and Kunken, 
wearing paper hats, 
snacking on crayons and paste and Graham crackers…
and knocking over BIG GREEN BLOCKS.

Little did I know what was coming.

What do you remember from your Kindergarten Days?
Let me know.