So, you know how Otto's been having kind of a rough time at school?
His teacher called this afternoon.
I was downstairs at work, circulating the circulation desk while I made notes on a patron account, chatted with our February artist of the month as he set up his display, made copies of bank statements, reassured desk staff that the new PayPal payment option in the catalog doesn't require staff intervention... you get the picture. I'd forgotten my phone was in my pocket until it rang, and when I saw the school office listed on the screen my heart sank.
But - it was good news! Hooray!
Otto's teacher had the first Captain Underpants book on the classroom bookshelf, and I guess he's been asking her where the rest of the series is.
Frequent readers know that we're big Captain Underpants fans. In fact, we've been reading about him for years now -- it started with Mama reading him at bedtime when Otto was in Pre-K, then we got Daddo hooked too, and now Otto likes to reread them on his own.
With some trepidation, his teacher brought the rest of the series to school with her today. She wasn't sure I would be OK with the language (HAH! though it's nice that she was concerned), but she wisely decided that it was worth trying.
And lo and behold, he had the BEST. DAY. EVER.
Because evidently not everyone else in class can read Captain U. Nope, most of his classmates have some trouble getting through the pages, so he got to feel kind of... super about being a good reader, and thus able to share the soft, cottony awesomeness that is Underpants.
Writing in his journal wasn't so bad after finding that out.
And any time I can appeal to his sense of humor and get him laughing, it's a good thing -- he tends to be a lot more open to trying things, and a lot less self-conscious about mistakes (aren't we all?).
Fingers crossed that this signals the beginning of a good upward trend for him -- more good days than bad, more feelings of accomplishment than worries about failure.
As Captain Underpants would say, "Tra-la-laaaaa!"
(Thank you, Mr. Pilkey - and we really mean it.)
