Crush

I think Ethan has a crush. He has never come out and said "I like her," but he constantly talks about another little girl in his class. It started off with Ethan simply asking if he could have Madalyn over to play. I explained to him that we could invite her over sometime but it is really hard for us to do that since we always have to pick up Emily after school and have other evening commitments along with the fact that we would need to ask her mom if it was OK. So basically, I kept putting it off. Finally, one day after school, Madalyn's mom came to pick her up at the same time that Ethan and I were leaving school. Ethan saw this as his chance and asked me if Madalyn could come over today since her mom was there. Again, I told him we had to pick up Emily, so she couldn't come over today but that maybe we could go to the park with her another day. Ethan rushed over to Madalyn's mom and asked if they could go to the park with us. Flash forward 10 years and I had visions of Ethan someday asking a girl out. Madalyn and her mom smiled and said it would be fun sometime. Ethan took that as yes and was content. Since that afternoon, I took a day off of work and went to eat lunch with Ethan at school. I was again excited to get to see Ethan in his environment with his friends. As we left the lunch line, Mrs. Gerras, the school's counselor, pointed out that we could sit at the big table in the corner, which is evidently for adult visitors as it has real chairs and a table cloth. She also told Ethan that he could invite his friends to sit with us. Once again, Ethan saw this as his chance. He marched over to Madalyn, who was already sitting down eating, and asked her to come eat lunch with us. He returned with her lunchbox but not her. Ethan proudly told me Madalyn was coming over. She arrived with the rest of her things and sat down next to me. I tried to ask her some questions, but it was very difficult to hear her in the noisy cafeteria. She is so sweet, quiet and shy, not like Ethan at all. Even with the noise, I did learn a little more about her and her sisters, and once again, Ethan made sure to ask if she would like to play with him sometime. Soon lunch was over and the kids headed outside. Once everyone was on the playground, the boys and girls segregated to play their separate games. I watched Ethan show off for a short while and then headed home myself, silently giggling to myself about Ethan's crush. Usually when Ethan talks about school, he mentions Madalyn. Her family lives around the block from us, so every time we pass by, Ethan will say something like "There's Madalyn's house." or "That's Madalyn's mom's car." Again, I kept thinking of what life will be like 10 years from now when Ethan is in high school instead of kindergarten and the crushes are real.