After doing a mini scavenger hunt in his classroom with us, Nicholas and his classmates lined up and headed over to the Arena, the site of the King's Garden. Later, Kathleen and I walked in with another couple, and the dad and I spoke for several minutes. Nicholas waited patiently by the wall with the other "servers." I caught sight of an eager look in his eye, so I headed over. I found him wearing an apron he had sewn by hand that had a name tag he had made with his name spelled on it (correctly). He approached us and said, "May I show you to your seats?" Then, he walked us over to a table and sat us down.
He first told us about the menu and then used his pencil and order pad (shown above) to write down our requests. Within a few minutes, he returned with 2, make that 3, carrot muffins with white chocolate chips, 2 granolas, and 2 fruit salads. He lingered to eat with us, but he also freely moved about the Arena where the breakfast was held.
This contrasts with just one month ago. At that time, Nicholas routinely squeezed my hand more tightly whenever we saw a teacher or student he did not know at school while we walked the grounds on the days I dropped him off. Many days, there was a palpable sense of anxiousness in him. However, the King's Garden was quite different. I saw our little boy so at ease... so in his element.
At the end of the "opening," all the kids came together and sang a song. It was amazing to see these 5-7 year olds (both of the "primary" classes are mixed age classes made up of kindergartners and first-graders) singing and smiling in unison. Nicholas' solo rendition is reproduced below.
The last line of the song stills gives me goosebumps whenever I hear it because I know how true it is for our little guy.
Something great is definitely inside of him and Arbor!
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