Priceless

Wally asked me the other day what “priceless” meant. He thought it meant something that is worth nothing so it costs nothing. So I tried to explain it by saying that no one could buy him from me—he’s so valuable that there is no price high enough. I wasn’t sure if he got it.

The kids are doing well in their new school. I ask them what they did at recess, and their responses are so different. Vivvi is friends with everyone. Vivvi says, “I played with one of my friends.” I say, “What’s her name?” She says, “I don’t know.” Lately she found a friend (who’s name she knows) who is her speed. They play babies and puppies and Vivvi feels “comfortable,” a word she shocked us with, pulled from her emotionally-intelligent vocab that we did not give her. Wally is unsure if he has friends—although I believe it’s mostly because he doesn’t remember what early friendship feels like. He plays kickball, and sometimes sits on a bench. The first bench-sitting day, he sat alone, and my heart cracked just a little. The second bench-sitting day, a boy from his class saw him sitting there and asked what he was doing. This kid then sat with Wally the rest of recess and they talked. Thank you, kind boy.

Wally and Vivvi sit together on the bus. When Vivvi gets on the bus at the end of the day before Wally, she saves him a seat. “How do you do that?” we asked her. “Mermaid style,” she said, and she demonstrated by sitting with her legs stretched out to the side. My favorite thing about sending them to school is that I know they have each other.

Wally earns rewards in his class for good behavior. He can choose to cash them in for little crap like bouncy balls, action figures, slime. Or he can choose experiences—lunch with the teacher, bringing a stuffed animal, wearing no shoes for a day. (Why is this a reward? Do I need to rethink my bribes at home?)

Today he used his rewards to surprise Vivvi and read to her class. Her teacher sent me this picture.

When he gets home from school, I’ll show him, so he knows what priceless means.