Jerry's First Sing-A-Long

I have to admit, I had high expectations. Jerry had been singing the “Jack-O-Lattern” song as we played together over the weekend - and I knew how much he enjoyed the ending (Boo!)

Eriko and I showed up just on time (3:45), sat in our little chairs, and waited for the children to come out. The first four filed out one after another and sat in their places.

Then came Jerry. He sauntered in, tried to give me a hug, and eventually (after some coaxing by the teachers) sat near the others - but immediately it was obvious that his body language was quite different. To be fair, he did yawn - so he may be tired - but all of the other children are engaged, focused on the teacher, participating. Jerry is none of these things.

This is a video of the first song.

He almost takes pleasure in his lack of participation, giving smug looks and smiles whenever he is actively doing something different. The teachers have to constantly remind him (between songs) to stand up, or take the prop, etc. During one song (about pumpkin and witches, where they countdown from 5 pumpkins to 0) he was anticipating each number ahead of where the song was - so he knew what was going on.

I have to admit, I was disappointed and am now a bit shell-shocked. Jerry was so different from the other kids and not because he was trying his hardest and couldn’t get it. Because it looked like he wasn’t trying at all!

Not to mention that after the class ended, he immediately ran outside the building and challenged me to chase him (which I didn’t.) Apparently he does this every time with Eriko.

Have we spoiled the hell out of him or is this just his natural personality?

I love him like no other, so I don’t want to be disappointed or expect him to be like everyone else. I know he is a bright boy - but I worry that the “system” will ultimately reject and not reward someone who is too far out of place - only making his path more difficult than it needs to be.