wearing different hats

my boy took his first promotion test yesterday - it's interesting being on the other side of things, i suppose this is about as close as i'm going to get to being a parent.  on the one hand, you're proud that he's doing well and not melting down, and that he's made so much progress.  on the other hand - it could have been better.  haha.  he's still young enough and so darn cute that it doesn't really matter - but i also found myself wishing that i could have brought him more often or that i still lived with them so that we could have practiced more. 

that being said, we had a major cram session an hour before the test, since my cousin didn't bring him to class last weekend and i knew he would be rusty.  boy was i worried when i started reviewing blocks and turning around and he was totally flubbing.  sigh.  but we went through everything until it was good enough (though not perfect) and i just prayed that he would remember when he took the test. 

after all that, we were sitting down and i realized ... he's only 6.  and he doesn't come as often as he should.  wearing the teacher hat and eemoh hat at the same time is tough. 

so i put on my eemoh hat

me:  "hey buddy, you know i love you"

i-man:  "i know.  i love you too"

me:  "sorry i had to yell at you, but you're going to be great at your test"

i-man:  "that's nothing ... you should hear mommy.  THAT's yelling"

haha, at least he's conditioned to know that drilling isn't a bad thing.  and uh, conditioned to throw his mother under the bus.