parent volunteer of the year

At the start of the school year I knew it would be important to me to help out in Chase's Kindergarten class.  And of course, I absolutely love it.

I love how his face lights up and he gets a huge smile on his face when he sees me walk through his class door.
I love to hear him proudly tell his classmates that I am his mom.
I love how he sneaks over to me the first chance he gets (and any chance he gets) to give me hugs and kisses.
I love to see him interact with his friends and with his teacher.
I love to see him stealing little glances at me to see if I am paying attention to what he is doing.
I love how he is so excited to show me his work taped on the wall and how many stickers he has on his leaf.
I love how he holds my hand all the way out to the lunch tables when it's lunchtime and time for me to leave.

But there is something else I love about volunteering.  Something I was not expecting.

I was talking to a friend a while back about how she was liking volunteering in her son's class.

"Oh, I love it," she responded.

"Oh yeah, isn't it great to see them in their class?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, that is great, but that isn't why I love it.  Well, I love that too, but I love the menial tasks.  And I am dying to be the best parent volunteer in the class.  I want the teacher to be excited when she sees I am coming in that day." (paraphrased)

After I about died laughing, I realized I felt the same way.  There is something so fulfilling as a stay at home mom to be given menial assignments, and actually see them completed in  nice, neat little piles in one sitting!  And I am not just there to observe Chase.  I am there to be the best, most hard working volunteer that teacher has ever seen.  One time she asked me to just get as many worksheets torn out of the workbooks and sorted as I could while I was there.  You better believe I was going to get every last worksheet torn out and sorted before I left.  Even if my fingers throbbed I knew I couldn't stop til the job was done.  And you know I made sure to tap her on my way out to let her know they were all done.  That she knows I am no slacking parent.  To make certain she sighs a breath of relief (every other) Monday at 9:55AM when she realizes Mrs. Anderson is coming in that day.

Of course, despite my aspiration to be parent volunteer of the year, it still takes a backseat to the fact that my sweet boy thinks it's the best day ever when his mom is coming to help in his class.  And while I have years and years ahead of me to hold my volunteer of the year title, I think the hugs, kisses, and hand holding in front of his friends will likely be fleeting.