This week's topic is "Crush."
Allow me to introduce my daughter's first crush -- Mr. Keith from The Little Gym. For those of you not from here, Keith and his wife Nancy own TLG and frequently teach its various classes. And although Maggie's never officially taken a class from Mr. Keith, she is embarrassingly "in like" with him. (I won't say she's in love with him -- she's certainly too young for that -- but she really, really likes him ... so much so that I'm pretty certain she's developed her first crush.)
Her first encounter with Mr. Keith was a year ago, at the first end-of-semester "show" she ever did. It was late May, and both of her regular teachers were away on graduation beach trips, so Keith and his son Ryan filled in and faciliated the show. I remember Maggie saying she didn't like Mr. Keith, but she did like Mr. Ryan. We didn't see Keith a lot after that, but when we scheduled her 4th birthday party at TLG, he ended up being one of the staff members who "ran the show," so to speak, on party day.
And that was it.
She has Mr. Keith Radar, I joked today while picking her up from cheer camp at TLG. Truly, I think she has some sort of sixth sense regarding his presence -- today her camp was still going on and he had just walked into the gym and went straight into the office. She raced over to the door, insisting, "I need to hug Mr. Keith!" And that's how it is whenever she sees him. She gives hugs, kisses, and "kissing hands" (read the book if you don't know what that is). She asks, "Watch me, Mr. Keith!" before she begs the same of me. She wants to be held, twirled, spun, and dipped ... anything, as long as it's done by Mr. Keith. She even told me on Monday morning, as I was reminding her to use good behavior at the upcoming cheer camp, "I'll try to use my manners and behave and listen to my teachers ... but I'll try extra hard if Mr. Keith is there!"
That first gymnastics show, when she didn't like Mr. Keith.
The day it all changed - 4th birthday party
What's a mom to do? It's a little embarrassing; I have to practically pry her away from him whenever we leave. But Mr. Keith simply gives me a knowing look and plays along with her fancies, indulging her requests until I force her out the door. Surely Maggie isn't the first little girl to develop a crush on him. At least he's an amazingly nice person and we like him a lot. She could do a lot worse.
The weird thing is, I've sort of known him -- or at least known of him -- for a while. His youngest sister and I were roommates at UTC for a few semesters and have remained friends to this day. Little did I know, when I kept Lisa's guestbook on that hot August day 14 years ago and watched her brothers walk her down the aisle, I was seeing the man on whom my daughter would develop her first crush.
Life's funny sometimes.
2 comments:
Sarah's first crush is my childhood sweetheart; my first love. He came & stayed with us with his family for two nights last summer and Sarah was immediately besotted with him. He lives in Russia now, but she still talks about him and always wants to send him messages.
Life is funny sometimes!!
That's too cute! At least he's a good role model to crush on!
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