I Love You Too

Marcel is in kindergarten. Marcel is always in trouble. He is giggling when he should be listening and pushing when he should be standing still and yelling when he should be talking.
When he is with me, however, we are good learners.
We are smart. We have fun. We challenge each other.
It's this one-on-one time that brings out the very best in kids like Marcel.
We use context clues to guess the ending of stories. We memorize books after just two days.
We aren't worrying about the problems at home.
We are present and excited to learn. Most of the time.
Marcel recognizes all of his letter sounds when each one is presented alone, but when they're all out of order on once piece of paper, he gets confused. I test him with papers like these for one minute each week. He needs to tell me 40 correct letter sounds in one minute. After four months, his highest score is only 23. His classmates pass him by, leave my services. He wants to know why. I say, "They graduated, just like you will!" I say, "I don't want you to go yet!" I really don't know what to say. We practice.

Then, one day, Marcel sounds out 54 letter sounds in one minute. It's nearly one letter sound per second! I can't believe it! In the middle of the library I pick him up and give him a huge hug! I say, "You passed, buddy! You passed!" He wraps his arms and legs around me, monkey style, and will not let go. I wonder if he's ever been hugged like this before. I'm thinking, probably not.
With our faces at the same level, he looks me right in the eyes. "I love you!" he smiles.
"I love you too," I say, my throat feeling thick.
After dropping him off at his classroom, I see my supervisor and a fellow Minnesota Reading Corps member in the hallway. I run up to them and say, "Marcel passed!" Then I burst into tears of utter and total joy.
They roll their eyes at me, that Kai Lee. She's so crazy!