Thank you notes from second-graders

In honor of tomorrow being the first day of school (well, today is the official first day for all you teachers), we have a very special post. I'm doing on behalf of Lydia, since she's too modest to post these herself. You may remember that a few months ago, before she landed her awesome job, Lydia spent a lot of time as an unofficial teacher's aide, helping Jenn with her second-grade class, down at P.S. 2 in Chinatown. "Miss Lydia," as the kids called her, chaperoned trips to movies, plays, libraries, zoos, South Street Seaport, the Brooklyn Bridge; helped out around the classroom with reading and math games and an after-school cooking class; and most memorably, assisted the kids with their weekly swimming lessons at the local Y--not just Jenn's class, but Lea's bilingual class, too.

We think it's great that learning to swim is part of the curriculum at Jenn's school, especially since growing up, our summers revolved around our town's pool and rec. park. As an avid swim team member, Lydia basically lived in her swimsuit for entire summers at a time (no, seriously...she *always* smelled like chlorine). I'm a far inferior swimmer myself, but I can get by--as in, not drown, which is always a useful skill. Sadly, based on our friends and people we've met here, Asian city kids seem to be an underrepresented sub-group in the swimming population at large. So, way to go, P.S. 2. Most importantly, though, Lydia came away from 'swim time' with some hilarious stories involving hydrophobic children and swim noodles, and a batch of the most amazing thank you notes we've ever seen. Here are a few of our favorites...

It almost looks like a poem, or some sort of chant. Love how it lapses into Chinese.

Hearts and butterflies were a recurring theme. Slight indecision near the end, but this one's very sweet.

This girl wants to make sure that Lydia knows exactly who this card is from.

Too adorable.

The last line says, "and can me swim and a not scared". And it's all thanks to Lydia. Aww...

This one depicts the girl giving Lydia her thank you note. Unintentionally post-modern...?

Nice of him to provide an either/or option.

Sometimes the simplest, most direct message is the best.