First, Alex agreed to come with me to the Welcome Center where I learned about transferring in as a second degree student, getting an ID card, getting prerequisites approved for advanced classes and registering for said classes. Then, he agreed to come with me to the health center to hand in my immunization evidence. But we arrived before they were open, so we went back to the cafeteria to have a mid-morning snack. After which, we went to the Economics Department to find out who I was to speak to for approval of my prerequisites. At this point, Alex was telling everyone he ran into that he was a secret agent and that he couldn't tell anyone his name. (He was dressed all in black.) This is what he said to the Administrative Assistant, Paulette too.
Now, mind you, all of this back-and-forth business involved traveling between the North and West buildings through the glass skywalk. We did this multiple times before our appointment time came up. Alex didn't complain once. In fact, he said "Hello" to everyone he passed, telling me "I'm making so many new friends here!!"
Once we got the info from the Economics Department, we still had some time before our appointment would come, so we went to the bookstore to get Alex a Hunter sweatshirt. Now, he felt like a real college student. He was no longer Alex Delgado, Secret Agent. He was now, Alex Delgado, Hunter College BMOC, flirting with all of the girls.
At the Children's Learning Center, we met Miss Rita, the Director of the Center and Miss Evelyn, one of the teachers there. They told me a big ol' secret...Alex has pretty much met their definition of "potty trained" already. If the teacher is told that he needs reminders to go, then they're OK with that. They also both assured me that after a few weeks of being around other children who go on their own that he won't need reminders. They were far more concerned with the fact that he'd never spent many hours separated from me and encouraged me to make sure that my class time isn't really long. Ssssshhhh! Don't tell Alex. I've got Santa on my side, encouraging Alex to tell us when he has to go.
Speaking of Santa...he comes in later in this story. We still had stuff to do at Hunter. Wrapping it up at the Children's Learning Center was easy once Miss Evelyn explained to Alex that she had to close up the classroom. At that point, we went back to the Economics Department to speak to the advisor there. (Prof. Sevak). She was with a student at the time we arrived, so we had to wait a while in the hallway. Alex was still patient! Sure, I had to remind him to not block the pathway, but he was amazingly good!! Surely, I had to bring Santa in on this day of surprises.
Professor Sevak approved me for the class I wanted and suggested to me how I could go about saving both time and money getting to the MA program. She also suggested that I speak to the Department's Graduate Advisor about it. I was quite hungry at this point and I was sure my little guy was too. We headed back downstairs to the cafeteria for lunch where Alex had pizza. By that time, I was wondering about him. I asked him if it was OK if we made one more stop. He said it was.
So, we went back to the North building to go to the Health Center so that I could hand in my immunization records, but not until we'd stopped at Office Services where they made a copy of my lab report for me. Handing in the paperwork took longer than expected and yet, Alex still had patience! This kid is just amazing sometimes, I'll tell you. Santa must hear of this.
In the meantime of all of this going on - from 9:20 to just short of 1:30 - Alex used the public potty twice, both times urging me that he had to go once we were in the stall. OK, those count towards prizes at this time.
This was a big day of surprises. I'd gone in with the expectation of getting only one of my four tasks done. Instead, I got three done. I'd gone in with the expectation of having to tell Alex when to go potty. Instead, after I had to go to the bathroom, he piped in with his own requests. I'd gone in with the expectation that Alex couldn't possibly have the patience to come along with me from one department to another. Instead, he was just proud to do so - once I got him his new Hunter College sweatshirt.
Oh yes, Santa will have to hear of this.
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