Kindergarten Conversation

Our six year old is delightful. I still say that after the epic dinner meltdown tonight because all she wants to eat is fruit, chips, and m&m's and doesn't understand why we won't let her have a second (or third) dessert of the night. It was actually kind of comical, the dinner situation, because beside my left hand sat my cell phone with a text conversation between her kindergarten teacher and I regarding some awesome test scores and a special assignment for which she had been chosen...all while on my right hand, she sat pitching the epic fit, full of fake crying noises and attempting to flee the dinner table. Ha. If only I reported the truth to the shining texter on my left. Anyway, despite girl drama and all, I love her and her sillies.

So, I went and picked her up from school today and she bounced into the car as usual, with reports of the day's events. This is one of my favorite times of the day. I love hearing about kindergarten life directly from the mouth of a kindergartner. I love when she tells me about someone getting in trouble for saying the "S" word. The first time she said this, my heart sank and I knew that I had sent her off into the den of thieves of public education and someone had ruined her innocence and busted a cuss word. My heart lightened again when she revealed that the said "S" word was "stupid". :) Aaah. Innocence saved, for a moment or two. Anyhow, today, she hopped into the car and was so excited to tell me that each student set personal goals for themselves and also set measurable ways to show that they are working toward the goal. She couldn't wait to tell me hers, and, being the proud momma that I am, I couldn't wait to hear. Imagine my surprise when my sweet, intelligent child informed me that her personal goal was to learn to slide down a pole. Yes, my friends, slide down a pole. You know what profession slides down a pole?!? Maybe I can give her the benefit of the doubt and pray that it's a firefighter, right? Do they do that anymore? I'm gonna pretend like the answer is yes...because, if not, my worst nightmare is confirmed...that my kindergartner is aspiring to be an exotic dancer. Sigh. It is even funnier because in my text conversation tonight with her teacher, she even admitted to giggling inside a bit when she saw the goal that W chose. W does have a plan to reach this goal of learning to slide down a pole. She has a calendar on which we are to mark every time she practices her pole sliding - read: how many times we take her to a playground with a pole so she can practice. I'm gonna give her that one - that's pretty dang smart. What a roundabout way to get to go to the playground!!  So far, she voices wanting to be either an anesthesiologist or a meteorologist when she grows up - maybe that's enough ambition to keep her off the poles in the long run :)

The next topic had this kindergarten momma howling with laughter too. Today was the day in which they visited the counselor. The counselor usually has great topics. She has learned about bullying and about proper hand hygiene, etc. Well, today's topic was an amazing one, and one that I bet was a total hit in kindergarten world. Here's the convo:

me: So, did y'all go to counseling today?
W: yeah! It was really, really good.
me: Cool, what did y'all talk about?
W: Boogers.
me: Boogers? Y'all had a class about boogers?
W: yes! It was great. We talked about how to use a tissue to get our boogers. Did you know that you take the tissue and put it over your finger like this (makes a motion over her pointer finger) and you use it to get the booger. That way, your tissue gets a booger on it, and not your finger! Isn't that cool?
me: *laughing* yes W! I think that's an excellent thing to know.
W: Well, you know what?
me: what?
W: you still have to wash your hands after you pick your booger like that.
me: Yes, yes you do. It's pretty important to keep clean.

You'll be glad to know that there was a handout that accompanied the booger lesson. It was pretty informative and I feel better tonight knowing that kindergartners will appropriately pick their boogers tomorrow :)

As a fabulous end to our ride home - we saw the banana man - you know, the guy who picks his kid up from the bus stop dressed as a banana to be funny. However, today, he was dressed as Santa. The bummer is that it was raining, so it was Santa in a sedan in the median of the entrance to our subdivision. That didn't stop us from making a complete loop around the subdivision for another glance at Santa in the sedan. He waved at my babies and made their day. If awesome stuff like that keeps happening in their childhoods, there's no way that the pole will be the end result! I'm still gonna pray, though....just to make sure :)