School Chatter

While some parents may complain that their kids don't tell them anything about school and are very reticent with information when pressed, I have had quite the opposite situation with Julia.  As we walk home from school each day, she skips gaily along the sidewalk, boisterously filling me in on every detail of her school day. 

Sometimes she fills me in on the classroom job to which she was assigned:

JULIA: Mama, guess what?  You'll never believe what JOB I got today.  (pausing to maximize the suspense.)  LINE LEADER!

Since I have been given all the details of all the jobs already, I know full well that line leader is the most coveted job of all, because he or she who is line leader gets first pick of playground equipment at recess, being the first one out the door.  In Julia's case, this means getting a swing right away, rather than having to wait on the bench for a turn.  I also know that door-holder is the least desirable job in Julia's eyes, because, although door-holder is second in line, he or she is actually the LAST one outside for recess because of the need to hold the door for all of the people behind him or her in line.

Other times, Julia fills me in on the weather at recess:

JULIA: Mama, did you know that, like, we all thought it was COLD outside, but when we got out to recess, we were all, like, ICKMEDIATELY taking off our coats because it was SO WARM OUT!

And sometimes she gives me the deets on lunch in the cafeteria.  She especially had a lot to say on the subject yesterday, which was her first time buying a hot lunch, an extremely exciting experience seeing as it was Pizza Day.

JULIA: Mama, so, I didn't know WHICH milk was WHICH, so, I just got one because I saw another girl getting it, and because it was HALLOWEEN milk and it said "BOO!" on it, and the other kids were saying it was CHOCOLATE MILK, but I decided that I didn't really LIKE it, because I'm just not really USED to it.  But, Mama, maybe next time I can try another milk.  Hey, maybe I can just try ALL the milks, and then I can figure out which one tastes like the REGULAR kind that I'm USED to.

While Madeleine is no longer as tight-lipped about school as she was during the first week, her accounts are definitely less detailed than Julia's and often still something of a mystery.

I wasn't sure what to make of the following statement:

MADELEINE: Mommy, I was being FANCY at school!  And I was singing!  Like this: (twirling in circles) "Oh, oh oh oh!  Oh, oh oh oh!"

Sometimes, like Julia, she does launch into full detail, however.

MADELEINE: Mommy, I was taking off my shoes and my tights and my skirt and my UNDERWEAR to go on the potty at school.  I went on the little potty.  It was JUST MY SIZE!  Aw, they just have a little teeny-tiny potty at school and it's just so teeny-tiny!  And we just have a GINORMOUS potty at OUR HOUSE, but at school we have a little teeny-tiny potty because I'm LITTLE.

And yet she still has her moments of making absolutely no sense.

ME: So, Madeleine, did you have fun at Lunch Bunch?
MADELEINE: Um...YES!
ME: Who else stayed for Lunch Bunch today?
MADELEINE: Um, the one with the PONYTAIL, and the one with the SHORT HAIR like me!
ME: And who else?
MADELEINE: Um...a...a PUMPKIN stayed for Lunch Bunch!
ME: And did any boys stay today?
MADELEINE: Um...a PENTAGON stayed for Lunch Bunch!

So.  Either my daughter is completely full of it, OR she happens to attend a secretly elite school with an in on government affairs, in which folks from the Pentagon might just swing by and hang out at Lunch Bunch on any given day. 

If the latter is the case, I'm sorry Jules, but that beats Pizza Day ANY DAY.