As I chauffeur my kids back and forth from school to home to
soccer, I hear such interesting things and sometimes participate in their
little conversations. Kenzie always get in the van with a million things to say
about her day. Mason gets in and usually falls asleep before we’re out of the
school parking lot. If you ask him how his day went, you’ll always get, “Okay
(with a shoulder shrug) I guess.” I’ve started asking him less and less because
if I ask what he did today, he’ll say, “(loud sigh) Same thing we do every day.”
Thank you, Eeyore.
Wednesday’s conversations took on a liveliness that kept Mason awake this time.
Kenzie, is about to graduate from 5th grade, so along with
graduation comes the 5th grade Dance. We did not have when I was in
5th grade, but it amazes how serious the kids take it. One
particular girl in Kenzie’s class has taken it upon herself to play matchmaker
for everyone, so that they’ll all have a “date” for the dance. I find this
amusing, as most of them still think the opposite sex has cooties. When the
little matchmaker got around to Kenzie, she promptly told the matchmaker that
her Daddy said she was not allowed to have a date for the dance. She’s
right,Todd has made it very clear that Kenzie could go to this dance, but that
she was not going with any boy. God bless the poor boys she is brave enough to
bring home in the future.
Some of the little girls in Kenzie’s class were approached
by little boys and asked to go to the dance. One situation that she told us
about still has me giggling to myself. Her classmates, Jose and Jesus,
approached two shy little girls who didn’t know what to do and didn’t want to
hurt the boys’ feelings, so they just stood there silently and awkwardly. It
was at this point in the story that Mason pops up from the back seat and
shouts, “No way, Jose!” I thought I would wet myself. Mason’s got such comedic
timing.
Then, Kenzie proceeds to tell us the difficulties she
originally had in pronouncing Jose and Jesus’s names and we’re all in the floor
laughing, or would be, if we weren’t in the van.
At this point, we were driving past the Middle School and
headed toward the High School, when I see a teenage boy walking down the
sidewalk in shorts and no shirt. At that same time, Kenzie screams, “Oh wow!”
and I giggle to myself and think that it’s already starting.You know, the
awkward stage, between being a little kid and gawky preteen. Then, Kenzie
finishes her sentence with, “Somebody did a real good job painting the school
rock. That looks just like My Little Pony!” Crisis averted for now.
Then, Kenzie begins to wonder aloud about middle school and
what activities she’d like to try. She and I discuss football cheerleading as
an option. Her father is totally against her going out for cheerleading because
he says, “Cheerleaders are B’s and he doesn’t want one in his house.” This
frustrates me, but that’s another story for another post. Kenzie proceeds to
tell me that when they handed out the flyers for Midget Cheerleading, it confused
all of the girls, so their teacher had to explain to them that it wasn’t for
Little People, as is the politically correct term. This intrigued her brother
and Mason had to hear more. He didn’t understand what she was talking about, so
we both tried to make it easier for him by saying that Midget was just a level.
I said, “You know, like they have Pee Wee Sports, this is the same thing.”
Then, he appeared even more confused, as he repeated what he thought we’d said,
“Kiwi Sports? What’s that?” Then, of course, laughter enveloped the van and we
decided it would be safer to listen to the radio.
I have a dear friend from childhood, who just had twins, her
first children. Jodi, here’s what you’re in for my friend. Enjoy!
