"I didn't hit somebody today!"

That was A's exultant announcement when I picked her up from Kindercare a few days ago. My chest swelled with pride at the knowledge that my little buttercup had not clocked anyone on that particular day.

We've continued to struggle periodically with the hitting issue at school. The kid spent part of one afternoon perched on a chair in Miss Amber's office, reflecting on the rightness/wrongness of smacking one's friends. Miss Amber is the director at the center my daughter attends. On the way home in the car that day, I heard this from the back seat: "Miss Amber said I have nice hands!"

I looked at her in the rear view mirror. "Um, I'm pretty sure that Miss Amber meant that you should be nice with your hands. I don't think she was complimenting your hands. Though they are lovely."

To be honest, I'm fairly certain that in some of these incidents, my kid has been slugged first. However, I have to assume she is probably the aggressor in at least 50% of the incidents. We've had several stern-faced "discussions" with her, but we're not sure what else to do beyond that.

Other odd things my child has said to me this week:

"Mama! Gretchen licked my tongue! And I licked her tongue, too!" I'm just going to pretend that one didn't happen. :::Humming to myself while rocking back and forth:::

"I'm gonna be four on May 3rd. And I'm getting a car. A pink one." We were thinking in terms of getting her a "big girl" bike for her birthday, but a Chevy? Not so much.

"And you didn't even have to count to 5!" She's been saying this when she actually does something voluntarily. Normally, she waits until I've threatened the lives of her, her children, and her children's children. If I tell her I'm going to count to 5, she waits until I get to 4 3/4, then rolls her eyes, sighs deeply, and does whatever minuscule task I've required of her.

After passing some rambunctious children on a trampoline: "Mama, look at those kids on that . . . kid jumper." Then, glumly, "I sure wish I had a kid jumper."

Comments

Susie said…
Hold on. I am certain that I only gave birth to one kid almost 4 years ago, but I think our kids were separated at birth. The critterboy announced yesterday that he hadn't kicked or hit that day, followed by a request for candy. He, too, spends a lot of time in the office at daycare lately. Sigh. Maybe they can be on the same cell block in juvie someday!
April 3, 2009 at 7:34 PM
Sam said…
Someone in our neighborhood is a top Mary Kay salesperson and she drives the pink Mary Kay car! I see it all over the place. It says "Mary Kay" on the driver's side door. Not at all tacky. :-) I bet your kid would love it!
April 3, 2009 at 8:09 PM
Mary said…
You and A crack me up!;) Boy, she gets till 5 huh? My kids got till 3 or else!;)I have to agree, those "jumpers" are fun, my kids wore out 2 of them! Well, you might count all the neighbors in on that... But you also must be careful if two are on and not bump your kid as to have them fall wrong and break their arm.... ;)What a cute pic of A, she sure is growing up!
April 4, 2009 at 1:34 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's been a minute, but let's talk about my b*o*o*b*s

Image
I'm in the sixth grade. I'm sitting on the floor at my friend Sharon's house. Rachel is there, too. My well-meaning friends turn to me and gently let me know that I "really don't need to bother wearing a bra." They aren't wrong. I'm wearing one, but the situation doesn't particularly warrant it.  Two years later, I found myself sporting a C cup. My mom, a talented seamstress, made me a dress at about that time. It was a slim-fitting column dress with a matching jacket, as I recall. The white fabric had large polka dots; we jokingly called it the Wonder Bread dress. My mom took my measurements. 36-24-36 At some point in history, those numbers were considered "perfect measurements" for a woman. This was 1984; I'd like to think the world as a whole is less concerned about such things these days. I'm confident my daughter has no earthly idea what her measurements are. She just knows she's cute.  Growing up with a fun array of medi...
Read more

On Being Patriotic

The list of adjectives I assign to myself is pretty long: clumsy, organized, competent, uptight, etc. One that might surprise you: patriotic. I fully understand what it means to be an American and am darned happy about living here. But, I have a beef (that part won't surprise you). I've grown tired of certain segments of the population thinking that they've cornered the market on patriotism or that they can dictate precisely how the rest of us express ourselves when it comes to our shared country and flag. Sometimes it seems like the Toby-Keith-boot-in-yer-ass brand of patriotism drowns out the rest of us. For the record, I don't believe that patriotism requires a love of NASCAR, a disdain for immigrants, a Republican voting record, or a preference for country music. Nor does it require adherence to a specific religion. I've seen Facebook posts from some of my friends and acquaintances that call for all of us to return to the "Christian principles on which ...
Read more

14 Weeks

Image
My baby is leaving me in 14 weeks.  She and I started touring colleges in May of 2022. When I applied to colleges back in 1988, I was an English major so there were no auditions. Colleges basically just said, "Sounds good. Come on in." I was the first person in my immediate family to go to college and as a whole, I don't think we understood the importance of campus visits and such. I ended up being fairly miserable that first year until I transferred to a school closer to home. For my daughter, I wanted to make sure she had an opportunity to see lots of college campuses so that she had the best shot at figuring out what she wants out of the college experience. I wanted her to look at elements like campus size and location, diversity, activities, distance from home, and distance from the nearest "big city" (since performers often head to larger cities with active theatre scenes after college).  Last summer, we began the daunting process known as "getting int...
Read more