"You'll Never Guess What Kathryn Said Today!"

At 3-years-old, we enrolled Kathryn in pre-school. She loved it and it loved her. She walked into her classroom each day with an air of self-assuredness and regality that her teacher once remarked to me, "Look at her walk. She is going to change how people think about blondes. They will be respected and in charge."

But she was still her father's girl, and her apple didn't fall too far from my tree, so most days her teacher would greet me with a, "You'll never guess what Kathryn said today."

Then one day I go to pick her up and I notice that everyone, from the receptionist to the teachers of the other classrooms, is grinning at me as I walk down the corridor to Kathryn's room. A few try to hide their smile behind their hand, but most grin at me openly. Oh dear, I wondered, what did she say today?

"You should be aware," began Kathryn's teacher, "that Kathryn went up behind Ms. So-and-So today and poked her repeatedly on her bottom with her finger."

Phew, that wasn't so bad.

"Then she blurted out, 'My daddy pokes my mommy in the bo-bo!' and ran off giggling."

Let me explain. You see, there are a lot of smart-alecs in my family; we tease each other mercilessly. To avoid any hurt feelings, we long ago instituted the rule that the teasee has the right to poke the teaser repeatedly with his or her finger until the teasing stops or until retribution had been made. The system works very well for us, but it does mean that on most days there is an awful lot of poking going on in our house.

I could've explained the whole teasing/poking system to Kathryn's teacher, but it seemed too long and complicated. So instead I leaned in close and whispered to her, "We don't want to have any more children."

Comments

[AR]

Bugger if kids don't say the darndest things!

[Meg]

Oh that is too funny! Thank goodness someone is putting this all on record for when she grows up.

I found your site through Finslippy and I'm hooked. I'm currently giggling my way through your archives!