Jeffrey and Eleanor never talk about what they do at school, at least not voluntarily. The most we can eke out of them is through very specific questions about something they find exciting. Recently we asked Jeffrey what games he plays with his friends at recess, and found that he and the other boys spend much of their playtime running away from a “Kissing Girl.”
A kissing girl! One of society’s oldest recess traditions! I was briefly a kissing girl in second grade, myself. It is oddly reassuring to know that this bizarre childhood game is still alive and well.
However, at other times Jeff or Ella will, all on their own, blurt out some random piece of information pertaining to a recent school lesson, leaving me rather mystified. Figuring out the context is everything.
Jeffrey: “Mom, I want to learn the kind of fighting that Kung Fu Panda does, only it’s not called ‘Kung Fu,’ but something else.” Source? A unit on Korea that included a video of Tae Kwon Do.
Since then, Jeff has been constantly talking about this martial art whose name he can never remember except as “Kung Fu but not Kung Fu.” Which sounds like some cockamamie “technique of no technique” that sprung from the universe of Mortal Kombat.
Eleanor: “Mom, another word for a cape is cloak.” Source? Reading “Little Red Riding Hood” in preschool.
Jeffrey (while cuddling on my lap): “Mom, can you feel me with your sensors?”
Uh . . .
“Yeah, like your tongue. Go ahead and taste me.”
Erm.
Source? Learning about the five senses as part of science class.
Casa Camisas 