Company's Coming!

I love people, people of all ages.  And kids are some of the best people I know, because their minds are still open. 

We "adults" can learn a lot from kids, if only we would listen to them.  Here's my latest reminder:

The other day, a lady came to our house to do some work.  She was in a jam, though: school is out and she had no one to watch her nine-year old daughter, and would I mind if she just hung around the house?  Well of course not, I said.  Peggy was about to leave for her art class and my only plans for the morning consisted of working the Jumble© ("That Scrambled Word Game.")

So we got Victoria a granola bar and a bottle of water and asked what channel she liked to watch.  Big surprise!  I would have thought she'd say, "Turner Classic Movies," but no.  We went right to Disney Channel and settled in for a morning of conversation, mixed in with the comedy of "Liv & Maddie," "Austin & Ally," "Phineas and Ferb" and a movie about a little girl who was a good baker and moved to Paris for a while and then came home to win $100,000 in a baking contest. 

Those who spend a lot of time with fourth graders already know this, but they have a special muscle in their vocal mechanism that allows them to talk for four hours straight without getting a sore throat, or even needing to breathe.  I know now that the same woman plays both Liv AND Maddie, that Austin shouldn't be jealous of Elliott, and that Phineas and Ferb are both supposed to be humans, even with their oddly-shaped heads.

And I learned that the little girl baker probably doesn't make her own dough for the scones, but she's a good actor so it looks like she does.  And, from the Real Life Adventures of a Real Live Soon-To-Be Fifth Grader, I know now that if you get confused about Math and get a D, the teacher will work with you so you understand the numbers and you can get straight A's, just like Victoria did.  And I learned that although she feels she is too young to date (!) there are six boys who "like" her but don't "like like" her.  I think they are all named "Aaron," except for one whose real name brought him the unfortunate nickname "Fruity Pebbles."  She ranked them in order of how much they liked her and how much she would like them if she did.

Ms Victoria enjoyed playing with the cats, and I have to tell you, Eddie and Deanna, who are normally napping from 9 am until noon to be ready for their afternoon nap (noon - 3 pm) were just great with her! Victoria loved the cats so much!  She tossed balls to them, she blew bubbles on them, she dangled their fish-on-a-string toy off their noses, she chased them up and down the stairs, she gave them their treats...and good cats that they are, they played their parts, never snapped or acted bothered, and enjoyed the attention.

Hoping for more company soon!

The time Peggy got back and Victoria's mom was finished her work, I was sad to see my time with a soon-to-be fifth grader come to an end.  But she finished her water, gobbled another granola bar, and bounded off with her mom to more fun in a world where bright colors and vivid music
live vibrantly and long division is the biggest hassle and little girls with their hair done up in little curls with bobby pins are some of the sweetest people on earth.