Table Talk

“So, tell me about your day,” I usually begin. 

Inevitably, my initial maneuvers do not produce much chatter, leaving me to follow up with one of the many other questions I keep handy like the shiny, steel tools of a dentist.  I am prepped to pull teeth at a moment’s notice. 

What was the best part of your day today? Your least favorite part?

Did you ask any questions today?

What did you write about in writers’ workshop today?

Who did you play with on the playground?

How was tumbling?

What books did your teacher read to you?

How did you and [insert other half of recently unstable friendship] get along today?

Who did you sit next to at lunch?

On most evenings, I’ve usually cracked the safe after one or two questions.  In fact, I often need to regroup and try to reel their focus back to the meal. 

This evening, BigGirl’s topic of daily review focused around boys.  (Like mother, like daughter!) 

For a few months now, I’ve silently suspected that Boy #1 has a bit of a puppy crush on my girl.  This is, of course, based in part on tales of playful teasing I’ve heard, but also on a few exchanges I’ve witnessed from across the room or playground.  My girl rolls her eyes as she tells all about how he always sits next to her and has given her his own little nickname for her.  I happen to believe he’s pulling her pigtails…if you know what I mean.

Boy #2 is new on the scene.  I don’t know him, and I’m really pulling out all the stops to get any good leads on him…but by the sound of the preliminary intelligence I’ve gathered thus far, he too “could be a contender”.

 

Chiming in from the other side of the table, BabyGirl eagerly spent her precious “turn to talk” stringing together a long, drawn-out tale that could captivate the attention of a herd of cats.  Tonight she told us all about playing on a bouncy house inside the gymnasium (“because it was too cold and windy to go out on the playground, Ms. Teacher said”) until the real live horse that was at her school ran away, but – luckily for us – the baby horse (Yeah, you didn’t know there was a baby horse, did ya?) stayed…well, that is, until Bad Boy in her class called it a poo-poo face and Ms. Teacher told the boys and girls a story about a baby alligator.  “But, last night, when I was born, I read that book before,” she finally concluded.

Perplexed?  So are we.  Every. Single. Time.

 

Regardless of believability (or even coherence) of their dinner table tales, I love listening to their little memories (and fantasies) of the day.

Oh, and the sweetest part?  Many nights, after BigGirl’s rattled on and on about her daily dose of drama for a while, she gets a little quiet before cheerily looking across the table at me and saying, “So, Mommy.  How was your day?”