Tres Cosas

I am finally starting to feel the fruit of my efforts in trying to wrangle information from the kids about their day at school. Somewhere in autumn I started demanding that they tell me 3 Things about their day before they could go on to eating a snack or playing. For a LONG time it was pretty much like pulling 3 teeth each, each afternoon. There were definitely days when I thought that whatever I was trying to accomplish was actually happening in reverse: the kids seemed more irritated with me than before. But today I was tired and sick and about to take a nap as Tom had just come home early for that purpose, so when the kids walked in the door and I said "Do you want to tell me your tres cosas first, Thomas?" If he'd balked even a little I would've left it to Tom and hit the hay. (We don't really have hay mattresses, for the record.) But Thomas looked up with those bright brown eyes and came really close to me and whispered "Christian wrote a note that said 'I love Jasmin. I love Jasmin' over and over. Everyone loves Jasmin except me and the other girls." Now THAT would never have come out before the instigation of the 3 Things! Next he told me that he'd had lunch with Ms. Lewis (the special ed teacher) and that she really liked the blondie he gave her. At this point my little devious boy said "Does that count for one?" He does this because sometimes he'll say just "I had P.E." and I'll ask him what he did. Originally he'd be silent or say he didn't know so I'd tell him it didn't count for one unless he told me more. But now he's gotten it down that he can get one thing in by making sure that the first part "counts". See his last one was that he and the other boy eating lunch with Ms. Lewis too were wondering about how to make peanut butter and they got the recipe off the internet, at which point he pulled out his copy from his backpack.
These 3 Cosas were not any different than any other day (sometimes they are much more exciting or funny) but I had a real sweet moment standing there, feeling so tired yet here was my un-talkative son sharing anecdotes about his day, with a smile on his face. Ah.
Then Tom said protectively, "To bed! Put in the earplugs! Get some sleep!" but I wanted to ask Tyra. She was in the bathroom, and is now old enough to need her privacy. But I asked her through the door and she cracked it enough to talk to me, like she couldn't wait to tell me her 3 Cosas too. First of all she said that in PE they learned that when it was time to serve then everyone moves down the line "Oh, you know how to rotate now?" After a nod she continued. And Ms. Carty kept telling us all the last few weeks to NOT GO UNDER THE NET, NEVER GO UNDER THE NET. Then today she told us to GO UNDER THE NET! After we got 6 points she told us to switch sides! (Tyra often tells of what the teachers do/say that surprise her. Thomas, not so much. Many times she'll say "Ms. Bastio was so crazy today...[she got up on the desks acting like a tornado, etc]) I love the school system. I think it would be hard to teach Tyra all the correct skills for volleyball without the other kids to play with her to enjoy her skills at the end!
Ok, and Tyra's other things were that they sang all their songs but the German one twice in chorus in preparation for their concert tomorrow night. and that Ms. Bastio said she's going to get fat from all the blondies Tyra brought her today with her card. See last week was teacher appreciation week and the teachers wrote up their favorites to help kids decide what to give her for a gift. For treats she said butterscotch and coconut, and since our new favorite family treat is blondies with butterscotch chips and coconut I decided to make her up a plate to go with a card from Tyra, and thought that this week would be better than last week, since maybe she'd feel all overwhelmed by too many gifts at once during teacher appreciation week. Same reason that if I send ANY birthday cards at all, they are always belated. Thoughtful me :)

Back to 3 Cosas. I hit the hay feeling rotten sick and tired in my head, but happy healthy in my heart :) My kids can tell me about their day. I understand that many kids do this voluntarily from their first day home from kindergarten, but for me, I am thrilled with the success finally. And I've even noticed a few times lately that when I say "How was your day?" instead of "Are you ready to tell me your 3 things?" that both Tyra and Thomas can actually answer, without prompting, beyond saying "Good"!

p.s. isn't Tom the best for coming home early for me to sleep? I never did that often before, but I really don't want to be sick when we go visit all his siblings in NC this weekend!