Everyday after school I try to ask very specific questions to the kids. If I simply ask "How was your day", I get "Fine." as a response. "What did you do today?" "I don't know. Nothing." So I try to be specific in my requests for information. The first day of school I asked the kids for the names of two kids in their class who were NOT in their class last year. It made them think of names that weren't their most familiar names and was a successful question. Day two, after a full day including lunch at school I asked Isaac what he had for lunch. "Oh, I had milk,....*pause*....salad, and bread & butter." I responded, "That's it?" That was it. "Chloe, what did YOU have for lunch today?" She replied, "Mac &Cheese, cheesy broccoli, bread & butter, fruit, milk, and salad. I took EVERYTHING." Upon hearing her answer a lot went through my mind, and I slowly put the puzzle together.
At Holy Family they are allowed to graciously say "No thank you." to any item offered at lunch, including the main course. To make sure kids get enough to eat+ they must take three items for their plate and milk counts as an item. There is always lettuce salad as an option and my kids are great salad eaters. In prepping Isaac for school lunches we had always told him these things. You need to take three things, milk counts as a choice, and if you don't like what is at the counter then you can get salad when you get in the lunch room." Well, it kind of hit me that he thought he could ONLY take three things, milk included, and he knew he would want salad so he turned everything else down! Poor kid! What kind of lunch is this?!? After clarifying my intended message to him about number of items on his plate he was pretty quiet. If it had been information he already knew he would have said, "MOM, I KNOW!" Since I didn't get that response I knew his wheels were turning. The next day he reported "I took a LOT more stuff today!" Whew!
On Monday I asked the kids "What did you do today that you have not done your other days of school?" Isaac excitedly shouted "I had computer class today mom!" "Great! Was it fun?" I asked. He said, "Well, ya, but I didn't get to play very long because my computer was not working right." I responded with "Oh, that's too bad! Was it just your computer that was having a hard time or was it everyone in the class?" His answer was priceless: "No, just mine. And well, Blaise's too. Blaise was next to me. *pause* *pause* BUT, I did figure out that I was wearing Blaise's headphones and Blaise was wearing mine!" Yep. That would be a problem! Silly boy.
I love this age and his enthusiasm! Chloe has always been so confident and matter-of-fact about everything that Isaac's little bits of drama make me smile. He is such a light-hearted boy and I love him to pieces.
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