Our Conversation Piece

Jane and I went on a date a couple days ago, just me and her. We were in need of some one-on-one time.

It was up to Jane to choose the activity. After informing me she was hungry because they only had one snack at school, she declared that her activity of choice was to go to a restaurant with pancakes. Denny's it is.

Within forty-five minutes, I knew who was in what group as well as every hairstyle of every girl in Jane's preschool class--one braid, two braids, one ponytail, two ponytails, big ponytail, little ponytail, NO ponytails... And Jane used to be in the yellow group but now she's in the green group.

We also discussed the finer points of restaurant etiquette, including the necessary use of utensils as opposed to fingers, the importance of sucking through the straw instead of blowing through the straw, and the benefits of a napkin in the case of a messy face. But napkins aren't good if you have syrup on your hands, because they just rip and then your hands are dirtier with little pieces of paper stuck to them.

In the days before and after our date, we have had other equally interesting discussions.

Jane was asking what she can be when she grows up. I listed off several options and told her she can be whatever she wants to be--good parental encouragement, plant the seed to let her know she can grow up to be whatever she can dream up. She wasn't really getting that, though, so I just asked what she wants to be when she grows up. Her dream? 

"I want to be a person who wears bigger clothes."

Jane gave me an elaborate description of what happens when a girl is asleep. You are asleep, then a prince comes and wakes you up, then you can get married. I asked what story that came from.

"That's not a story, Mom. It's just a part of life."