You ate what with what?

On Mondays and Thursdays, I’m driving to work when Becky and the boys are leaving school, so I call to see how everyone’s day went. Becky’s day went well; they always do. She’s the perfect fit for a “Playground Teacher.” I always talk to Finn next because I usually get the same thing from him every day also, and we only stay on for about a minute and a half.

And then comes Simon; Simon is the wild card. Some days, I get about nothing from him. My questions give me this information: School was good; he didn’t really learn anything new; recess was his favorite part; he ate lunch with his friends.

Then on other days, his mouth is running like a snitch trying to save his butt from jail. On these days, I don’t even get to ask my questions, before he hits me with, “Dad, guess what…,” and then it’s off.

I love these days because he’s so excited about what’s happening at school. One day recently, he told me how he was learning to write compound sentences–he even gave me a couple examples–and then he said, “Do you want to know what I had for lunch?” I told him I did, and he told me he had a hot dog, a banana, corn, and milk. Yucky. Still, he was telling me because he’s concerned about keeping his weight down for wrestling, and I acted impressed, even if it did want to make me throw up.

Once Becky got back on the phone, I said something about how the food combination he had for lunch was a bit gag-worthy, and she said, “That’s nothing; you should see some of the things these kids eat. Yesterday, there was a kid who was eating pancakes, yogurt, and green beans.”

Not knowing how the system works, I said, “What, do they just feed these kids what they have laying around that they need to get rid of?”

“No, there are choices. You get choices for the entree and then choices for the sides. Each kid chooses what goes on his or her tray.”

Now, I’m not going to say that’s a bad idea, and I know that I’m so old that how I put foods together is more important than it is to an elementary student, but if the system in any way has a kid eating pancakes, yogurt, and green beans, they might want to give it some thought.

And that’s it, just a little anecdote from our lives. I love my boys and my wife, and I so look forward to these calls, even when not much of anything gets said.

Be well, friends. We’ll talk soon.