And Then I Stepped in Gum . . .

Kinder-oke

Katie started swimming lessons last night.

-- Digression: Do I really have to wait until she's in her late 20s before she realizes that sometimes I do know what I'm talking about and I do know what's best for her? The proposal of swim lessons was met with tears and a tantrum and cries of "But I can't swim! I don't want to!" all because she took one set of lessons a year ago and didn't turn into Mark Spitz. (Whew, that probably dates me, huh?) And yet, after 20 minutes in the water, she came out grinning from ear to ear and crowing, "That was so much fun! I can't wait to come back tomorrow!" So, good, I'm glad she's happy about it now. I would have made her go anyway, because knowing how to swim is one of my things -- I wouldn't have backed off, the way I did with the Barnes & Noble American Girl event that made her cry last weekend. Her liking it makes it easier, though, and I'm glad of that, even as I wonder what I was thinking to sign her up for lessons from 6:30 to 7:00 every night for the next two weeks. End of digression. --

Anyway, as we're sitting on the bench waiting for the teenage teachers to figure out what they're doing and who's in what class, a little boy next to Katie starts kicking his feet and singing, "It's hard to believe...that I couldn't see...that you were always there beside me-ee." I chuckled to myself. This song is continually playing in our house -- and more to the point, in my head -- as a result of Katie and Ian's obsession with High School Musical. They sing into our microphone (Ian is a surprisingly good singer for a 3-year-old), Katie listens to it on her new MP3 player, they pretend they're the characters, they quote the lines. It's a true obsession. And the songs are relatively catchy, and harmless, so I let it go. I've been surprised how many of my friends with 7-year-olds are reporting similar happenings in their households. I tell you, Disney really hit its target market with this movie!

So the boy was singing, and I nudged Katie -- she was smiling too. And then she joined in on the duet, despite not even knowing this boy (whose name turned out to be Ian), and the two of them sang a whole verse together. And not under their breaths, actually out loud. It was absolutely adorable, and I wish I'd had my video camera with me. I wonder if I can talk them into an encore performance someday.

posted by Jennifer Morgan, at 1:08 PM