A kumquat for the teacher

N showed up at the front door this morning, ready to go to school, with his backpack on and a baggie full of kumquats in his hand.

"Ms. F loves kumquats!" he announced when I asked why he was carrying them. "I picked these for her."

We have a large kumquat bush...or maybe you'd call it a small kumquat tree...oh, let's just say we have lots of kumquats in our backyard. During Teacher Appreciation Week, the room mom came up with the idea of creating a fruit basket for Ms. F, with each child bringing in a different kind of fruit. I offered kumquats, because I thought they would make the basket look pretty. Turns out, Ms. F is one of the few people I know who actually EATS the little sour suckers. Who knew?

So, fast forward to today. N had apparently stored this information away. Then, this morning, he went into the drawer and got out a sandwich baggie and then went out into the backyard to pick about a dozen kumquats for his kindergarten teacher. All by himself. No one suggested it; no one helped him. It's just so NOT LIKE HIM. It's just so cute.

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Em's teacher, who is the fourth-grade's social studies teacher in general, put together a Gold Rush Day today for the entire grade. (Entire = two classes. Small school.) They're all wearing Western garb, and will be panning for gold and doing all sorts of fun things, and also eating beef stew and other pioneer-ish dishes, whatever those may be. All I know is I needed to provide a crockpot and some browned, cubed beef, and I did my job.

ANYway...Em got all dudded up this morning in jeans and a red shirt, and a red bandana tied around her neck, etc. She actually looked fairly authentic...if you ignored the bright green Converse high-tops on her feet, that is.

As we were walking toward school, I casually, jokingly, said to her, "Yeah, I know that of all the stuff they brought along with them, the gold miners were ESPECIALLY fond of their high-tops."

"I know!" she said, not skipping a beat. "They especially liked the way they kept the dirt and gold dust from getting into their shoes."

Gotta love a kid who gives as good as she gets.