On the first Monday after ten days off, the girls were happy to get back to school, my wife was happy to get back to work, and I found the house incredibly quiet.  The quiet was broken at the end of the first school day.  Both girls came home pretty wound up.  The first day back got them excited and then the rest of the week got them more excited.  It was the start of a new quarter, so they both had a new schedule of “specialist” (gym, music, and art) days, there was a jump of about thirty degrees in temperature, a new session of Future Scientists began for Dee Dee, and both girls had their first swimming lesson.  So, after ten days off, instead of getting back to normal, we started new and different things. New and different things that we have about nine weeks to get used to before we start something else new and different. 

On Tuesday after school, I asked Dee Dee if her teacher had talked about the after school programs.  She said, “He said who has after school” in a lazy, deadpan voice.  Dee Dee still gets words mixed around a bit, so I clarified, “He asked who had after school programs?”  Without making eye contact, Dee Dee repeated, “He said who has after school” in the same apathetic voice. I was still sure that she was telling me that the teacher asked a question.  But, in fact, she was using the words correctly, just not in a way that I was expecting to hear them.  After a few more frustrating minutes of Dee Dee not putting an ounce of effort into her answer, she finally looked at me and said again, a little louder, “He said who has after school” and then added, “at the end of each day to remind the kids who have after school.” Dee Dee is almost eight years old, and this was the first time that I ever got the feeling that she wasn’t interested in communicating with me. I assume that I’ll have to get used to that. Other than that conversation, Future Scientists went well.  

Over the course of the week, Audio brought home miscellaneous items from school that she reported that she found, was given by classmates, or given by staff.  There was a fish-shaped pencil eraser, a charm bracelet, and a clip on, safety light that joggers wear.  On Friday morning, I brought the items to school and gave them to Audio’s teacher and explained that the things might not belong to her.  The teacher smiled as she took the handful of treasures and said she’d look into where they came from and then give them back to Audio at the end of the day if they were really things that she was given or found.  At the end of the day, Audio didn’t have any of the things, and she wasn’t interested in talking about what happened to them.