Off to a good start

Jenna has been in kindergarten for, oh, 2 weeks now--this is her third week. On the Friday before school started, Jenna and I went up to her school for the annual "Meet the Teacher" day. Actually, not so much a day, but an allotted 1 hour to get to take a nervous, non-social kid into a strange place and get her to "mingle" with a random woman who will take up 7 hours of everyday until the next summer. Sounds good, eh? So, we listen to the principal introduce the seven k-garten teachers, then we hear the spiel on how k-garten is so fun because they get to play with blocks! and read books! and color! and don't worry parents, because they're actually learning at the same time. Yeah. Okay. Then we all get to stand in this crowded hall in front of locked double doors to wait for the magic moment when the PTA member opens the door and we can all rush into the hallway and hunt down our kids' teacher/classroom. It was a lot like waiting to get into Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Without the candy. And with a lot of small children that looked like they were about to have diarreah on the freshly cleaned carpet.

The door finally opened, and we all piled into the hallway. Jenna and I just walked further and further down the hall, because Jenna was lucky enough to be assigned to a portable building outside. Yay. Portable buildings! It's like a trailer park on campus, minus the tornadoes and greasy men in wife beaters. We found Jenna's trailer and walked inside, wherein Jenna decided that this would be the perfect opportunity to glue her 40 pounds to my left leg. Her teacher approached us and asked, "What's your name?" I think Jenna growled. I answered for her: "This is Jenna."
"OH, Jenna! I remember you from my list!" No response.
"She's nervous," I say. The teacher squats down next to Jenna and sweetly asks, "Don't be nervous Jenna. Tell me, what are some of your favorite things?"
Jenna looked at her and answered, " Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens." Just kidding. She actually looked at her and whispered, "I like the 'Four big cats'." Her teacher smiled and replied, "Well, gues what? I have a big cat at home!" I thought it was a nice gesture--trying to bond with my kid. But let's not forget--Jenna's not typical. Jenna hears her, unattaches from my leg, gives her poor unassuming teacher this LOOK, and replies," Not DOMESTIC cats, the 'four BIG cats': Lions, tigers, leopards, and cheetahs. JEESH!" She delivered it in a tone that said, "You stupid, stupid woman! Don't you watch National Geographic??"

I just looked at the teacher and shrugged. Off to a good start, wouldn't you say?