You Divide. I Choose. Finally!

This morning was monumental for me.  Oh, and for the girls. 

There was one piece of cheese left from the brick and Miss M put her claim on it.  Miss K said "I want some too."  (Probably because she heard us talking about it being the last one.)

Instead of taking it and cutting it in half, I said "Miss M, break it to share with your sister."  So she did... and more generously than normal.  It was a 25% / 75% split.  She held out the smaller half for Miss K and proudly offered "Here."

"But I don't WANT that. I want THAT."  (Duh.)  And the fight began.

So I said to Miss M, "Let her pick which one she wants. You divided it, you let her choose."

Guess which one Miss K picked. (Duh)

Since I intended it to be a learning experience and not just a lesson, I took the 25% and said "I'll take this one.  Miss M, you can divide the rest to share with Miss K.  But I'm telling you right now, she gets to pick which one she wants so keep that in mind while you're breaking it."

With complete concentration and precision, Miss M divided the cheese.  Until this point, I was not aware that a kindergartner had the ability to divide a piece of cheese so completely even that if both pieces were weighed they would be exactly the same.  Amazing.

Miss K glared at each piece but couldn't figure out which was bigger.  She finally just randomly picked one.  Neither child was happy but at least they weren't fighting or crying.  They were both just dumbfounded.

I have been waiting for this day for so long that I'm giddy.  While they each savored their non-victory, I told them "From now on whenever we share stuff, one of you will divide and the other gets to choose."

It's already obvious that they will learn quickly - Miss M looked at Miss K and grumbled "Next time you divide."

Some Things Just Backfire

I hate to say it, but we're going to need to lock Miss M in the house when she gets a little older.  When she started the Mommy & Me class when she was two, there was only one other girl in the class.  It was virtually all boys.  The preschool at three... she was the ONLY girl.  Then preschool at four... same thing.  Last year she had a few girls in her class but her favorite friends were boys.  She enjoys hanging around with the boys because that is what she's used to.

Now that she's in Kindergarten, we're hearing how she 'loves' a few certain boys.  Her teacher jokes that she's bossy to one of them - "Hurry up, Sam. Do this, Sam."  And Sam just shakes his head and does what she says.  They eat lunch together, they sit together on the bus.  They're dating, I swear.

Near the beginning of the school year, Miss M came home one day and claimed that "Sam tried to kiss me."  Oh, and she giggled.  I'm so not looking forward to the real dating years.  Anyway, DH says to her "You tell Sam that he can't kiss you until he buys you a ring."  He drilled it into her head - and Miss K's too. They both said okay.

I'm not sure whether to say "fortunately" or "unfortunately" but they've recited it to their classmates.  We know because their parents have told us... and they laughed.  And we laughed.

Until...

Miss M came home yesterday proudly showing off the ring that Sam gave her.

We never expected it to backfire on us... let alone this quickly.