Love Hurts

Nobody told me that boy troubles started so early. I wasn’t prepared for this. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I know I’m raising a beauty queen, but I didn’t know the little boys would notice so early.

Over dinner the other night, Hubby and I were asking Pumpkin about her day, the answer to which usually includes an animated recitation of the names of everyone in her class and the occasional peal of hysterical laughter over a memory of someone putting something on their head during play time. Most of it is incomprehensible to us. This particular night, however, Pumpkin was communicating with the utmost of clarity. That is when she told us that she “hit Deucey head.”

Pumpkin and Deuce have a history. This is the same Deuce whose hair she had pulled when he went to play in “her corner” at play time, thus landing her in her first official “thinking chair” time-out.

Now, as you Pumpkin faithful will recall, we have had some issues with hitting recently, so we were dismayed to hear her confession. We were also a little surprised we weren’t told about it by the teachers. We asked all the clarifying questions to be sure we understood: “So, you hit Deuce” (she had); “Was Deuce mean to you” (he was). We gently explained that we don’t hit and that if Deuce is mean she should tell the teachers. Then we looked at each other with that wide-eyed, what in the heck do we do now expression that only young parents possess.

The next day at school Hubby asked the teachers about the confession. Apparently, if there was hitting, it was not so bad that Deuce cried or that Pumpkin got in trouble. But the teachers didn’t doubt that it happened because apparently Deuce is “an instigator.” So, it seemed, that Pumpkin wasn’t just telling a tall tale, she had, in fact, hit Deuce in the head.

Two days later, foolishly assuming the Deuce incident was long forgotten, I was driving Pumpkin to school when she started talking about hitting Deuce in the head again. I, once again, explained that we do not hit and that if Deuce is mean she should tell the teachers. She wouldn’t drop it. We were about 2 miles from the school – just exiting the interstate – when this conversation started. During the conversation she kept pointing at the black SUV in front of us as she explained to me that Deuce was mean to her and she was planning to hit him on the head again (or, “ah-geen”, if you will).

As I pull into the school, I realize that I have followed that black SUV from the interstate to the school. It isn’t until I get out of the car and she points squarely at the car and says “Deucey car” that I realize she thinks that we were following Deuce’s car to school. Then, as I peer into that car, I realize she KNEW we were following Deuce’s car. I was absolutely in shock. She has had her eye on this kid apparently. Her perceptiveness is almost scary.

Can it be that boys really start picking on girls they like this early? I know I have to get her past this hitting phase, but I take some secret satisfaction from the fact she isn’t letting anybody get the best of her! Apparently Deuce likes strong-willed girls. For now, the only boys Pumpkin better like are daddy, pop, and her uncles!