Babyhood

Last Monday I had to send Pauline to school (maternelle) with some apples and Méemée’s old hand-operated mouli, as the planned activity was for the children to make stewed apple purée. She had a great time and told us all about how she turned the handle of the mouli and she said she ate some and it tasted good (she never eats it at home of course).

At dinner one day she suddenly started reciting a little story with finger actions which I had already seen the teacher do one day. With her left hand in a fist and thumb tucked inside, she knocked on it with her right hand, saying “Toc toc toc! Monsieur Pouce, es-tu là?” in a high-pitched voice. Then “NON, JE DORS!”, in a loud, growly voice. Then she threw her arms wide and growled, to scare us. That’s all she can remember for now, but the story carries on from there, using gentle persuasion and finally Mr Pouce does emerge in a good mood.

She does another one where she claps her two hands together and then folds them into bird or butterfly wings, which fly away. It’s utterly charming, so I hope to catch on her video one day.

Kevin continues to say little about school! He does however mention all playground incidents where someone bumps into him or “hurts” him! Pauline usually chips in with “Oui, moi aussi”!