I am in pretty good with Amelia’s teachers at the Montessori school, seeing as I’m there every day to nurse Amelia at lunchtime. I get all sorts of great stories about the cuteness that Amelia perpetrates at school while I’m off marketing my silly old construction company.

Two of the best ones, lately:

All the kids were outside with their teachers: Amelia’s class and the class older than hers. Miss Cortney, who is a younger teacher in Amelia’s class, was hula-hooping to show some of the older kids how it’s done. Well, Amelia thought that hula-hooping was just. utterly. hilarious. She started laughing, slapping her knees with her hands, and laughed so hard, that she leaned back, lost her balance, and fell over backward – still laughing uncontrollably. Even after Miss Cortney stopped with her crazy hula-hooping craziness, Amelia sat and periodically laughed to herself, as if she was remembering a funny joke. “Heh, hula hoops. Heh! Hilarious.”

Just yesterday, Amelia was one of only two kids in the classroom with Miss Cortney (the other morning teacher is on vacation in Columbia). When I finished nursing her, the other little boy was getting his lunch – black beans and avocado – so I put Amelia down in the other seat at the table and left. Miss Cortney told me today that Amelia was squealing and slapping her hands on the table so much, clearly enjoying herself but agitated, that Cortney thought to offer her some avocado as well. (It was avocado that I had brought from home.) So Amelia and L sat at the infant-sized table with their teacher, both eating avocado, and had a long conversation together. First Amelia would babble along, and then L would babble and gesture, and then Amelia would respond. They never spoke over each other, and seemed by all accounts to be discussing something quite entertaining. Needless to say, kids their age rarely hold conversations, so Cortney thought it was pretty remarkable, to say nothing of the adorable.

I’m aware I miss out on things when I leave Amelia at school, but it’s lovely to at least get regaled with the fun happenings rather than not knowing at all what she gets up to.