this happened on the bus

Mr. Steve says in a hushed voice: "I need to talk to you."
My eyes get bigger and I lean into the bus stairwell: "Okay?"
Mr. Steve: "Lola and her boyfriend cannot sit together anymore [my stomach knots at this description of her friend Tucker, but i know its a convenience term], I've been told by other kids on the bus that they both had their pants down and were showing off their behinds at each other."
Me: [completely mortified that she might really have done this and that he is telling me about it] "Oh wonderful, another talk we need to have!" I really didn't know what to say, but felt I had to say something.

So the bus motors off, Lola and I start walking and I asker her about it: "So Lola, did you really pull your pants down in the bus?"
Lola: [not looking at me] "No."
Me: I repeat what Mr. Steve said. "So what happened?"
She then proceeded to mutter something about Tucker and Shayla, so I stopped her and asked again. She denied it.

In better news, she also got a 71 on her math test. She has a spelling test to prepare for on Friday, and now, an apology note to write to Mr. Steve.

Blankets

The typical weekend morning for Lola, wearing a new Hello Kitty robe our neighbor Robin gave her. Under her "comfort" with her well worn blanket and the chosen doll of the day at her side. She has a serious love affair going with her blankets; they are still often stuffed in her mouth with her chewing away on them. We have accepted the inevitable orthodontic intervention coming down the pike, but we aren't replacing the increasingly tattered remnants. So, due to sheer disintegration, she'll be forced to stop chewing them in another 10 years or so.

Recently we were on a trip to Petco and Lola asked me what her blankets say when she's away all day at school. I told her they say "Where is our big girl? We really miss her!"  Lola looked down at the blanket in her arms and said, "I love you blanket." and gave it a kiss.

New carriage

Christmas 2016 brought Lola a new, more maneuverable baby carriage and we took a walk around the block to break in the new wheels with Paddington under a comfy-cozy "comfort" (blanket).
My favorite part was conversing with Lola during the trip. We covered a bunch of important topics, for example, when Lola is a mommy she is going to have two children, a boy named Strawberry and a girl named Sally. We are always vigilant in watching out for oncoming traffic so I asked her what kind of car she wants when she grows up. Without hesitation she said a purple truck with white flames that we would all take turns driving around.  Here is a bit of video from the start of our walk.