Not-So-Magic School Bus

I get some of LM's best quotes when we're in the car going to school every morning-- he's an incessant chatterbox first thing in the day. Unfortunately, that means I forget most of his best quotes. (Hey, it's dangerous to drive and write at the same time!) But this morning was a little different, because he repeated the same story (well, a version of it anyway) over and over and over and over....

See, last night he got locked in a school bus. His own fault, really. It was at hubby's school, and hubby was supposed to be "watching" the kiddos while I ran to an appointment. And in order to amuse themselves while I was gone, the kids decided to play a fun game of hide-and-seek-- and instead of hiding behind bushes and in classroom closets like normal children would do, mine took it up a notch.

LM saw the empty bus sitting in the parking lot and decided he'd like to check it out. So, he hopped on (don't ask me how he was able to get on the bus but not off). We're not sure how long he was trapped inside before one of the kids in the campus daycare spotted the little boy pounding on the bus windows for help, but long enough to make my fearless little boy begin to have some concerns about where he would be spending the night. Hubby ran outside and, sure enough, there was our son trapped inside a big, yellow prison. Hubby had to instruct LM on how to open one of the windows so he could crawl out. All in all, a very successful day of parenting for hubby.

So, back to this morning. LM was actually excited to go to school today (woohoo!) because he couldn't wait to tell his teacher about his fun adventure the night before. In fact, he wanted to practice by role-playing with me. And then practice again. And again. And again.... For the 1/2 hour round trip it takes for me to drop Ruby off at school and make the loop back for LM (the long way around) I got to hear him tell his version of the story. And it morphed.

LM: "Hey teacher, can I tell you something?"

Me: "Yep."

LM: "Last night I got locked in a school bus!"

Me: "Oh no! How did that happen?"

LM: "Oh, I'm just picky about hiding spots."

Me: "Ummmm...."

Ruby: (prompting in a whisper) "LM, tell her it was because we were playing hide-and-seek."

LM: "I was playing hide-and-seek!"

Me: "Where at?"

LM: "At my dad's school!"

Me: "Were you scared?"

LM: "I thought I was going to cry! But my dad got me out."

Me: "Bummer! I'm sure glad to see you're okay!"

And then it became something like this:

LM: "Hey teacher, can I tell you something?"

Me: "Yep."

LM: "Last night I was playing hide-and-seek, and I was picky about my hiding spot and I wanted to see the inside of a bus, so I got on and then couldn't get out!"

Me: "Oh my! Where was this?"

LM: "At my dad's school. And he had to show me how to crawl outta the window! I was really scared."

Me: "Oh, I'm glad you're okay!"

And eventually....

LM: "Hey teacher, I got locked in a bus because I'm picky and my dad had to open a window."

Me: "Huh?"

I'm estimating that I got to hear that story about 15 times in the car this morning. I wonder how many more times LM will tell it today, and at what point it will become completely incomprehensible...or worse.... "What? Your daddy locked you in a school bus last night??" Hmmmmm, perhaps I should send an email to his teacher later today to clarify.