Sophia’s teacher told me the funniest story.

Evidently some prospective parents were touring the preschool today, and the teacher wanted to demonstrate how they talk about parents. (Or something. This part I’m not clear on.) So she asked, “Who here misses their mommy?”

Sophia answered loudly and proudly: “I don’t!”

Not quite the answer anyone was expecting. So then the teacher asked the kids, “Who here loves their mommy?”

Sophia thought about this for a few seconds and then shouted, “I do!”

(I’m supposing that all the children said “I do!” as well.)

The teacher explained to the parents that Sophia is a very independent soul.

The teacher said to me that Sophia is definitely one of the most independent and self-confident children she’s ever met, and she’s going to miss her a whole bunch when we leave.

Today I was drawing on the white board with Fia. In the absence of any requests—a long-time favorite was “Draw a baby sun!” as in the baby sun from “Teletubbies”—I drew some waves. Then I drew a boat on the waves.

Fia came over to inspect it. “Put Daddy. And Mommy. And Sophia.”

“Anybody else?”

This seemed to stump her.

“Simon?”

She nodded. “Put Simon.”

I dutifully drew all crew members on deck.

“Okay, now draw the shark underneath the boat.”

Hmmm. The…shark?

“The shark’s going to swim up to the boat and eat everyone up.”

I’m beginning to see why parents everywhere worry about what their kids seem to get into when the parents aren’t around. Where did she learn about sharks? That they swim under boats? That they eat the people on the boats?

Okay, maybe Sophia is a little smarter than I’ve given her credit for, and trust me: I’ve given her plenty of credit.

Coming home from dinner tonight, from the back seat we heard:

Hey guys
You know
Red means stop
And green means go!

My daughter, La Poète.