Gratuitous Domestic Posting (TM)

Here's a funny thing.

I don't recall if I mentioned it previously, but the eldest Llama-ette is actually in the Missus' class at St. Marie of the Blessed Educational Method. It's a fairly large class - the Missus has a co-teacher and an assistant - so their interaction is not constant, but it was made very clear to the gel at the beginning of the year that in order for this to work out, the two of them would have to maintain a strictly professional relationship. No favoritism, and the Llama-ette was to address the Missus as "Mrs. LL" during school time.

Things have gone pretty smoothly so far, but I noticed again last evening a very curious thing. While the Llama-ette usually will refer to "Mom" when talking to me about the Missus, as soon as the subject gets to school matters, she'll often switch over to using "Mrs. LL", apparently without even being aware of it. She even did it one time in the same sentence: "Mom gave me apple sauce for lunch today, but when I got to Mrs. LL's class, I traded it."

I find this quite interesting. When I was in second grade, I couldn't imagine my teacher Mrs. Boxwell having any kind of existence outside of school because I never saw her anywhere else. To me, she was as much a part of the physical plant as the chairs, desks and blackboards. Obviously, this isn't the case with the Llama-ette, since she is with the Missus both at school and at home. But evidently, the gel is still able to compartmentalize and, if you will, to see the Missus as two different people, or at least as one person wearing two different hats.

(Oh, on a side note, it's odd that I would be hard pressed to name more than about half of my college professors, but can still remember the names of every one of my elementary school home room teachers and most of the others as well. Does this say something about youth imprinting? Or is it a testimony to my collegiate study habits?)