And then she discovered the Sydneysaurus

So lately, Sydney hasn't bee too impressed with going to school. Kindergarten, she says, is "too long in the day." I tell her that kindergarten, at six hours, is the longest any school day will be for the rest of her life, until she chooses otherwise in college. So really, get used to it, because it won't get any worse. (She complains, but ultimately, is always in a good mood about arriving and when leaving her school, so while I empathize with her plight, I also know that she's making it worse for my benefit.)
I think though, I came up with a solid plan for getting through kindergarten while driving to school this morning.
The motivation: every paleontologist had to get through kindergarten. No one who didn't finish kindergarten has ever become a paleontologist. There's a path, you see, that goes from kindergarten to grade school, then to high school, then college. Then, paleontologist. And every paleontologist knows how to read, write and do math, so that's all very important. It was an incredibly persuasive argument.
I left out the four or five years of graduate school just because I didn't want to overwhelm her any more than I already had. She doesn't need to know that, at five years old, she has a good 23 years of schooling ahead of her if she really wants to become a paleontologist. But the thought got me curious, and I did a bit of Internet research tonight.
The top ten paleontology programs in the U.S. (in order), according to U.S. News and World Report: Yale, University of Chicago, Berkeley, Harvard, Michigan, U of Cincinnati, U of Kansas, Penn State, Ohio State, and Virginia Tech. There are some Ivy League schools there, so that's something to strive for: Harvard! Yale! Berkeley! Of course, along with that comes the tuition fees and such. The current yearly tuition for Yale's paleontology program is about $38,000. The University of Chicago's yearly tuition is $55,000. Wait. What?
Wow. While these schools do mention their generous scholarship programs, I can't help but think, DAMN. Time to start saving A LOT.

Tonight, Buddy is sitting on the painting frame above the sofa.