Month: January 2008

Yesterday I was working at the preschool again. We were in the gym* playing. There were two new little girls**, so I was trying to get them to play with the other kids and make friends. One little girl that I happen to be playing with***, Girl Z 2 yrs, was playing on the indoor slide. She was mid-ladder when Girl T****, 4 yrs, comes up and sniffs her tookus*****.

Also, on Tuesday when I was at the preschool, I went into the bathroom with only one toilet******. A woman followed me in. And only when I gave her a suspicious look did she state that all she wanted was tissue*******.

*I keep hearing of this global warming thing, and I have to say I am not a believer; as far as I can tell it keeps getting colder and colder, not to mention that we have had more snow this winter than we had in the last few

**I was on the Infant/Toddler side today

***She is not one of the new kids

****This is the same girl that when I asked her a year ago how her new baby sister is doing, told me that “she cries a lot” and “drinks milk from mommy’s breasts”

*****By “tookus” I mean butt

******This bathroom is kind of hidden away and only if you have been told by someone that it exists and is a bathroom do you know it is there; I have yet to find any indicators outside the room that it is a restroom. I started using this building in 1999, and only a month ago was told of this restroom!

*******What functional adult just walks into a bathroom after a stranger, knowing that there is only one toilet. And why on Earth could she not have waited a couple min, or gone to the other larger restroom only 20 feet away, or have said something out loud before I went in asking to sneak in for tissue?

Yesterday I was at the preschool, here are some highlights.

Girl T, 3yrs called after Girl EJ, 4yrs: EJ do not walk away from me! (For some reason I sense a pattern for future relationships…)

Boy LM, 3yrs playing in the gym (well bellow freezing could not take kids outside) was trying to use the Little Tykes Fire Truck. He is only three, but is the size of a five year old, in any case, too big. So as he is “driving” it around the room, his head is sticking out the windshield opening.

I feel bad because one of the little girls wasn’t watching where she was going and ran into the door as we were leaving the gym.

Same Boy L was coloring during nap time because he refused to sleep, he got up and put papers in his cubby. I asked if he was done coloring, he said yes, I told him that he needs to stay at the table because other kids are still sleeping. He told me, “I’m full.” I told him that was ok, but that he still needs to sit at the table.

While I was there, I was asked to come in four more days. Today was one of them, here are today’s notes:

*Back story, Mr S went on a cruise for Christmas Break. On said cruise they stopped on many islands. He brought back a treasure map, and was showing the kids during morning meeting. He asked, “What does ‘loot’ mean?”

Boy J, age 4: It’s a fff-lute

Boy Y, age 4: Mr S, can I come to your house one time?

Mr S: Maybe. (translation: not unless your parents pay me to let them stop by, because while I love kids at work, home is my free time.)

They all sit in a “circle” for morning meeting. Girl S, 4 yrs, for some reason had her boots off, I think she was playing dress up wiht other shoes. Girl A, 3 yrs, was sitting there smelling the boots. During free play she was coloring with rolling markers, and kept smelling them. I asked her why she was smelling them, and she said it is “because they stink.” OK then.

At the end of morning meeting Mr S asks the kids to answer a question before they can get up, and they answer in the order their names are drawn. Today’s question (answers are as given):

Mr S: What did you do on vacation?

Boy D, age 4: I got a haircut

Girl M, age 4: Swimmed in a pool (in Mexico!)

Girl A: My daddy put me under the water (I hope they were swimming, but I didn’t get a back story on this)

Boy S, 4 yrs: Put my clothes on (no, he of course couldn’t tell about his trip to Florida’s Disney World where he saw Peter Pan!)

Boy LB, 4 yrs: Went to Disney Land

Girl T, 3 yrs: I went to Myrtle Beach

Boy N, 4yrs: I didn’t have vacation (he had the same break the rest of the kids had, and he got new glasses)

Mr S brought back a small steel drum. It is pretty cool, and has the notes written on it so you can play, it has 8 notes. I sat with one of the children who was playing it and the kid got bored and went to play something else. So, I tried it out. It is pretty cool. Girl A came over and told me that it isn’t for me to play with , only her. Mr S heard that and gave the 5 or so kids around us a lecture about how he brought it for the school and everybody can use it. All the other children seemed to understand the concept. She was devastated that it wasn’t for her alone. She sat there and played for a few more minutes and then was just holding the sticks so I asked if I could play her a song. She said, “It’s not for you.” I said, “Excuse you, what did Mr S say?” She shrugged her sholders and then said that I am too big. Girl R, 5yrs, told her, “It is for every body.” A said, “Yeah, they would say, ‘Share A, share.’ And they say my hair has to be pretty.”

Because it is too stinking cold outside, we took the kids to the gym again.  Three little boys had different balls trying to play basketball.  Boy A, 5yrs (and who dressed as Cinderella everyday last year) had a dodge ball, Boy L, age 4 had a volley ball, and Boy J, 5 yrs had a soccer ball.  The soccer ball was the first to make a basket.  For the next 10 minutes the three of them fought over who gets to use the soccer ball.

During gym time, Girl A came up to me on the bench, and asked if she can sit with me.  I told her she may.   She hopped off the trike she was riding and said, “No one can use this.”  My reply, “If you are not using it, then other people can.”  She got right back on and rode off.

As we were lining kids up to go back to the classroom, Boy S asked if I would Be his walking partner.  I told him I would and then he told me that I am his best friend.  He proceeded to make me play Ring-around-the rosies.

While they were all sitting on the floor singing songs till we let them go to the lunch tables, Mr S asked for a body part for the song:

Boy LM: Shelf

Mr S: Is that a body part?

LM:   A book shelf

S:   Is that a part of my body?

LM:  Ok, underwear (Mr S decided not to argue that one)

While sitting at my table for lunch waiting for the kids to fill it up, Girl EH, 4 years)  said, “My dad is an electrician.  Sometimes he works late, he has meetings.”  There was no talk of parents or work, so I am not sure why she said this, especially when we know that her dad is a farmer.

After lunch we read books with the kids before they take a nap.  Today I wass introduced to a great book.  Maisy’s Pool by Lucy Cousins.   The Maisy books are pretty entertaining.  However I find this one in particular, funny on multiple levels.  “Maisy and Tallulah are feeling hot.”  But, don’t take my word for it!