February 14, 2010
Funny Kid Stuff
Let’s quickly acknowledge and then move past the fact that it’s been a month and a half since I posted. Even though I had the goal of posting more often. Actually, compared to the seven months that I went without posting last year, this IS more often! Progress! Yay! (By the way, another goal is to be kinder to myself, more gracious, and less demanding. So, this too is progress)
So, on to the point: Funny Kid Stuff. As I choose to see the good things, and the things that bring me joy, I realize that the kids at school are a big part of that. So a few stories …
Several weeks ago, I was trying very hard to keep the kids focused on eating at lunch time. And if you’ve ever tried to keep 120 kindergarten, first and second graders munching on school ravioli instead of talking to each other, you know what I’m up against. On this particular day, I decided that whichever table could stay quiet the best would get a prize. Amazingly, it was a kindergarten class that won. When I walked over to the table, Little Miss M says to me, “Miss Beth, what is the prize?!”
“Well,” I said, “it’s a maze. You trace through it with a pencil and try to find your way out.”
“Oh,” she replied, in a slightly puzzled and disappointed tone, “I thought it would be a My Little Pony with shiny long hair and when you open the head, there’s lip gloss inside!”
Before I can even begin to come up with a response, Little Mr. E across the table says to me, “Hey Miss Beth, guess what?”
Grateful for a distraction, I immediately ask, “What?”
“My dad has toe fungus.”
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In the last month, I have taken on yet another job at the school. In addition to finance work in the office, herding cherubs in the cafeteria, and selling them snacks, I am now also providing the before-school care on Thursday and Friday mornings from 6:30 to 8:30. This would probably be my favorite job, except for the whole arriving at 6:30 a.m. bit. I get to give the kids some individual attention, play games with them, and don’t really have to tell them what to do, because they are just there to play.
For the last couple weeks, jumping rope has been the bee’s knees. Especially for the kindergarteners. They are just learning, and I’ve decided there’s not many things I enjoy more than watching and helping a kid learn to do something new. Along the way, I try to sprinkle in important truths like “Everyone gets a second chance” when they all get two turns in a row jumping rope.
However, on this particular day, they had tired of jumping rope and were moving on to a different game, in which I wasn’t involved. From my observation, it consisted of Little Misses A, J, S, H, and K (all kindergarten) crawling around on the stage making noises I couldn’t quite identify. Finally, I asked Little Mr. B in first grade, “What do you think they’re playing?”
“Dogs,” he replied without hesitation. Then he cocked his head to the side and watched for a minute. “Actually,” he amended, “it’s Star Wars Dogs.”
YES! Yes, it was. Star Wars Dogs. Naturally.
Irene said,
February 14, 2010 at 10:38 pm
What, never played Star Wars Dogs before?
… me neither.
Although I have told preschoolers to go drink invisible milk like kittens and throw invisible balls so they could give me a 3 sec physical break.
… actually I wonder what a SWD sounds like. wookie, ewok, something else __, hmmm.