Stars

Normally herding ten three year olds from one activity to another is about as much fun as trying to herd cats. A common situation is as follows. I announce it is time to clean up the toys on the table and go to circle time. Apparently those are fightin' words because chaos insues. Several children due remain at the table and assist in the cleaning process - major points to my sweet cleaners. One child promptly flees the area and finds something to hide under - generally the soft couch in the book corner. Another child watches the first child flee and hide and then decides it would be great fun to join him. Child number three wanders around the room, occasionally dumping a few odd toys on the floor. Child number four just starts to wander around the room. Children five and six rely upon us adults to assist them in getting to circle time, so they wait patiently for us to help them transition to the carpet. Children seven, eight, and nine generally do an excellent job of cleaning and then independently finding their chair on the carpet. Child ten will go sit in his chair at circle time but needs you to remind him several times along the way otherwise the lure of the toys he must pass is just...too..strong. Now that I write it out, herding cats is sounding easier. We are making steady improvements though, and the whole process only takes about 5 minutes now instead of the 10+ minute process this was at the beginning of the school year. I will not admit how many times I count to 3 in a day though (i.e. Do you need my help or can you do it yourself? 1, 2, 3. Okay, I will help you do it.). So on Thursday my assistant squashed her foot under the wheelchair lift of a schoolbus and so she needed to be out of the room for a while. I was faced with the above ritual without reinforcements or backup. Oh crap!! However it went nothing like the above play-by-play. Children one through three assisted in cleaning up and then promptly went and sat in their chairs at circle time. Children seven through ten helped clean and actually carried the containers of toys to the shelves to put them away before sitting in their chairs at circle time. Children five and six waited patiently until I assisted them to their chairs and setled into their chairs at circle time without protest. Child number four, who has never responded to our classroom routine without numerous prompts, walked over to the group at circle time and stood in front of a chair!! Yes, I have the world's best children!! They are amazing, wonderful, awesome little ones who knew that I desperately needed them to pull out their best of the best behavior because I had the odds so stacked against me. Just to continue to show off they sat at circle time without complaint and participated to the top of their performance for 20 minutes!!! WOW! After 20 minutes a relief pitcher came and we left circle time to make really cool scarecrows. I don't mind the little behavior stuff (although the running away when I make a request is getting some serious intervention) as long as I know that they can pull out the best behavior when I really need them to do so. It would be unreasonable to expect near-perfect behavior from three year olds on a daily basis - and it would be a little freaky too! I was amazed, thankful, and impressed but most of all so incredibly proud of my little ones. They are Stars!

Choices

I have never cared much for politics, which is ironic since I find myself far too close to the nation's capitol for my own comfort. While I fully understand and appreciate the incredible blessings of living in a country that is a democracy, the intricate workings of said government are as interesting to me as watching cogs spin endlessly on an antiquated piece of machinery in a museum. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I have never been good at lying, and that my negotiating skills leave a lot to be desired (I am a horrid bluff and tend to throw all my cards on the table much to soon)and politics is lying, bluffing, negotiating, and fakery. However, having to face the grown up world without the cushion of mommy and daddy to catch me and without the relative innocence of self-imposed invincibility has knocked some politics into my cobwebbed head. One area is education, which is a debate that I will jump into another day when I have my boots on and see a nice mud puddle. Another is health care. I am used to being poor, with various levels of poor fluctuating as I grew up. I am used to working incredibly hard to succeed and to give everything I have to the things I hold dear. I am not used to having to choose between medication and groceries. I am not used to having to choose which of my medications to take for the next two weeks because I can not afford to pay for all of them. I am not used to deciding my medical care based not on my health and the incredible balancing act it takes to keep me alive and functioning, but based on access to the things that I need most. This is not an issue of having medical insurance because I have insurance from a "good company" and I work a full time, respectable job. It is an issue of what it means to have chronic, life threatening illnesses in a time and place where the cost of living is high and medical care higher. I prioritize my medications when I refill them - critical for life, critical for functioning, required, and not causing immediate danger if skipped. For example my heart medication is critical for life because if I slip into v-tach and fail to reconvert then there is no need to worry about paying for anything else. My thyroid medication is not immediately dangerous because, while life sucks when you are in a hypothyroid state, it is unlikely to kill me within a few weeks. My blood thinners are critical for life - I really do not want to repeat the stroke event - but I am creative with how I add up pills and portions of pills to get to the necessary dose. My medication for insulin resistance and polycystic ovarian syndrome is not critical for life because I have always had normal blood sugars and the symptoms of the POS are annoying but not fatal. I choose which doctors I see based on who can cover the most symptoms and what seems to be the area with the mst malfunctions. I am seriously overdue for cardiology and neurology, and if I confessed to my rheumatologist how long it has been since my last eye exam he would probably withhold my medication until I completed the exam or otherwise make the exam required. Yet I can only afford so many appointments each month and I have to be cost effective. These are the choices that I should not have to make living in America, working full time, with insurance. These are the choices that no one should ever have to make. I had better health coverage when I was on medicaid - why should I feel like I am gambling my health because I choose to work incredibly hard, to sacrifice so much in order to give instead of just take, to follow my dream instead of continuing to allow others to be responsible for me? I may not have the most eloquent words to express the desperation, but when did medical care become a privilege instead of a basic right of humanity? When did the worth of my life, as measured by the care given to sustain it, become equal to the worth of my checking account?

Happy Halloween!

I officially have the cutest kids in the world in my class! We had spiderman, superman, a witch, a purple people eater (the best costume ever) and a little mermaid as well as a firefighter and a cheerleader (who was also the witch - long story). The party was total chaos - partially because the kids were wild from the break in routine and the access to the ball pit (this is why it is only made available like three times a year) and partially because I felt like total crap. However, we still had a lot of fun! I think when you are three the combination of costumes, face painting, ball pit, cookie decorating, and cupcakes is pretty darn exciting! I then sent them on their merry little way home hopped up on sugar and way overstimulated from a day of "No Routine!!" and "Anything We Want TO Do!!". Oh yeah, tomorrow is back to schedules, schedules, schedules and rules. Sorry kids, party's over. :) Our November party is much tamer (think feast not party) and in December it is a "snow Ball" not an all out party. Still fun though. And so much easier to plan!! Oh, and I got many compliments on my funky looking Raggedy Ann self and a few laughs which is kind of what i was going for. And the best reactions were driving to and from work today in full costume - wig and all! Now I am hiding from the few trick-or-treaters where I live because I was too cheap to buy candy after putting together treat bags for 10 kids at school ... shame on me!! Good thing I don't have a pumpkin for them to smash! :) Happy Halloween!!

What Have I Done?

I have officially jumped off of the bridge of sanity and am falling head first into the abyss of the insane. Wednesday is Halloween, perhaps one of the most enjoyable not-really-a-holiday-holidays to celebrate with preschoolers. Nothing is cuter than three year olds dressed up in costumes and filled from toes to eye brows with excitement about the fact that, while they may not understand what on earth this is about, they know something fun is going to happen. However, nothing is more stressful than a classroom full of parents expecting you to not only show off your wonderful abilities as a teacher but to entertain them and their children for an hour with creative and enthralling activities. And what did I do for Halloween? I invited the parents of all 10 of my little ones to an hour long party! Oh what have I done! They are expecting crafts, games, activities, entertainment, fun and a demonstration of the wonderful world of preschool. Is it too late to hire a substitute? Anybody instersted? Don't all come running at once! So far I have suckered...um, convinced...um, my very nice friend and the parent of one of my little ones has volunteered (okay, so I asked politely but offerd plenty of opportunities for her to say no) to do face painting for the kids. We also have treats to decorate with frosting and Holloween candies/sprinkles. I plan on setting up our ball pit with its four bags of balls which means a lot of work (cleaning all of the balls before and afterwards - dratted MRSA infection marching through our district) but should be entertaining and I can set my assistant up to play referee to limit the injuries. If I am desperate I can set the swing up - but only BEFORE we eat our endless sweets that parents are providing (I am so not catching any vomit on Halloween - that's what the parents are there for!). I have some games we can play for prizes - toddler basketball, bowling for ghosts (pop cans covered with white tissue paper). That sounds like a party to me. Besides, they are three years old. I think a few balloons and the ball pit would be enough to entertain them. As for the parents - they are always welcome but in large numbers I still get nervous like I have to put on a song and dance or something. Maybe that will go away as I teach more years...or I will learn to sing and dance. :) And performing while in costume - bonus! Yes, I will be the dork dressed as Raggedy Ann! Try finding a costume that is preschool appropriate, not scary, not trampy, readily washable, and that will not become indecent while doing preschool acrobatics (i.e. chasing a child down the hall, helping a child on the playground, circle time). Its even harder when anything with a wig, mask, or face paint is scary as is anything too "not normal" (i.e. the teacher dressed as a cow is going to scare the crap out of my kids - should be fun!). I really enjoy having parents come in the classroom, and I enjoy our parties, but it stresses me out so much beforehand. Especially this year when I have taken on extra students, when my assistant leaves (a lot) to be desired, and I still feel like I am chasing myself in circles. I think it will be lots of fun, but right now I am wondering what on earth have I done????

Running of the Preschoolers

Forty days and forty nights has never seemed like quite such a torturous sentence until now. It has rained non-stop for most of this week which means that at school we have been inside almost all week. Three year olds are not generally happy with the notion of being confined, especially when there is an attractive playground visible from the classroom windows that beckons to them regardless of the sheets of rain pelting the windows relentlessly. So after days of entertaining them with other options - extra play time, bubbles, balls, and I can only imagine what the substitutes used yesterday (that was not covered in my lesson plans)- I finally relented to riding our tricycles in the hallway. This seems harmless as the hallway is a giant circle with only two points of escape (one door to the outside and one entrance point to the main hallway) but there are several classrooms along the hallway that are not selfcontained classrooms for children with special needs. And three year olds riding tricycles do not understand the concept of an indoor voice. Trust me on that one. We can keep our indoor voices up until the point that our feet hit the pedals and then it explodes no matter how hard we try. Also, our ability to steer is not fully developed and so we might occasionally ride into a classroom door or wall at full speed. I am quite sure that the other teachers just love me! It is a redeeming quality that we are rather cute and it is hard to resist a three year old on a tricycle laughing and waving (as they just miss the wall). So today we braved the tricycles and I am forever thankful there was no video camera available. The running of the preschoolers is not a moment of a teacher's life that she wants recorded for the world to see, especially when it involves dodging ankle crashes and rescuing wall smashers while pushing a rider in training on an adapted tricycle at full speed. Oh the glamour would be overwhelming and cause such weeping by jealous supermodels that it simply must remain a secret forever! It is fun, but there is no way to look anything but rediculous while dodging tricycles, rescuing stranded children who are flailing with no success trying to escape the clutches of a wall, and running circles around a hallway pushing a tricycle that looks like it could double as a torture device. But we had a good 20 minutes of fun, we worked on motor goals, and I got a free workout! Bonus points for that! I felt slightly like a NASCAR driver though only making left turns - next time we go right around the hall so I can unwind myself! And I need to invest in steel toed, high ankle boots... or learn to run faster.

Things I have Lost

I am used to being incredibly organized, or at least organized enough to know exactly where everything is in the piles. For some reason over the past few months I have become scatterbrained to a new extreme. It seems like my brain has become a sive and most things enter and then drip out before they can be officially processed. This is not good! Below is a short list of things I have managed to lose recently.

* a pack of gum
* a pair of shoes (they are here somewhere...)
* a stack of papers
* a CD
* my keys several times, but I have found them each time (Thank you God!!)
* picture symbols
* more pens than I could count
* notes to myself about things not to forget
* for a few weeks I lost my planner
* my mind

My Hands Are Overflowing

There are some times when your instincts kick in that you are very thankful - swerving to avoid an object in the road, ducking as a ball comes flying at your head. Then there are times when you act on instinct and then regret your actions. There is a short background necessary to this story to fully appreciate it. Apparently God has a wicked sense of humor. My greatest phobia in all of creation is vomiting. I would literally go to a hotel when my mother got the stomach flu. So God, in his infinite wisdom and with his sense of humor, has blessed me with beautiful children in my class who are proficient at what? Any guesses? Yep, vomiting. Last year it was such a common occurrence we had blue buckets stationed around the classroom to catch it. Nice. In summer school a child vomited on my feet. Thanks. So tonight I am babysitting for my blue eyed boy, who has done his share of vomiting at school. He has to keep up with his peers you know. He was complaining a bit this evening as we watched his choice of movies and so I was letting him sit on my lap. Any guesses what beautiful boy did? It is obvious. What is not obvious (or might be by the title of this post) is how I reacted. In an act of pure instinct, and in direct imitation of something that two days ago I swore I would never do, I stuck my hands under his mouth and caught it. Um, nasty does not even begin to cover it. He seemed satisfied with himself and I had a nice handful of his dinner. I deposited it on his sheet on the floor and positioned him so that any more returns would land on his sheet and not on me. After making sure that he was done with his review of dinner I cleaned him up (easy, I wiped his mouth), folded the sheet, and ran to wash my hands. I think after that I have earned some kind of bravery medal. Who would ever expect such cute creatures to be so disgusting? :) And who knew I could catch so well with my bare hands?