Author: Marcia

Today I was at the preschool again, which means I had a fun day. Here are some fun things I heard from the young’ins.

For sharing time:

Boy S-Age 4: (Standing with his hand in his pocket) It is a mystery, you have to guess what I have.

Child 1: Is it a rock?

S: No.

Child 2: Can you eat it?

S: Yes.

Child 3: Is it a hotdog?

S: No.

Child 4: Is it broccoli?

S: Yes! It is broccoli that looks like a ninja. (Takes hand out of his pocket and opens it to reveal his imagination, and proceeds to show the rest of the kids one by one his hand. Most of the kids play along)

Boy A-age 4: Rolls his eyes while saying “Cool” very unenthusiastically.

Girl R-almost 5: (Feeling the need to make him realize it isn’t there, yells) Your hand is empty

S: (Just continues on, because he knows it is pretend. Half way around the circle, he tells the kids…) It is cooked, smell it, it is good. (At the end of the circle he carefully places his ninja-broccoli in his pocket and sits down.)

It appears that he on a regular basis has an imaginary share item-I wonder if he chooses this ahead of time, or if he just forgets to bring a real thing….

In the middle of this broccoli presentation, Boy L-age 3 has some trouble sitting still, so the teacher asked if he needs to leave the circle, He responds, “Yes” and gets up with his share item and walks away and put his item away. That was indeed a good response for him, he had been having a bad morning.

On the playground:

It was chilly/windy and we had the children wearing their jackets/sweaters. Girl A-age 2 had a broken zipper on her jacket, she came up to me and told me, “Take your pockets out of your hands.” A few minutes later she came up to me and was cold, so I told her to “put your pockets in your hands.” She placed her hands in her pockets and played for a while before taking them out.

Boy L-same one from before: I’m trying to hurt my friends because I’m a pterodactyl!

In the room, while playing in the dress-up area…

Boy S-same as above: Give me a shot, I’m sick.

Me: OK, I’ll give you a shot. Where do you want it? In your arm?

S: Yes. (Lays down on the couch like it is the Dr’s table)

Me: Give me the needle. (it is the plastic pretend syringe that doesn’t have any sharp parts)

Teacher overhearing him calls out: In the cheek

S: (Sticks his tookus up into the air) Do it slower.

Me: (I proceeded to give him a slow shot into his arm)

S: Thank you, I feel better now.

Up in the loft Boy C and Boy Y were playing (both age 3) and C was saying, “Knuckle head” over and over. It was clear that he was meaning it as a fun term of endearment, and Y didn’t mind at all. That is good, because Y generally has really tender feelings.

I was at the Preschool yesterday as well, and one of the teachers had to leave in the middle of a book, so I finished reading the book. It was Click Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin. Her books are great! While I was reading, one little boy, Boy J-age 3, asked me, “What is an ultimatum?” After I answered that, he asked, “Why was Duck a neutral party?” He seemed content after that to let me finish the book.

A week or two ago when I was at the preschool, a little girl asked me to read her a book Froggy Plays In The Band by Jonathan London. This is another author I really enjoy. When I got home I had to tell Jacob about the book and he seemed interested in it. So, I went to every bookstore I passed after that, hoping that I might find the book. After more than one week of searching and many stores later I found one copy in Iowa City. I would have liked to have found 3 copies….