S.O.S. Submarine Disaster

Today was a rough day in preschool music. I entered class excited. I had a lot of fun musical activities planned. We were going to sail boats (the kids brought their own sails they had created at home). We were going to play with the gathering drum and sing sea chanties. We were going to sink down to the bottom of the sea in our submarines and look for aquatic life on the ocean floor. We were going to move long ribbons like eels in the ocean and match our voices to the movements. We were gonig to dance like an orange octopus and move a parachute like a giant jellyfish.

Here's what really happened.

1. Five kids brought their sails. Two kids did not. One child cried because he didn't make a sail at home and didn't like the nice blue dancing scarf I loaned him for a replacement.

2. The gathering drum went well until it was time to bring out the drum mallets. I explained that we had to be careful not to hit anyone with the mallets. Crying Child had stopped crying, but he managed to get ahold of the longest stick and got very wild, wacking four other kids with it. End gathering drum.

3. We got in our submarine and began sinking down to the bottom of the sea. While lying flat on my back with the rest of the class on the basement floor, I asked the first little girl what animal she saw at the bottom of the sea. "I SEE A DIAPER FULL OF POOP!!!!!!!!!" She yelled. Chaos ensued. I redirected her and she decided she saw a dolphin instead. We sang through the song again and the next little girl decided she didn't want her turn next; she would rather be last. Soon four other children wanted to be last. The next little girl insisted she COULD NOT see any animals. She could only see an airplane that had crashed in a firey blaze into the ocean and was rusting at the bottom of the sea. (Gotta love the imagination of a 5 year old). By this time, select members of class, namely the formerly Crying Child were loosing interest and getting antsy, so we aborted our submarine.

4. We got out our ribbon eels, and Formerly Crying Child insisted on stepping on other people's eels.

5. Because of classroom management issues, we ran out of time to do the octopus dance.

6. We called the moms down for sharing time, and instead of using their singing voices, the children used their amazingly ear piercing screaming voices. While the moms were making their way down the basement stairs, Crying Child and several others tried to hide in places of the room that were really off limits (such as under the day bed, the only furniture in the room).

7. I brought out the parachute, but no one could stop shaking it long enough to make it move like a jellyfish. I tried having all the kids sit underneath the jellyfish while the moms moved the parachute up and down slowly, but this lasted about 25 seconds before the inside of the jelly more closely resembled a football field in action.

8. We sang goodbye. I went upstairs and had a nice cold drink of ice water. And I did some major reflecting on early childhood teaching techniques and my general sanity.

Mr. Gus: The Ninth Month

I haven't posted any pictures of this little critter lately. We can't really call him Mr. Slobber anymore because he has a single tiny tooth and he has effectively quit slobbering. I'm so thankful for dry kisses. His personality is growing every day, and we've taken to calling him Gus. Gus seems to epitomize his outlook on life: generally happy-go-lucky unless you cross him the wrong way and then you really hear about it. Even though he can't pronounce English words, he can really scold.

He loves electrical cords. He loves paper. He loves fruit, his bath and things that crinkle. He motors about on all fours like a small puppy with his tongue hanging out as he concentrates. In fact, while we were visiting a friend last Sunday, he managed to pop three pieces of dog food right into his adorable little mouth. And he liked them. Best of all, this little guy gives great snuggles. His favorite game to play is "Give Mama Loves." It's my favorite too.

The Face of a Princess

These are just a few additional pictures from last Saturday when Ms. Crazy Preschooler was delving into her princess dress up box. At one time she was actually wearing seven velvet dresses stacked one on top of another. Luckily it was not a hot and steamy day.

Bees

In August and September, the bees grow thick in my town. Children at playgroup are attacked as they sip their apple juice. Flowering shrubs are abuzz. Anytime you lunch and much out of doors you are joined by three or four bees. I, personally am not allergic to bees, nor to I panic around them, and I try to teach my children to wait patiently and calmly for the bee to move out of the way rather than jumping and swatting all about. This seems a bit more safe to me.

Last week Ms. Crazy Preschooler was outside munching on fresh picked raspberries with her babysitter. Bees were buzzing. Exasperated, halfway through her stash of raspberries, she looked up and firmly told the babysitter, "I think it's time for Jesus to turn off the bees."

Castle Adventures

Today the plummer came for the second day in a row. Yesterday he started installing our new basement shower, and today he finished it (kind of) along with several other projects (some of which are still broken even after he supposedly fixed them, so we will have to call him back . . . tedious). I hadn't really planned on the plummer being at my house today. I had other items on my agenda other than hanging around waiting for the smelly plummer to finish his tasks, but I tried to be patient because I want everything to be finished. Things could have been worse . . . he could have left all the jobs half done for who knows how long.

Anyway, because the plummer was at our house, we couldn't go anywhere today: no play group, no trips to the library, no short walks to neighborhood garage sales, no driving to the raspberry farm to pick raspberries, which were all things I had been considering until Mr. Stinky Plummer kaboshed my Friday agenda. It was a nice day out. We needed something to do, so while we were sitting outside on the patio, I decided it would be fun to convert the large cardboard box our cartop carrier arrived in before our last trip to North Dakota into a cardboard castle to play with. I cut and snipped cardboard. Sarah had lunch. Sarah painted the castle with her paints, dressed as the waif Servant Sarah. Noah had lunch. Sarah kept painting. I hosed down the high chair I had carried outside so Noah could picnic in style. Then I brought out our smaller Princess dress-up box and Ms. Crazy Preschooler changed elegant dresses about 246 times during the afternoon hours. And I got a slight sunburn standing around taking a bazillion pictures.

Enjoying a Smore

The Origin of Wisconsin According to Ms. Crazy Preschooler

First Jesus made North Dakota and built all the nice houses and made lots of nice people. Then some of the people came over to Bisconsin to look at the trees. Then Mama and Daddy came to Bisconsin to see what was going on. Now we have a new house in Bisconsin and other people live in our old house.