Standing on the bus

I was reading stories to a group of preschoolers while they waited for the rest of their class to finish lunch. One little boy was standing and looked somewhat distressed. I asked what was wrong and he told me he had a problem on the bus. I asked what the problem was and he told me that he stood up while the bus was moving and the bus driver told him that if he did it again she would have the principal kick him off the bus.

All the other students started telling me they never stood up on the bus, so in true speech therapist fashion I asked them why it was a bad idea to stand on the bus. They all came up with great reasons; you could bump your head into the window, or fall down onto the floor. One child mentioned that you could bump heads with someone else.

The boy who had been in trouble still looked distressed and I said to him, “Do you see why you shouldn’t stand up? You could get really hurt.” With a slight pause and tears in his eyes he replied, “None of those things are going to hurt as much as when the principal kicks me!”

......... A Friend of mine has a daughter is getting married. She told me exasperated, "My daughter is driving me crazy... she keeps asking me for a check for this and a check for that….. I am about checked out!" Its nice to know there is no expiration date on kids being able to drive ya' crazy! :)

Small Town School Curriculums

Sometimes I forget what a small town we live in. When you are kind of sandwiched in between a few other bigger towns you forget that they really are separate entities. One thing about small towns, they do not update their school curriculums with every passing fancy. When they find something that works… they stick with it. For instance, in the car the boys had a conversation about their school day.  Dill had “THE talk” today at school. They separated the girls from the boys and had the school nurse come in to show each of the genders a film about hygiene and growing up. There were permission slips that came home and we could opt out if we did not wish him to go through the program. (Having been through this with our other kids I was hoping we could just “opt out” of puberty and the teen years altogether!- No such luck!)The film was called “Just around the corner” and has a great jingle that all Dill’s siblings can still sing. This was not about: Where babies come from…. That is in the 7^th grade curriculum. This was mainly about interestingly located hair growth and why boys need more showers. Dill and his Dad got through the movie with only a few snickers (according to Dill). The funniest thing was when we were at Uncle K’s house later that evening and he told us HE saw the same film…. And could sing the jingle too! Dill said he wondered why the kids in the film all had bell bottom jeans on and afro’s! Love the small town…. School Curriculum circa 1973!

Pete talked about his day too. He said they talked about “noon trees”. If you aren’t from a small town (at least this small town) you my not know that noon trees are the trees you see in the middle of farmers fields. Those trees have a couple purposes. The main reason is that they are planted on the highest point of the field… thus if there is lightning, the hope is it will strike there.  (not where Pa is plowing with the only two horses the family owns) It also has grass planted around it. Rather than take the horses all the way home at noon so the farmer could eat lunch, the farmer packed a lean cuisine (just checking to see if you are really reading this) and let the horses rest in the shade of the noon tree and graze on the grass. Wow… they just don’t teach this stuff in places like Detroit and Chicago! School Curriculum circa 1873! J

Dinner Plated

I think we are watching too many cooking shows on TV lately. Pete came into the kitchen and asked, “Is dinner plated yet?” J

Another cute school story

A boy came into my office looking a little sad. In his hands are green crumpled papers that I recognize as the play money students earn for each homework assignment they do... that can be turned in for toys/prizes from my treasure chest. They definitely appeared to have gone through the laundry in his pocket. He said, "I want to turn these in for a prize cuz they rusted."

..... I was standing in the hall at school today when two little girls holding hands walked past me. I smiled as they passed because I knew one of them from an observation I had done the day before. The little girl smiled and waved back. A few seconds later I heard the girl say to her friend, “See that grey haired lady back there? I know her.” I looked around to see the grey-haired lady…. No one else was there but me! ☹

Strangely wet

Two teachers were in the copy room of the early childhood building I work in. One of them notices that she has a wet spot near the bottom edge of her shirt and says: "I must have gotten wet somewhere" 

Other teacher, "Oh, you never want to be strangely wet in this building!" :)

Agape Feast

Our church celebrates Easter with many traditions.... one of my favorites is the Agape Feast. It was held this evening and included over 100 people. It includes great traditions like a fantastic sit-down meal for everyone, prayers, music and foot washing.

I heard a couple things that brought a smile to my face.... so I thought I'd share them.

First, Dill was asking about the different things we do this weekend and told me he really liked the "Easter Visual" the best. It took me a minute to realize he meat the Easter Vigil... but it sure sounded adorable when he kept talking very seriously about all the things that happen during the Easter Visual.

The other thing was overheard while I was helping to pass out dinner. We were serving meat loaf, mashed potatoes and green beans. A little girl leaned over to her father and asked, "Are we having this because Jesus and the Apostles ate meat loaf for the last supper?" I did not get to hear his response. :)

New Car

Pete, Pepper and I were headed to the mall. Since I hurt my back last night Pepper was driving my new car. It is a 5 speed so Pete knew it was a little harder to drive than our other cars have been. As I got into the passenger side and Pete was in the back, Pepper ran out to check the mail.

Pete: You are letting Pepper drive the new car?
Me: Yep, I hurt my back so she's going to drive.
Pete: Are you going to change the gears for her from there?
Me: No, Pepper will do it.
Pete: Mom can drive stick?!
Me: Yep, she is amazing. She can do anything.... that's why I married her!
Pete: Makes sense.