Monkey see, monkey poo...

Part of our morning Preschool routine is taking the potty trained kids to the bathroom as soon as they arrive. We have them enter the classroom, take off their coats and backpacks, line up and head for the restroom. Our diaper kids stay back with one of the teachers.

One of our diaper kids is a little boy who is no bigger than a peanut and cuter than a bug. He also happens to be very regular with his bowel movements. Every morning about the same time he drops a load then backs up to you indicating his pants are messy and wants a change.

I decided to take him with the rest of the potty trained kids to the bathroom to see if he would do his business in the toilet instead.

I sat him down on the seat, which he did very well at, then held the door closed to give him some privacy. In the stall next to him was another little boy sitting on the toilet going potty.

I kept encouraging our little peanut to go poop poos. Squeeze your tummy and go poop, I'd tell him. All of a sudden I heard some grunting sounds coming from behind the stall door.

Oh my gosh was it possible our peanut was actually going poop in the toilet?

After a short while I peeked in and saw a happy little boy sitting on the pot but no poop.

Then in dawned on me. I checked the other little guy who is very independent with his self help skills. Usually he comes out by himself, toilet flushed and pants pulled up, but not this time.

He was the grunter and must have thought I was talking to him. "Squeeze your tummy and go poop." Which is exactly what he did and, was patiently waiting to be wiped.

Snow Day!!

We had a snow day, not in the traditional sense where you hear on the radio school has been canceled. No the preschoolers weren't so lucky, they still got to ride the bus in scary winter conditions. I worry about that. I think they should stay home, or at least be with their day care providers tucked safely in the nest. I mean, they're only three.

Regardless what I think, they came just the same. Well, only half of them, the other half had smart moms and kept their little ones home.

 
We had a different kind of snow day. For the most part we stuck with the schedule with one exception, instead of playing outside we brought the outside, indoors. We bundled up the children, gave them shovels and buckets and had them scoop up some snow and dump it into the sensory table.

We brought the snow inside and everyone enjoyed eating, stepping, and playing in it. If the snow is still around when we come back, we will expand our play and color it, or.....maybe even make snow cones.

The age of innocence

Working with children we hear the darndest things:

A  teacher in my school shared this:  "Last week, two of my students were speaking Spanish during class time. Not a big deal, but I asked them to speak English during the activity that we were doing.  At lunch yesterday, one of these students was coughing and I thought he might be chocking.  I asked him is if was ok and he said that he was and that he was just coughing in Spanish.  He doesn't cough in English." 

In Class:  Holding a preschoolers hand ready to take him to the bathroom I announced to the rest of the staff in the room I was taking.......For the life of me his named escaped my brain. Making another attempt, I said: I'm taking...............I have..........finally the little boy whose hand I was holding finished my sentence and replied, "Me"

Buckling the children on the bus (during Christmas time): One of the para's was buckling a child in his seat when he noticed her Christmas sweater decorated with stars, stockings, trees, and snowflakes. He asked her if tomorrow they could make cookies like her sweater.

It's why I do what I do!