dinosaurs

i started my day with my husband sauntering into the kitchen like a walking britannica book stating, "they found a new dinosaur. it's twice the size of the t-rex...and it's a flesh eater." i nodded my head and flipped my eggs. (he was talking about it like it was alive.) happy with my head nod...he went on, "they found it in utah. isn't that awesome?" i nodded again and pulled my bacon out of the microwave. now typically, i don't say too much in the morning...especially if it's about extinct reptiles. flesh eating dinosaurs aren't something that really get me fired up for the day. my husband, however, felt this was something he really had to share. i shook my head as he left for work and went upstairs to wake up thing one and thing two from their slumber. some mornings, ella pretends like she can't walk so that i have to make two separate trips to the car with her and her sister. (it's awesome.) this particular morning though, she sprung up outta her bed and said, "gooooooood morrrrrninnnngggg, mommmmmeeee!" (dear god.) i mustered all the enthusiasm i could and said, "good morning, pretty girl! how are you?" she replied, "i'm good...and i didn't poop my pants!" (that's always a plus.) she was extra talkative on the way to the sitters and carrie just sat there, sucked her fingers, and stared at her. (i shared her sentiment.) so after a conversation about why the clouds were purple, why the red light turned green, why the leaves were blowing around, and why the moon was still in the sky...i dropped them off and said goodbye. (good golly.)

as i arrived to work, i had high hopes for the day. i do love my job, but sometimes it's really draining. kids can suck the life outta you...whether they are your own or others. you have to start the day with a positive outlook, or things go downhill fast. kids can sense these things, like dogs...and they feed off of any feelings you are having. first thing this morning i had a little boy walk up to my desk (as i was going through their nightly folders) and he slapped his kid friendly scissors in the palm of my hand. he then said, "here. my mom said she wants you to hold onto these until i need them." we are well into the school year, so i said, "why?" he cocked his head to one side and said, "welllllllllll last night i may have cut my hair with my scissors at home and she's afraid i'm going to do it here." (ok then.) i just smiled and asked him if he thought it might happen at school, too. he said, "i'm not sure how it happened at home, i just wanted to do it....so you better just keep them." i looked really serious and told him i would safely keep them until he needed to use them for his work. he skipped away from my desk and a saw the patch of hair missing from the back of his head. (i laughed on the inside.) this isn't as bad as a student i had last year who cut another student's eyelashes off because he wondered what his friend would look like without them. (if you are wondering, he looked ridiculous.)

after a reading lesson and a snack, we had playtime. we are one of the few counties (and schools) that allow playtime in kindergarten anymore. it's so sad! kids need to play, and they learn so much about social skills during this time; how to talk to and interact with one another, how to share, how to treat one another. playtime is pertinent to growth. if i was told i couldn't have it, i'd probably do it anyway. (shhhhh.) anyways, i was on the floor doing a puzzle with one of my children who has some special needs (yes, sometimes i play with the kids) and i heard another child yell, "oh my goodness, look at sammy's face!" i turned to see sammy, proud as a peacock i might add...coming out of the bathroom with a stellar set of green glasses drawn on his little face. his facial expression alone was priceless...now add the self drawn green glasses and it's a recipe for silliness. i lost it. it was one of the moments in my career that was so hysterically funny that i couldn't get myself together. the kids then all lost it as well. we were all just laughing for a good couple minutes. then, though, i had to get it together because i knew damn well if these kids believed that i thought this was funny...they would all be drawing on their own faces. (disaster.) i looked directly at him and yelped, "REALLY?!" he said, "what?!" we had a courageous conversation about the proper use of markers in the classroom. (ie/markers are for paper, not faces.) i then asked him in front of the group if he needed to owe me some playtime so that he would remember to never do this again. he showed some remorse and said, "no, i won't do it again...but it was kinda fun." (i bet it was.) i soooo wanted to snap a picture, but didn't want to further condone the behavior. (highhhlarious to look at, though.)

someone asked me if the marker was permanent. (um, no.) leaving permanent markers out in a kindergarten classroom is like leaving shots of fireball whiskey out at an alcoholics anonymous meeting. (no bueno.) if this were the case, permanent marker could be found everywhere...walls, floors, desks, faces, nothing would be safe. ever notice how kids will find the one thing in the room they are not supposed to have? (they are masters at this.) i swear my one year old has her own personal scavenger hunt everyday, looking for things that she shouldn't have. sometimes i pull things out of her mouth and i have no idea where she even found them in the first place. anyway, i was working on washing the silly spectacles off of my friend sammy's face...when he started rubbing my stomach. (he was about eye level to it.) he then said, "hey! are you growing a baby in there?" (ah gees.) i said, "no, no babies in there." he said, "well i think you are...it's getting bigger." (oh great.) i went to the gym this afternoon and really banged it out trying to burn some extra calories, because there's nothing like a 5 year old without a filter to get you motivated. i got as much of the green as i could off of his face, but i had to write a note to the parents about the incident. (that was fun.) i wonder if they reprimanded him about it or laughed. (i hope it was a little bit of both...but mostly the latter.) furthermore, as i was making dinner at my own house, carrie got into some stickers and put them all over her own face. this time, we did snap a picture.

after i got home from the gym, i ran upstairs to shower and shortly after i heard the dog going nuts downstairs. as i was drying my hair with a towel, i heard a voice that i've never heard before...coming from inside my house. butch is notorious for getting duped into salesmen and solicitors of this nature, so i wasn't surprised. i came downstairs to find a huge african american male (over 6'8'', more than 300lbs) named anthony trying to get butch to switch our cable from verizon to comcast. (the man was mammoth in size.) ella and carrie looked like polly pockets compared to him. he was whispering sweet nothings about free this and free that...i knew damn well a change was in our future. i said hello and walked out into the kitchen. (this is all you warren.) about a half an hour later, we had an appointment to switch back to comcast on this sunday. our appointment is between 10 and 12pm on that day...so that means they are gonna show by like 5pm and we will waste our entire sunday waiting for them. no worries though, we'll be home anyway...because my dad is also coming that day to install a garbage disposal. for the past 2 months we've had a bucket under the kitchen sink catching any water that squirts out from a hole in the side of the plumbing. (awesome.) maybe some people think i make this stuff up, maybe some people can relate, maybe some people just like to laugh along. however i do know this for sure, if you start your day with a conversation about dinosaurs and you end your day having a conversation with a man that is as big as one...things just seem to come full circle.