Paint cups and sandsocks...

It was the silence that woke me this morning.

The silence first and then the swirling waters of our turtle tank.

I lay in bed listening to the quiet.
I hate quiet.
It unnerves me.

I closed my eyes, tucked my shoulders beneath the comforter and willed myself to sleep.

But nothing.

I wondered instead.

Did I add that tractor art to the curriculum? I couldn't remember. The afternoon prior I was sitting in my class working on it, but remembered that a child had become unclothed in my classroom just as I was about to add it.

I was sitting in my tiny chair, with my back to the bathroom. The person who was helping me was wondering amongst the children as I obsessively worked on my curriculum.

All of a sudden she became still and her eyes were staring behind me.

"Um." was all she had to say.

My fingers froze over the keys to my laptop. "She's naked isn't she?" I asked

She smiled and nodded, still frozen. To my right I hear "Hi Beanie!" And the naked child sat beside me.

"Hi love! Shall we put on your pants?"

"Okay!" She smiled.

And that was that.

15 minutes later, it looked like the children were done painting, so I closed my laptop and went to wash paint cups.

A parent walked in as I stood by the sink, my hands full of purple squishy soap paint.

"Ohmygod." She looked behind me.

"What?" I looked too. "What happened?" I surveyed the room and all looked good.

As I turned I dropped three goopy purple covered paintbrushes on the floor. The paint splattered all over the side of the sink and my bare feet. I laughed and bent down to pick up the brushes.

"Ohmygod. How do you do this? Come on!" she said to her child "Mommies gatta get outta here!"

"Oh! I'm sorry, um....Okay Bye!" I said to the now shut firmly door.

Hm. I stood at the sink with my arms crossed looking around. There was the paint table that I was cleaning. A child had sat back down and decided to paint her fingers. Then her palm, then her wrist. She was smiling.

The next table over was goop. The children were pounding it and cutting it. Some looked like scrambled eggs. Some like pancakes.

Then the Lego table was full. The boys were making star wars fighter jets and making the most awesome gun sounds ever. Mason had tried to show me how one day, but while his gun sound was awesome mine just sounded like a fart.

In our new kitchen area girls were feeding babies and boys were cooking dinner.

To me, the room was a fully engaged classroom. So much so that I could sit at a table, with 19 children and work on curriculum.

I took that moment to sit down on the carpet and enjoy. This is the best time of the day for me.
The time to sit down and watch.

Instead I got licked on the cheek. "Gallump....you taste good."

"Thank you Brooklynn. What do I taste like?"

"Strawberries."

I laughed.

I snorted.

"Not gravy?"

"Siwly Mrs. Beanie." She climbed on my lap "Want to watch a movie with me?"

"Sure. What shall we see?"

"I don't know. But I had fun. Maybe Monsters again? Because I had fun."

"I did too."

"Ooookay Then we will go!" She said very happily. A parent walked in and I stood up, squeezing Brooklyn one last time.

This parent came into the room and smiled. She walked into the room and observed all of the kids. She played a little and drug her kids away.

The day moved forward and in the car,  Brandee, Shane, Emma and I shared stories all the way home. We laugh, we moan in sympathy....but mostly we laugh.

My favorite moment of the day yesterday was a conversation with a 3 year old.

When I was on the playground, I came across Nico.

He had a sock clutched in his hand FULL of sand.

I looked at his feet and one was missing a sock.

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing. Hey Beanie, I have this sand!"

"Did you take your sock off and fill it with sand so you could carry it around?"

"Yes!" He said, with one hand on his hip.

"I think you are a genius."

"Thanks." he shrugs

"Hey, can I take you to show Mr.Shane? "

"Sure!" He says and reaches for my hand. I lead him up to school age and show Shane.

Shane laughs and we leave. "What are you going to do with your sand?"

"I don't know. Carry it."

"Awesome."