Little Observations on the Little Folks

I always look forward to working at my son's school each Thursday. The kids are SO FUNNY and I just love them.

The minute I get there, A. always wants to hug me and hang around me; I feel like a bad guy telling him to sit down, but the kid keeps talking to me when I'm working with other kids. He also keeps asking if he can come to my house; what a sweetie.

J. kept running her hands through her slightly tangled, long hair, and said, "My mommy fixed it this way today. It's so pretty..." ;^)

M. did very well on his letters and wanted to make words with the cards; he was very pleased to take turns with me (I let him rearrange the flashcards after each set of letters that I test him on), and had very good manners, always saying please and thank you to me. He still looks off into space sometimes and there's still something off about him, but I feel like I sort of "get" him now. I'm able to tune into his process a lot better and we're working well together.

E. was very tickled that the cards for lists 9 and 10 were brown and pink, just like the stripes on her shirt.

H. studied me for jewelry (last week she played with my watch -- while I was wearing it -- and asked where my silver necklace with the balls was) and took off my volunteer badge when I wasn't paying attention. She's a regular little magpie when it comes to anything shiny.

S., normally a champion sentence maker-upper (last week, for the word "to," she turned her palms adorably upward and said, "If we want to go TO the swimming pool, first we must put on our bathing suits!"), was a little under the weather; she sighed a lot and looked a little apologetic about not being totally into reading.

My son announced to the class that he'd really missed everyone when he was out sick on Tuesday and Wednesday, and S. smiled and gave him a side-hug; she's at least six inches shorter than he is, so it was especially cute.

D. broke his glasses when he fell on the sidewalk a few days ago, so he had trouble seeing the cards, although he did a bit better on his letters; the poor thing was having all sorts of trouble seeing at school today, as he's apparently pretty nearsighted. I can relate.

L., a new student, looks a little like Flat Stanley (but he's three-dimensional!), and made the funniest faces as he told me the letters; when he saw he could amuse me, the faces got a little out of control and started to involve full body and tongue contortions, so I really had to force myself not to laugh so we could get our work done.

I looked out the window at recess and saw my son playing with three very small girls; I think they were playing Power Rangers because, as my son has told me several times, "You need boys AND girls to play Power Rangers!" ;^)