Confessions

I am proud to say that I have wonderful self-control and an unusual amount of patience with my students. Today, however, I almost blew it. I almost said an ugly word in front of my kids. Let me describe the scene for you.


It is nap time, so the kids have gotten their mats out and are laying down in their assigned places. Well, not really. They are hitting each other with their mats and scootching all around on the floor to get next to their friends. I am trying to help our newest friend, Katelyn, get situated in her corner. Her nap area just happens to be in our Dramatic Play center. This week in that center, we are playing rodeo. We have chaps, a real saddle, ropes, horses-on-a-stick, and a large plastic steer head for roping.


I grab her mat off the shelf and head over to where she sleeps. I am saying the usual teacher things, like, "Alright, Friends. Let's get still and quiet." and "I LIKE how Victoria is being such a good rester." In retrospect, I should have said, "Blake, quit rolling all over the floor like a bowling pin" because at that moment, I tripped over Blake's feet. I took a GIANT step to avoid the area where his body should have been. Unfortunately, he was propelling himself across the floor and his body was nowhere near where I thought it was. I almost stepped on his little face (that would have been GREAT to explain!) and instead twisted my ankle and impaled myself on the plastic steer.


During the course of this slow-motion event, I was saying something intelligent like "BBBBBBLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKKKKEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!"


All of the kids were wide-eyed when I finally righted myself and threw the mat down.


Overall, it was quite a performance. But I must say, if I had been less of a patient, controlled person, there is no tellin' what stories their mamas would hear around the dinner table tonight.