Saturday, May 23, 2015

No One Peed At Preschool Graduation And Other Thankfuls

You know what we work on every day in preschool?

Sharing.

You know what the director of our preschool did for me this week?

Shared her cold with me.

You know what I do when I get a cold?

I name it after who gave it to me.

This one is named Linda - thank you, Miss Linda, for sharing!

That is #1 on my list of Ten Things of Thankful. If I didn't have a good working relationship with my director, I wouldn't have caught her cold (I also probably wouldn't have caught it if I hadn't sat across from her at dinner Thursday night).

2. Last week of preschool. I love my job, and I love my students, but I REALLY love to have summer vacation.

3. Pre-K graduation was Thursday night. The minimum qualifications of a good program (no one peed, no one threw up and no one cried) was met.

4. I did have one student cry, but it was AFTER the program was over. I was her teacher for Primary AND for Pre-K, and after the program, when she and her family were getting ready to leave, she burst into tears, because she didn't want to leave preschool and go to kindergarten. I picked her up and held her, told her how much I have loved having her in class, but that she was ready to go to kindergarten and would do great. I'm not thankful that she cried, but I'm thankful that she loved her preschool experience so much that she didn't want to leave.

5. I am also thankful that all those times I had to tell this child to STOP TALKING didn't lessen her love for preschool (it also didn't do a thing to make her stop talking). At every parent teacher conference her parents attend for the next 13 years, they will be told she talks all the time, but I wouldn't change a thing about that kid, and neither will her future teachers.

6. I'm thankful to have had every one of my students this year, whom I prayed for individually every day, from the ones who were sometimes trying to the ones I would take home and keep forever. Each one of them are special gifts that I got a chance to teach.

7. Too serious. Time to lighten up. I'm thankful for toilet paper. I had to buy some yesterday, and as I stood there in the toilet paper aisle (because there's an ENTIRE AISLE for it), weighing the merits of each brand and style, I was reminded that my parents and grandparents had to use pages from the Sears Roebuck catalog when they WENT TO THE OUTHOUSE.

8. Indoor plumbing. Because outhouses.

9. A gloriously long weekend at the lake house that includes our three cats.






Pete, enjoying the fresh air on the screened in porch.


Ruby, a little skeered of that great outdoors just beyond the screen.


10. My mama. Because today's her 83rd birthday. 


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32 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday to your Mom. The best thing about being a preschool teacher is when the kids come back to say hello when they are older. My first class is just about ready to graduate from college this year. Enjoy the summer, Dyanne, and all the fun times in store.

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    1. I always tell my former students they are never too old to hug their preschool teacher. The ones I had my first year graduated from high school this spring. Yikes!

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  2. #4 is especially beautiful.
    Happy summer!

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    1. Thanks, Romi! It broke my heart that she cried so, but she's a sharp kiddo and will do great in school.

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  3. Congrats on nobody peeing or throwing up! Ruby looks pretty concerned about the safety of that big outdoors. I'm one of those cretins that lets my cats outside - I've just never been able to keep them in with dogs going in and out. When Jackson leaves her alone, Miss Kitty spends a lot of time at on the deck stalking the squirrels. She is my mouser and a very good one too.

    Happy Birthday to your mom and get over that cold soon!

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    1. It wouldn't be such a big deal if it hadn't happened before, would it?
      Ruby wouldn't go out on the porch unchaperoned. Geese honking and boat motors and birds chirping and squirrels chattering are SCARY.
      It would be so hard to keep cats in when dogs are going in and out. One of mine would LOVE to go outside and has tried to for 12 years. The other two are scaredy cats. Ruby is content to try to catch bugs at night through the big window in my bathroom, where they are attracted by the light inside.
      I am going to die from this cold....

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  4. Awwwwh happy birthday to your mom, and I hope you have a GORGEOUS time at the lake (and for the LOVE, Dyanne, take that hamster and bury it!)

    Awwwwh I remember pre-school graduations, and tears, and love.

    And yesterday I heard via my mum that one of my very first boys is now FIFTEEN! which is utterly ridiculous because there is NO WAY I'm that old.

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    1. I FORGOT THE HAMSTERS AGAIN!
      Put a cap and gown on a preschooler and they look SO MUCH OLDER. It was a great evening.
      You're not that old. Some fluke in the calculations. My first class of pre-k kids just graduated from high school.

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  5. I love that you name your colds! :) They are sort of like hurricanes sometimes, aren't they? Hope you're over it soon. And I'll echo Lizzi - Happy Birthday to your mom and I hope you enjoy a wonderful weekend at the lake. Love the pictures and the smiles you gave me via this post! Thank you!

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    1. Thanks so much, Marcia. Usually, my colds get their names from a preschooler rather than THE DIRECTOR OF THE PRESCHOOL.

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  6. You had me at the title - no one peed - whatever the event at our house, I call that a win! But preschool grad with no pee? Now that's accomplishment.

    Very cute - and touching - to read about your student who was sad to leave. It's hard to move on, but glad to know she loved the experience. - Louise

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    1. I made their parents take them to the bathroom when they walked in the building, even if they went at home first. Suspenders AND a belt, so to speak.
      It's so hard to let some of them go, and I'd keep them in class forever, but they have to be pushed out of the next some time.

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  7. HAPPY BIRTHDAY , MAXINE! I mean MOM! No pee! I love your kid stories. How lucky they are to have a teacher that loves them so much!

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    1. She's a far cry from Maxine in that picture, right? She said she was in 4th grade when it was taken. And thanks! Sometimes they are trying little turds, but overall, preschoolers are da bomb.

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  8. Happy birthday to your beautiful Mama, Dyanne!! Your graduation sounds fun, and I would cry, too, if I'd have to leave a pre-school teacher like you! Already hoping that Calvin gets to go into the same kindergarten class as Violet is, just because I love the teachers so much :-) So love the pictures of your lake house. Really would love to vacation there as well!! Have a wonderful new week, Dyanne!

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    1. Thank you, Stephanie! Maybe you should bring Calvin to ME for preschool?! Then you can vacation at the lake house!

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  9. A great and hilarious list. My daughter has been teaching English (!) to 0-3 year olds in Barcelona, and she has caught every cold there is. I don't think she's half as grateful as you however--though she does count the fact that no one has perished on her watch as a blessing.

    http://shrinkrapped.com/

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    1. I'm pretty much immune to most of their colds and crud after 14 years, but apparently not to the one the Director had! My #1 rule in class is (and they all can recite this) Do NOT throw up in Miss Dyanne's classroom. None have perished on my watch, but I've broken a couple of them. I HATE it when they get hurt at school and it leaves a big ol' mark, usually right on the forehead!

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  10. Happy birthday to your mom! I love the idea of naming your colds--kind of like naming hurricanes, but in a more meaningful way. I hope Linda leaves you soon!

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  11. Happy birthday to your mom!
    Three of my kids have colds at the moment. Not cool.
    I do love working with preschoolers. I have subbed quite a bit in the 3-4s room this year. There is one little boy that goes to our church and has a sister in my kids' school. Every time he sees me, he gets a huge grin on his face and waves with his whole body. I swear he can spot me a mile away. It is awesome.
    Glad you are getting to enjoy a long weekend at the lake house!

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    1. It's really not fair to start out the summer with a nasty cold.
      I love the looks on the kids' faces when they see you out somewhere, like the mall. They always think I live at the preschool.

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  12. "...no one peed, no one threw up and no one cried" pretty much definition of most of life's transitions. (Except for: changing a tire, testifying in court and pinning the corsage on your date the first time).
    (love the naming of colds!)

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  13. Happy birthday to your mom and here's to nobody peeing or throwing up at preschool graduation! Also to toilet paper. We got a new kind and it's super thick and awesome. Tucker was over-the-top delighted by it and commented each time he used it for the first few days. We are now loyal to it.

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    1. Thanks, Kristi! And thank you for commenting about toilet paper. It should really be on EVERYONE'S list at one time or another, shouldn't it? Some day, you'll have to tell him about using a catalog page instead of cushy tissue.

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  14. I don't blame your student for crying, you sound like a great teacher who can make school fun and an awesome experience for those little kids. Happy birthday to you mom!
    Oh, I am so thankful for toilet paper too!!

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    1. Thank you, Natalia! And another vote for toilet paper - yay! It's something we all take for granted, until it runs out!

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  15. Do you sometimes stop in your tracks at the thought that your parents used an outhouse and you write blog posts that people ALL OVER THE WORLD can read?
    So glad you escaped most bodily fluids for graduation (not counting snot). I wish you were my teacher.

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    1. Yes, Sarah! Isn't it something how far we've come in such a short amount of time? My grandfather farmed with a team of horses!
      I didn't even have snot to contend with at graduation, other than getting snotted on the shoulder when my little student was sobbing there, but that's okay.
      We can have class together any time you want :)

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