A Very Special Day....

Today was a very special day for me! There is a lot going on a Nicki's school this week and I had the opportunity, once again, to go and help the class. Well, the morning started with school pictures, which will be neat to get back! The teacher did a VERY GOOD THING by scheduling the Kindergarten at 8:30 A.M. (only 15 minutes after the start of school!). They don't stay 'picture perfect' for too long! lol In fact, I put a picture on this posting of her before school (although the quality is a little rough, because I took it with my phone).

But getting back to the day... Nicki is really excited to see me up there, which is AWESOME. I like the fact that, at least for now, she's not embarrassed of me being up there! So, I got to escort groups of children, four at a time, to the library, at the beginning. When that was over, the school counselor came in (as she does once a week) and sits the kids down in a circle and sings songs and does coordination-type activities with them. That was fun to watch! Then, when that was over, I was given the project of helping the kids make 'teddy bears'. They had to color, cut, and put the limbs together (using brads) AND pick out clothes they wanted the bears to wear (although the kids couldn't cut the fabric, so I stayed in the classroom during lunch and cut out all the clothes). In the middle of that, there was recess. Nicki and Christopher (yes, the 'bad boy') were playing really nicely. They both took turns pushing each other on the swings and chased each other around and both looked like they were having fun. No problems. Recess was over and it was back to doing more bears! :-)

I had had a good number of kiddos back there and finished, when it came time for Christopher to come back there. He started being very belligerent, not wanting to color the bear (typical 'Christopher') and he cut the ears off when he cut it out (just like he'd done on the project the last time I was there). So, I asked him why he cut the ears off of the bear and he replied that 'the other kids make fun of my ears' (because they stick out a bit from his head). So, FINALLY, that made some sense. I wondered why he had this big issue with ears. So, I asked him if he wanted to tape them back on, which he did not, and we moved on. Then, he didn't want to color the rest of the pieces. So, I told him if he wasn't going to cooperate, then there was no reason for him to be here and that he would need to go back to his table. He sat there for a minute, mulling the idea over and finally started coloring. When he got done coloring, he threw his crayon, not ON TO the table but way over it. I told him that that was not acceptable and if he wished to be my helper, then he would have to go pick it up. Once again, he sat mulling his options over, while I ignored him. Finally, he got up and went over to where he'd thrown the crayon, but turned to me and said that he no longer saw it. I peeked over and didn't see it either, so I thanked him for going over there to get it and asked him to come back and sit down at the table.... Then the magic happened....

This was so neat. I had a hole punch and he was intrigued by how it worked and how he could see the circles of paper inside of it. So, I showed him how to use it and then let him punch the holes on his bear. He did it just fine. Then, I showed him what brads were and how they worked to put the things together. So, I had him help me push the brads down. Then, as he finished his bear, it was time for lunch, so off the class went. They came back in about half an hour later and were about to go outside for 'lunch recess' as Nicki calls it. Some of the boys had to stay in the classroom because they weren't behaving and Dr. Diaz, the counselor, usually takes Christopher and I believe one or two other students, during this time... the 'troubled kids' as they are referred to, but had some prior engagement today and couldn't. The teachers had a loud 'UGH!' when that announcement came over the loudspeaker. Nonetheless, I asked Mrs. Johnson if Christopher could help me at the table, if that was okay with her. She was like, 'Yeah, sure!' So, he was happy to come sit next to me and I had him help me with lots of stuff. In fact, Dr. Diaz's assistant came by to get Christopher a little while after I'd sat down and was working with him and Mrs. Johnson said, 'I don't think that'll be necessary today. Thank you.' (As she and the assistant both turned around to look at us.)

So the first project my helper helped me with was sorting the brads. He took to it quickly! There were large and small brads mixed together (and we only needed small ones for this project), so he happily sorted them for me. Then, as other students were finishing their projects, I had Christopher punch the holes in the bears for me. Honestly, I was really scared that he was going to go crazy and punch holes in the wrong places and mess up their work, but I had to have faith! And it paid off!!!! He did a fantastic job! Then, I worked up to letting him put the legs and arms on the bears with the brads that he'd sorted. That worked out great too. He did a really great job!!!

And the highlight of my day... As I was leaving the classroom (much later than I'd originally intended, but couldn't leave while I was actually getting 'through' to Christopher), Nicki came up and said 'Goodbye' to me and gave me a big hug and then as I turned for the door... Christopher ran up and hugged me on the side. I didn't see it coming.... I really didn't even see where he ran to afterward... it was such a blur... But I tell you what... that melted my heart.