I have worked in schools for many years. These are the first children that absolutely took my heart! Now I love all of my students but these two..these two ....well, I fell in love with them. Monkey, on the left, is 2. She cracked me up all year long. If I sat on the floor, plop! There she would be, sitting on my lap. If I would start to read a story, before you knew it there she was in my lap!
This is how she spent a good portion of time in my class.
Once, during one of our Shabbat assemblies, I was standing next to her group. They were sitting on the floor. I watched her scootch her little butt closer and closer until I looked down and she was sitting on my foot! She stayed their during the entire assembly! Another time at Shabbat, she stood up, picked up her backpack, walked over to me, took my hand and just stood there during the assembly. No words. Just standing and holding my hand!
For a good portion of the year, she either had baby hair (fine and flyaway) or a fancy haircut courtesy of her big sister! But whatever it was, her hair was all over the place every time she came to my room. I would ask her, "Monkey, who did your hair today!?" Her response? "Daddy!" The funny part is whenever her hair looked smooth and I asked if her daddy did her hair she would firmly shake her head no! I knew I was in trouble with this child when I realized that I allowed her to point and go "uh. uh" instead of using words.
Monkeys older sister, Kitten, 4,(on the right) was equally adept at winning my heart. Oh my gosh! Early in the school year I knew I was in deep, deep trouble with this child. Cute doesn't begin to describe her....Kitten too would sit next to me. However, Kitten would copy my movements. If I flipped my hair, she flipped her hair. If I crossed my legs, she crossed her legs. If I leaned back, she leaned back. She wasn't playing the copycat game, she was honestly just doing whatever I did.
Luckily, I got a daily dose of Kitten and Monkey. Their classes came to my room on opposite days so I had a "fix" from one or the other each day. Now Monkey and Kittens parents are awesome, hard working people. Dad is a police officer and mom is currently, I believe, a paramedic. If I am correct, she is working towards being a halo flight nurse. Dad is the officer that took me on my first ride-along. I talked about him here and here and here. To make a long story short on why, I offered to watch the girls one day a week over the summer. (HA! Mom and Dad thought I was being nice and that they were getting the deal. Actually, they were doing me the favor by allowing me to have a weekly "play date" with Kitten and Monkey.)
Because of unforeseen circumstances, I will be gone most of the summer. So, this week may be the only time I could have a play date with Kitten and Monkey. Depending on how the summer goes, I may get home in time to have more play dates but for now, our first play date was on Wednesday. I don't know who was more tired at the end of the day, them or me, but I call play date #1 a complete success! More pics and story tomorrow.
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