At The Hop
We have just returned from the Patch Elementary School sock hop.
But before I go into the sock hop, please let me inform you all (all four of my dear readers) that I am feeling 98%. I have a bit of a cough now, but all of the fever, aching joints, wailing and gnashing of teeth, tiredness and mysterious scratches are gone. Apparently, the self-exorcism kit that I picked up at the PX worked. The Nazi ghosts haven't been up to scratch me since Hans was home. Which makes me wonder...maybe Hans was the one who scratched me up.
Anyway, I am feeling fine, taking my Lyme Disease horse pills, which despite their size, color and heft seem to be doing a good job. They are some form of tetracycline, so I expect that in addition to becoming free of Lyme Disease (a non-confirmed case as of yet), I'll have that really acne-free complexion I've always dreamed of. Seriously, I've dreamed of having the perfect complexion since I was about 12. I'm still not there. I'm going to be 50 and still breaking out, I just know it.
Before I describe the sock hop, I want to take a moment to recap our week. Hans is out and about, conferring with some foreign army somewhere and eating stuff like goose and drinking vodka every night. A really tough time, I'm sure. Anyway, we're home alone, which is fine because we're never really alone in the C Stairwell. There are always folks coming and going, so I never feel too alone. Just as I am starting to miss Hans a little, he tells me that he's going to be out and about in the foreign country for another few days. Well, we'll get by. Maybe I'll get a good bottle of vodka out of this.
Today was my first experience reading for the kids at the CDC (child development center) here on Patch. Josiah and Annika go over to Panzer Kaserne to their CDC, which occurred because that was the only place they had an opening at the time. So anyway, I read to the toddlers first and learned that next week, I need to sit up on something, because sitting on the floor in the middle of a knot of raucous toddlers...I felt like the prey of the piranha. They were crawling all over me. Books were damaged in the process. The teachers apologized profusely, but I just laughed robustly and patted them on the back...I have a toddler at home. I know all about toddlers.
Then I moved to the part-day preschool room. These kids were amazing. They are Josiah's age. The whole tone of the room was quiet and calm, the teacher was so under control. Wow. I really want to get Josiah into that room. I read them three or four books. They were silent except when I asked them to participate, which I try to do. I try to have little conversations about what's going on in the book, rather than just read the words and turn the pages. I ask them to count things or what they think will happen next. When I finished, I talked to the teacher for awhile...wow, she's great. I really have to get Josiah into that class. Not only would he be with a great teacher who's obviously doing something right, I'd be able to walk him right down the street instead of driving over to the other base.
The last room was full-day preschool. They were OK. There were a lot more of them than in the part-day room and they were a little more wild and unable to sit still. It may have had something to do with my choice of books. I tried desperately to find some children's books that dovetailed with what they were studying: earth-conciousness and recycling. No Hans, I didn't read them "The Skeptic Environmentalist". The few books that I did find were a little dry. Recycling is so boring....
They asked me to come back next week, so I guess I did a pretty good job. I'm going to bring some more exciting books, especially for that last group.
Now, on to the sock hop. This is something I just heard about today. Jen e-mailed me and asked if we wanted to go and turns out, we did and we had a great time. Except for small, evil children who don't listen and run in opposite directions and make me curse under my breath and sweat copiously. We had hot dogs, rootbeer floats, Rice Krispie treats and Josiah's new favorite--Cheetos. I never let him get Cheetos. We eat enough powdered cheese products in this household.
After we were done feasting on processed pork and Cheetos, we all went into the gym and danced our little hearts out. Some of our party were very enthusiastic, namely Annika. She twisted herself dizzy and ran around, getting under the feet of every pre-pubescent bobbysoxer there. I was very impressed by the amount of effort folks put into their costumes. Sigh. Maybe someday I'll be that mother who finds out about the sock hop eight hours in advance and still manages to bedazzle a felt poodle, affix it to a skirt and find a pair of saddle shoes. Seriously, I swear I saw someone there with a crinoline. Who keeps that kind of stuff in their closet? Especially when we move every two years!
There was one 10-ish boy walking around with his hair all greased and ducktailed. Best part of his costume? The unlit Marlboro stuck in the corner of his mouth. Wow. Mom and Dad, congrats on taking it a litttttttle too far. Hopefully I'll never be that parent. But then again, you can always count on Rachel to take it a little too far, so stay tuned!
But before I go into the sock hop, please let me inform you all (all four of my dear readers) that I am feeling 98%. I have a bit of a cough now, but all of the fever, aching joints, wailing and gnashing of teeth, tiredness and mysterious scratches are gone. Apparently, the self-exorcism kit that I picked up at the PX worked. The Nazi ghosts haven't been up to scratch me since Hans was home. Which makes me wonder...maybe Hans was the one who scratched me up.
Anyway, I am feeling fine, taking my Lyme Disease horse pills, which despite their size, color and heft seem to be doing a good job. They are some form of tetracycline, so I expect that in addition to becoming free of Lyme Disease (a non-confirmed case as of yet), I'll have that really acne-free complexion I've always dreamed of. Seriously, I've dreamed of having the perfect complexion since I was about 12. I'm still not there. I'm going to be 50 and still breaking out, I just know it.
Before I describe the sock hop, I want to take a moment to recap our week. Hans is out and about, conferring with some foreign army somewhere and eating stuff like goose and drinking vodka every night. A really tough time, I'm sure. Anyway, we're home alone, which is fine because we're never really alone in the C Stairwell. There are always folks coming and going, so I never feel too alone. Just as I am starting to miss Hans a little, he tells me that he's going to be out and about in the foreign country for another few days. Well, we'll get by. Maybe I'll get a good bottle of vodka out of this.
Today was my first experience reading for the kids at the CDC (child development center) here on Patch. Josiah and Annika go over to Panzer Kaserne to their CDC, which occurred because that was the only place they had an opening at the time. So anyway, I read to the toddlers first and learned that next week, I need to sit up on something, because sitting on the floor in the middle of a knot of raucous toddlers...I felt like the prey of the piranha. They were crawling all over me. Books were damaged in the process. The teachers apologized profusely, but I just laughed robustly and patted them on the back...I have a toddler at home. I know all about toddlers.
Then I moved to the part-day preschool room. These kids were amazing. They are Josiah's age. The whole tone of the room was quiet and calm, the teacher was so under control. Wow. I really want to get Josiah into that room. I read them three or four books. They were silent except when I asked them to participate, which I try to do. I try to have little conversations about what's going on in the book, rather than just read the words and turn the pages. I ask them to count things or what they think will happen next. When I finished, I talked to the teacher for awhile...wow, she's great. I really have to get Josiah into that class. Not only would he be with a great teacher who's obviously doing something right, I'd be able to walk him right down the street instead of driving over to the other base.
The last room was full-day preschool. They were OK. There were a lot more of them than in the part-day room and they were a little more wild and unable to sit still. It may have had something to do with my choice of books. I tried desperately to find some children's books that dovetailed with what they were studying: earth-conciousness and recycling. No Hans, I didn't read them "The Skeptic Environmentalist". The few books that I did find were a little dry. Recycling is so boring....
They asked me to come back next week, so I guess I did a pretty good job. I'm going to bring some more exciting books, especially for that last group.
Now, on to the sock hop. This is something I just heard about today. Jen e-mailed me and asked if we wanted to go and turns out, we did and we had a great time. Except for small, evil children who don't listen and run in opposite directions and make me curse under my breath and sweat copiously. We had hot dogs, rootbeer floats, Rice Krispie treats and Josiah's new favorite--Cheetos. I never let him get Cheetos. We eat enough powdered cheese products in this household.
After we were done feasting on processed pork and Cheetos, we all went into the gym and danced our little hearts out. Some of our party were very enthusiastic, namely Annika. She twisted herself dizzy and ran around, getting under the feet of every pre-pubescent bobbysoxer there. I was very impressed by the amount of effort folks put into their costumes. Sigh. Maybe someday I'll be that mother who finds out about the sock hop eight hours in advance and still manages to bedazzle a felt poodle, affix it to a skirt and find a pair of saddle shoes. Seriously, I swear I saw someone there with a crinoline. Who keeps that kind of stuff in their closet? Especially when we move every two years!
There was one 10-ish boy walking around with his hair all greased and ducktailed. Best part of his costume? The unlit Marlboro stuck in the corner of his mouth. Wow. Mom and Dad, congrats on taking it a litttttttle too far. Hopefully I'll never be that parent. But then again, you can always count on Rachel to take it a little too far, so stay tuned!
Comments
Your teaching time sounded great. I agree with your mom - except for the ghost part. :-)
We call the powdered cheese "Carcinogen Cheese". Not that that ever stops us from making Smac. Or eating Cheetos.