Students Must Get Bored Without Toys

For those unaware, I have been on occasion teaching a class or two at a local university that is also my alma mater (I guess I've officially been accepted as faculty because lo and behold I've even been listed on their website).  I had some business to take care of at school yesterday so after my day job, I picked Lil Bit up from her grandparents' house and we headed to school.  She was eager to see where I taught as she understood I was a teacher of big kids.  (She has made her own declaration that she wants to one day be a teacher, but a teacher of small kids and not big kids).

We walked over to the new Art Building where I hold class and looked at the classroom...a large room with stadium style desk seating and a large white board and projector screen at the front of the room.  We walked in and she looked around; I could see the disappointment on her face.  She had formed her opinion of the room and that was that, she was ready to go.

Later that evening as we were preparing for bed she asked me, "where do they put the toys?"  I asked her what toys she was talking about and she clarified that she was asking about the toys for my classroom, inquiring, "don't the big kids get bored?"  I laughed, of course they do...that's why they play on their phones half the class.  I mentally took a step back and looked at my classroom through the eyes of a four year old whose experience with school was preschool, a place where there isn't an inch of space not covered in a colorful and fun manner.  I told her that my kids didn't get toys in school...she couldn't hide the unmistakable expression of sympathy on her face.  She promptly spoke up and said, "I'll sell you some of my toys so the big kids can have something play with at school."  I again had to laugh, it was such a sincere and kind thought (and have I not already paid for those toys?). I of course told her it was a good idea and she should tell me which toys I could buy.  She pondered and decided she couldn't really part with many of them and said, "I can sell you one toy and the big kids can share!"  In the end though, she decided she couldn't part, just yet, with any of her toys and the big kids will just have to be bored...but I have always heard it is supposed to be the thought that counts.

Let the Jealousy Begin

I thought the 4 of us were napping together (me, Yadi, Bella, and Riley). In fact, when the phone rang to wake me the four of us were still snuggled in bed like one cozy happy family.

When I got out of bed I noticed some stuffed animal "residue" at the foot of the bed. It wasn't there when I went to lay down!



I decided to inspect further after seeing from afar, some disturbance in the nursery. I am sad to report that there is a sheep down. I repeat, WE HAVE A SHEEP DOWN! [Ok, so we really only have a sheep missing a hoof, excuse me for dramatizing]



I suspect this is a random act of violence. I placed the sheep in a low post on a shelf and I have what I suspect is a bored bulldog (aka Bella). The combination can be, and is obviously lethal.

I should have known, Bella is already competing for toys!

NaBloPoMo Day 15 Post 12 - Delayed Jack

I'm terrible at keeping up with this posting you see! Ah well, one more thing I'm lousy at, just add her to the list! So when I came in to write today I thought I'd go back through my old unposted compositions, of which I found the following...

Imagine if you will, a large Jack-in-the-box. No, not the kind that is associated with fast food; but instead a very colorful toy! Imagine it to be about 10 feet high (or about 2 times your height) with the same length and width. The very colorful and giant box is decorated with all sorts of crazy images of your desire and has a crank to one side for winding up the Jack that lazily rests inside waiting to startle you as he wishes. I'm sure you can think of all sorts of interesting ways to turn the crank if you just let your mind wander. My first thought is to stand on a stool with the crank at its highest position; jump onto the crank and let the kinetic energy from the ride down carry it back up. Return to the top and repeat! The music to go along is certainly very much like circus music! Anyway, let's fast forward to the point where Jack comes hurdling out of the box! Let's say that Jack jumps out and in doing so, throws handfuls and really more like cannonfuls of confetti! But let's pretend that every piece of confetti has to be picked up and put back into the box!

You see, this is how I feel about a particular job I am working on, in fact, the phrase in today's meeting that made me think of this metaphor was "we have to put all the pieces back in the box". You might notice now how I jumped right to the Jack-in-the-box imagery. Of course in my imagery I see two or three men in suits running around at the box grabbing confetti like it's money, shoving it where they can to collect it all simply to get it back in the box. It won't matter to them if the confetti gets torn and trampled, so long as it ends up back in the box.