Last Day (Again)

We had our rocking Preschool Holiday Program and PR2 / Likhwa's Last Day / T's Last Day / My Last Day Party Day on Friday. We made cookies, balloon people, glitter paintings, and party hats. We also ate huge amounts of cake provided by Likhwa, Emma, and Jack/Hugo/Syddy's shopping skills.

When I said goodbye to Mia (who is the best-spoken two-year-old in the whole entire world), her mum said that she's never seen Mia love someone as much and as quickly as she loves me. Which was the sweetest thing in the world for her to say. Even if I have a simple explanation for it. In the words of LMC:
I'd go back for one day just for the ego stroke.
When everyone in the whole center thinks I'm awesome, even kids who've never met me are bound to agree starting right then. It always wears off though!

I wrote goodbyes to J/H/S in their books, including a new update of what Hugo is into right at this present moment in time. Things like:

Likes:
riding his bike on the concrete
throwing things into the playroom from preschool
Hugo in the preschool room
cookies

Dislikes:
riding his bike on the bike path
the playroom
food that's not fishbites or cookies.

In addition, here's a list of things I've said in the last 24 hours or anticipate saying in the next that will confuse anyone in SA all to hell (and their origins):

Hugo: Oh no [insert something that has fallen, eg 'oh no stars' or, more likely, something that Hugo has dropped, eg 'oh no orange', or 'oh no tana toast' or, and this is not not within the bounds of possibility, something ceramic that Hugo has somehow taken the lid off and dropped it to the floor and smashed it into a million pieces such as 'oh no toilet'].

Connor: Behind you! (Even if said thing that he's pointing to is next to you or over there or even right in front of you.)

Connor: This one! (Said when he's choosing something, as in the following conversation:
K: Here Connor do you want your smoothie?
Connor: NO. (Another patented Connor phrase.)
K: Do you want my banana one then?
Connor: This one! (Pointing to my smoothie.)

Which leads me to...

K: Yeah no.

and...

D's pajama's from Pajama Party Day: Let me think about it. Ummm, no!

D and I: 1234...Hi5!

edited to add:
"i NEED you to ..." (hugo)
and
signing things like 'finished' and 'ready' and 'orange' at people who don't quite understand.

Preschool Holiday Program Teacher: Blah blah blah and there will be hand and foot painting on the verandah.
Liam: And if the teacher says wow you put it on the wall!

***

The Rents: Come on kids, we're going shopping.
Jack: We need [it's frickin contagious] to go cake shopping.
Me: Sounds good to me. Hey Jack, you can buy me one too.
Jack: Ok.
Me: Do you some money?
Jack: Yep.
Me: Oh, well, that makes one of us. Have fun shopping.

Next day, guess what we have for afternoon tea? Yep, chocolate cake. Turns out the kids went and got it and wouldn't let The Rents put it back. "We need to buy a cake for Missy. It's Missy's cake." Ha ha HA.

Thanks, kids. You are the BESTEST.

First Day Back (Again)

"Hi Jake! I'm Missy! Get off the concrete!"
[Cue T and D pissing themselves laughing.]

Emma: My dad's on a work trip. It's cold. He has to wear lots and lots of clothes.
Jessie: Well, he can't wear no clothes.

Also had a heaps long chat with Anastasia who will never talk to ask you something but when her and Jessie and I had been messing around on the cushions for a while she wouldn't shut up. Jack is much more articulate now, and there's a new girl called Mia who is incredibly well-spoken for such a young kid. There's also a new kid called Tylar who I've decided will be a rugby player when he grows up, but a really sweet one. Syddy did her fake-coy thing for a while but of course got over it. Emma and Jessie hung off me all day which I'm hoping they'll be over by tomorrow. And we had signing class after work which was good as I'd forgotten some and got to learn some new ones. Let's hope the novelty of being back doesn't wear off for another few weeks!

Ring-ring!

Called T's mobile yesterday during inside time so I could talk to all the kids I miss so much teach them a valuable life lesson about how to talk on the phone.

It was so funny. I swear Emma said some random name when I asked who it was. I had no idea I was talking to her. Jessie was pretty good. First thing she said: "Missy? I miss you." All together now: Awww. Syddy was so cute. T said she would like curl up and do this cuuute head tilt and just laugh every time I said something.

Hugo saw my pic on the caller ID thing, and was all, "Hello Missy!" Hehe. Then I sang the ABC Song with him. Next time we'll do the rainbow song. And then maybe the Bear Hunt.

Didn't get to talk to the preschoolers but we'll do a pm call one time so I can. Mum said I'm back on the invite list for Damon's party so I might get a good convo out of him. And Jack will be hilarious I hope.

I miss them, but they've moved on. And I will too. Soon. Promise.

Brrrmm

It was my scooter's last day today.

Jack, Sydney and Hugo each got one last sit on AND an actual ride on it.

I know. I'm awesome right?!

Jack: You drive me to your house now.

***

I've got Syd trained to say she's coming on a plane with me to live in Adelaide. She told the rents this PLUS added that she needs to buy a ticket. Dude, I was just going to stash you in the suitcase, or maybe have you flash that grin and get yourself on free.

***

While talking about Adelaide, Hugo had this to say:

"No Missy Adelaide. Missy and Hugo. No M Adelaide!"

Sorry kid. There's only so much room in the suitcase.

Tania vs Hugo

Scene: Lunchtime.

Cast: Thousands. (Ok, so it wasn't quite. It was 16 which is as much as we ever have, and about ten more than we ever want. But it felt like it because - )

Noise: Deafening.

Menu: Pumpkin soup.

Aaaand, cue T:


T: "ALL RIGHT, LISTEN UP! THRE'S ONLY ENOUGH FOR ONE SPOON EACH, SO IF YOU DROP YOUR SPOON, THAT'S IT, YOU'RE DONE. UNDERSTAND SYDNEY?! DO NOT DROP YOUR SPOONS."

*Thunderous, stunned silence from all the kids*

Broken by..

Hugo flinging his cup. It bounces to the floor just at the end of T's majestic speech.

D and I piss ourselves laughing, while all the kids are incredibly confused.

Hehe get it?

Hugo is lately obsessed with the drains in the sinks and bathroom floor.

Hugo: Drain.
Me: Yes Hugo it's a drain. It's dirty. Come and wash your hands please.
Hugo: Round white drain.
Me: Yes that's right.
Hugo [cos I'm not allowed to just agree]: One round white drain.
Me [cos I have to echo]: Yes Hugo, it's a round white drain. Wash hands?

Hugo: Orange drain [and absolutely cracks up laughing. And laughing. And laughing].

Cos it's not orange. But he said it was. But it's not... get it? He made a joke. It's funny. Right?

Logic

Damon, Hailey and Syd were playing under one of the tables.

M (yelling across the room, as she does): Damon! Hailey! Sydney! We don't hide under the tables.

Damon: Where can we hide then?

Lost in Translation

I don't even go to work and I come home with a story. Geez.

I'd been at the blood bank donating, come out, and sat to have a drink and a chocolate. A mother had been donating at the same time as me and we ended up at the same table, along with her two girls, I'm thinking 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 and their ten-month-old baby brother. The nurse woman comes out, gives us our drinks and two lollipops to the two girls.

The baby is chatting away to himself next to the elder of the two girls (Sarah. The other one was Charlotte, in case anyone's interested.) She listens to him for a little while, then turns back to the table and says "Connor wishes he could have a lollipop too." Their mother goes "Do babies eat lollipops?" (obviously an old conversation, as the two replied in near unison.) "Noo," shaking their heads. Sarah thinks about this for a while then tells us,

"Connor says he has a lollipop in his dreams."

Enough Said

Faith: T, Liam said "butt".
T: Faith, just don't worry about it, everyone has one.
[then to me] Watch this.
[then to Emma] Hey Em, you have a big butt don't you?
Emma: Yes, I have a big butt.
T and I crack up laughing but Emma's not done yet.
Emma: I have sand.

LOL!!!

Six Degrees

You know how sometimes, you find yourself thinking about something, and you realise you don't know how you got there from what you had been thinking about?

Rest-time. A sound like a chainsaw starts up. Of course. They couldn't do it when the kids were awake. S and I go to have a look at what it is. Yep, chainsaw. Cutting up some of the wood from the tree stump they'd cut down.

I go back over to Mark, who tells me: "If there's one ring, the tree's one year old. If there's two rings, the tree's two years old. If there's three rings..."

Amazing.

More Sage Advice

I had my left elbow bandaged following a slight mishap with a bike, and consequently had to endure about seven thousand "What happend?"s.

Mark: "What happened?"
Me: "I have a sore on my elbow."
Mark: "Why?"
Me: "I fell off my bike."

Mark: "You need to be careful."

Gee thanks.

A Different Planet

So we're having afternoon snack, frozen yoghurt cones. I have the director at my table, which was packed full of kids, as well as two parents who'd come to pick up their kids but were hanging around til we'd finished eating. Slurping. Whatever.

They're all being impossibly loud, and I'm frantically trying to get cones for all of them, charm the parents, and look competant in front of the director, who wasn't helping a whole lot).Although she did later. Anyway... Out of nowhere:

Damon: Is the bunny asleep?
Me: ignoring him, while I concentrate on getting a cone to another hungry kid. No one else answers him, so I decide I should. I'm sorry Damon?
Damon: Why is that bunny asleep?
No it didn't make any more sense when I was actually paying attention. I look at Alison. Nope, I'm on my own with this one.
Me: What bunny is that Damon?
Damon: That one.

The box of cones had a picture of an ice cream in a cone on it. It had two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. No long ears. No whiskers. No fluffy tail. I swear, the kid lives on a different planet.

I just noticed that all my posts seem to be about Damon. This is both suprising and unsuprising. He really does sees things differently. He will grow up to be Gabriel, I'm sure. But I really thought Hugo would provide more food for thought.

Sage advice

So I'd scraped my knee open the night before. Some chick (who plays for Jets) rammed her finger in my eye, I fell over, hence the bandaid on my knee the next day at work.

Scene: Me, Mark, and Damon, sitting cross-legged on the floor, building vehicles.

M/D: What's that?
Me: It's a bandaid.
D: Why? [ok, this is a really bad habit he need to get out of.]
Me: I fell over yesterday and hurt my knee.
D: Why? [see what I mean?]
Me: Cos a girl poked her finger in my eye.
[ok i was fully expecting 'why?' in a whiny tone of voice, but he surprised me]
D: What kind of girl? [what kind of question is that?]
Me: A jet girl.
D: Orh. Was she in a jet? [points for not assuming]
Me: No she just had a jet on her shir.
D: Orh. Why?
Me: Well, I don't she meant to.
D: [very firmly] You should tell her to stop.
Me: I think it was an accident, Damon.
[this is where they both jumped in, to tell me how to be more assesertive and in control of my own life. they were so concerned that i might not know how to deal with this kind of situation]
M&D: No, you need to tell her STOP. You don't like it.*

*This is the phrase we encourage them to use when dealing with each other. Everyone does. Repeatedly. And usually at high volume. Sometime on the verge of tears. But their concern for me, that I might not have heard of this magic phrase, was touching.

Talk about nothing...

The preschool has planted a garden. Watermelons, tomatos, things like that.

So all the kids were standing around looking at it, pointing out what had been planted, big discussions and plans going on. When there a was a lull in the chatter, Damon takes a step back from the fence, sits down, and very deliberately says:

"I'm just going to watch them grow."

For the Fish

With kids, it pays to be specific:

Damon comes over to where I'm sitting with Emma on my lap.
D: Is this a lemon?
Me: Yes Damon, it's a lemon.
D: Ohh. Do you want a bite?
Me: Yes please. [chewing sounds] Yum. Thanks Damon.
D: Emma, do you want a bite?
E: No. [totally uninterested]
D: [holding it up to her mouth] Emma, do you want a bite?
E: No!
Me: Damon, I don't think she wants any.
D: Ohh.
Me: Maybe if you put it on some fish.
D: Ohh.

[holding his hands together at ground level with the lemon in his palms.

D: Here, little fishies, do you want some?

Birthdays

Jack just had his birthday. He's a big kid now. The conversation the whole day was about his party, and the other kids' plans for theirs.

It started out ok.
Jack: It's my birthday!
Me: Really? Wow etc
Nicholas: I'm going to your party hey Jack?
Jack: Yep.
[Followed by all the other kids checking to see if they were coming. Jack going around the table saying everyone's names and that they could come.]
Me: Can I come?
Jack and Nicholas exchange glances: No. [Cheeky grins.]
Me: [Very disappointed.] Why not?
Jack: [Searching for a reason.] Cos no girls!
Me: What about T?
Jack: No, she's a girl.
Me: What about A?
Jack: No, she's a girl.
I refrained from telling him I was having a girl's only party and he couldn't come, so there.

Clearly I missed a bit, because when I came back from my break, they were all at late afternoon snack, and Jack and Nicholas were telling everyone they saw that:
"Sexy boys and sexy girls are coming to my party."

I really should have asked for a definition.

It's Contagious...

Cos cos cos cos cos.

She says it all the time. Annoying, not to mention doubly so as it's contagious. T and I always find ourselves doing it too on the days Molly's here.

Also her never-ending "My mum's coming to pick me up?" which she's got some of the other kids asking too. It's not like she doesn't know the answer either. I think she just wants the reassurance.

I had to laugh though. I think it was something like her second day here. First day we'd let her sook a bit as she was new. This day though I wasn't going to go through a whole day with her crying so I went the the day's schedule with her:

"First we're going to have a play outside, then we'll go inside, then we'll have lunch and a sleep, then you'll wake up, then we'll all go and have a play outside and a snack and then... you're mum's gonna come and pick up!"

She seemed happy with the plan.

"So you wanna go on the swings now?" Hopeful of me I know. Unfortunately, it was not to be.

"Can you tell me that story again?"

Gotta love it.