Shi-Tzu

While waiting in the hall outside of the kindergarten room, I waited for a little girl to complete a series of questions asked by the kindergarten teacher. As I stood in the hall I listened intently to hear the questions and answers. The shy little girl was unusually talkative that day, and she was adding much more to the conversation than simple answers to the direct questions asked by the teacher. When the little girl told the teacher that Panda knocked coloring books and drawings down from the refrigerator, the teacher became curious. She began asking questions since Panda is an unusual name for any pet.

The teacher asked the little girl if Panda was a dog. She said, "No, Panda is our cat, but we have a dog. He is a Shi-Tzu." The little girl unnaturally drew out the word Shi-Tzu, and I breathed a sigh of relief when she finished - until her next comment. She then informed the teacher that he shit all over the house! All I could do was blurt out, Alyssa! I was laughing so hard. She said it in all seriousness. I couldn't stop chuckling to myself. The teacher was smiling when I entered the room after the interview. I told her she could probably write a book on the funny things kindergartners say, but she went on with the discussion as if nothing had happened.

And how was your day?

Why can't you keep a secret?

Everyone at some point has told a child a secret in the hopes that they will keep it just that...a secret. In my case, I did something that a child witnessed and had no idea this child would spill the beans.

One afternoon, while babysitting my precious niece, I decided that we would go fishing. Earlier in the day, I had drank a couple of energy drinks followed by a diet pepsi. Now everyone knows that there are usually no restroom facilities out in the middle of nowhere; not even a porta potty, especially when you need one.

At the end of our trip, after holding it for several hours, I just couldn't hold it anymore. While nobody was looking (or I thought no one was looking) I crouched behind a vehicle and did my business. Around the corner comes that sweet innocent niece of mine; taking one look at me and then screaming "Aunt Heather, you are supposed to go pee pee in the potty!" I tried explaining to her that sometime you just have to go where you can but she just didn't understand.

Of course my fiance' comes running because he thinks there is something wrong. By this time I was done but not in time for me to get my pants up before he could see what I was doing. Even if I did get my pants up in time, my niece started blabbing once she saw him.

I didn't think about it again. Well, until my sister called. She explained to me that my niece had just gone to the bathroom outside. I tried to act surprised but that didn't work. She then proceeded to tell me that my niece's response to her outside bathroom inquiry was "But, Aunt Heather said you just go where you can!"

I wanna make a .....

I work with pre-schoolers for a couple of hours every afternoon. It's always a nice stress reliever after working with school age children all day.


We do alot of art projects because it is the end of the day and it is a nice way to wind the kids down. I've been helping these little pre-K preciouses create collages. They find pictures of toys they like to play with or toys they want, food they like to eat, pictures of animals, and pictures of clothes. After they find all the pictures, we paste them on construction picture. The children love making collages and especially love hanging them in the classroom for others to see.


On this particular day, I was helping a child make a collage. All the other children were playing in different centers. It was really quiet in the room, when suddenly a little girl runs over and says..."Hey! I wanna make a camoflague!"


I laughed so hard for a couple of minutes and then another child said, "Camoflague? That's what my dad wears to go hunting. Are you going hunting?...pause...You can make clothes?" Oh lord how I love the minds of little ones!

Suddenly all the children wanted to make their own clothing. Have you ever set a group of 4 and 5 year olds down and explained to them the difference between camoflague and collage? Yeah, it doesn't matter how you go about it, they still don't understand.

For now though, we still call our collage masterpieces...camoflagues!

Am I brown or white?

I haven't posted in a while but here is a good one to think about...

Everyone who knows me, knows that I have the cutest three year-old niece on the face of the Earth (not that I am biased or anything). I am so busy all the time that I don't get to spend as much time with her as I would like. When I do get to spend time with her, it is oh so precious to me.That being said, today I had the privilege of having her for a few quality hours.

DaNee' is mulatto; her mother is Caucasian and her father is African-American, so obviously her skin color is darker than mine. As we sat watching "Where The Wild Things Are", the following conversation took place between the two of us:

DaNee': Heather, I'm brown
Me: Yes you are
DaNee': Are you brown like me?
Me: No I am white
DaNee' (very confused): You're white?
Me: Yes
DaNee': But, your hair is brown
Me: Yes but my skin is white

She sat the rest of the day next to me, holding her arm next to mine comparing our skin color.

This intrigued me and left me wondering about the following questions: What goes on in the minds of little people? Did I confuse her? Was she talking about hair color or skin color?

Did she really just ask me that?

"Out of the mouths of babes." Who hasn't heard this saying before?

Monday, February 15th 2010:

I never quite know what to expect from my students when I walk into the classroom every day. This day in particular was like any other.

It was President's day, so of course we read books and talked about past Presidents. When we were discussing Abraham Lincoln, the students were in awe over the fact that he was shot while attending a play at a theatre. They asked questions such as "Why did he get shot" and "who shot him." One student even made the comment that he was shot in the head. As we continued our discussion, a little girl eagerly raised her hand. She is usually quiet during class discussions, so I was happy to call on her. However, I wasn't prepared for her question.

"Ms. Sangwin, do you remember when Abraham Lincoln was shot?" I will admit right now that I am a person of many words, but at this point in time I was speechless. I didn't know whether to ignore the question or roll on the floor hysterically laughing. I chuckled and composed myself enough to answer her innocent question. My response, "I love you sweetheart but if I were alive when Lincoln was shot, that would make me over 150 years old." Her response, "I see. Yeah you don't look that old." What would you do next?

Quickly I announced, "It is now time for silent reading."