breathmint anyone?

boy 1: "hey, come 'on!"

boy 2: "your breath smells like transformers."

boy 1: (strange out of the corner of his eye look at boy 2)

names

we were talking about the origin of names the other day and one of the teachers said, "names come from all different places..." to which the kids interrupted with "like the zoo?" "and north carolina?" "and new york?" "and outer space!!!"

sure.

i asked some of the children what i should name my baby. some of my favorites are:

pocahontas, angel, star, tomato, space girl, snowman, snowflake, apple, pingo, cook, macaroni and cheese and jesus.

i like space girl the best so far. what do you think?

baby boom

so i told the families i'm pregnant a couple of weeks ago and it's pretty much been a buzz among the children ever since. lots of thoughts about this little baby of mine. i brought an ultrasound to show the kiddos and a couple kids had some interesting ideas about what it looked like.

suzy: "your baby looks like a fuzzball!"
billy: "it looks like a coffee maker!"

one day out of the blue billy came up to me and said, "you need a baby bath!" "a what?" i wondered. "a baby bath. it's where people come and give you things for your baby!" i thought he might be confused. "do you mean a baby SHOWER?" he looked at me puzzled. "no! i mean a baby BATH!"

i guess i'm the confused one.

did rapunzel have this problem?

i asked suzy if she liked short hair or long hair. she replied with,

"i like short hair. my aunt has long hair and one time she peed on it. it went all the way down to her labia."

isn't that a jewel song?

we were all out on the playground and my fours classes all like to play chase. all of them will chase each other around the whole half-hour we're outside and never get tired of it...well almost all of them.

"wait a minute, guys. stop! i've had about enough of these FOOLISH games!" billy says while doing that motion with both hands towards the ground like, "calm down."

happy easter! but...

as i finished telling the story of easter to my threes class, one boy raises his hand and says,

"but where's the eggs?!"

i guess those bible writers forgot that part.

thankful

i realized yesterday as i was telling one of my favorite quotes to some friends that i never posted it here. it was during november and we were talking all about what we're thankful for.

i asked suzy what she was thankful for and she said, "my mom and my dad and god...he's my husband-i mean, GIRLFRIEND!"

and you've got to imagine that she's being DEAD SERIOUS.

terminology

remember the girl who was wearing a body part apron and pointed to her intestines and said, "this is where i poops"?

well, yesterday she decided to be a little more specific by pointing to the intestines on our mannequin and letting us know that is was called a "pee-gyna."

good to know.

anatomically correct

we have an apron of sorts that has stuffed body parts with velcro keeping them in place (so you can put it on and see where all your parts are.)

a little girl puts it on and i point to the stomach and ask her what it is.

"my tummy!"

then i ask her about her lungs.

"my lungs!"

after we're done with the conversation, she starts telling one of her friends all her parts while pointing to them. "...and this is where i poops!" she says pointing to the intestines.

grey-ish anatomy

pointing to the part of a mannequin with body parts you can take out and put back in (you know, like the ones you see in science class in high school) i ask the children what i'm pointing to.

no response.

"they help you breathe" i say as i point to both lungs.

"BOOBS!" one boy shouts.

so trashy

two boys playing in the home center start a conversation after one puts on the construction outfit.

"i'm a garbage man!" says the first boy decked out in all his gear and then some.

to which the other boy exclaims, "then why do you have a camera around your neck? i don't think people want pictures of their trash!"

what would you bring baby jesus?

we were talking to the children about what the three wise men brought to baby jesus when he was born and then we asked the children what they might bring if they were going to give a gift to jesus. here are an assortment of answers from my four and five-year-olds.

"a big hug."

"i'm gonna bring lucy, my puppy. she will slobber."

"hola kitty boots."

"gold racecars and stuff. and playdoh." to which another child responds, "jesus might eat playdoh."

"i'm gonna bring gold and frankinsence. if i can find a real 'x' and a stick i could give it to baby jesus but he might eat that stick."

"i would give him a light-saver, it's a sword. do you think he would want that billy?" to which billy responds, "it might be too big for him."

"a bag of stickers. how 'bout that?"

"a fish. one that looks like nemo."

"i don't know...i JUST. DON'T. KNOW!"

billy, mary, whatever

one little boy really likes to wear the new dresses we have in the home center and he really likes to be mary and hold the baby jesus.

i ask who he is (because i just can't resist his scratchy little three-year-old voice)

"i'm mary. i'm gonna have a baby today." he says in a sparkly dress and angel wings.

jesus was born where?

we've been talking a lot about christmas in our class (since we are a christian preschool) and i've gotten some pretty interesting reponses to my questions.

me: "who was jesus' dad?"
child: "joe-fish!"

me: "where was jesus born?"
child: "in a sta...stadium!"

me: "what was the angel's name who told mary she was going to have a baby?"
child: "gab-ah-reel!"

and we also have changed our home center from a kitchen to a stable with a manger and hay and a baby jesus. there's lots of clothes for the kids to dress like mary and joseph and angels. one little girl puts on an angel outfit every day and i ask, "who are you?"

"i'm the angel gabriel!" she replies.

"do you have a message for mary?" i ask. then she runs over to whomever is dressed as mary and shouts,

"mary, mary, you're gonna have a baby and his name's gonna be JESUS!" and she giggles and smiles the biggest smile.

tell and show

during show and tell today, someone was telling about their ariel doll (you know ariel from the little mermaid?) little suzy raises her hand and "asks" a question:

"i really like your ariel doll. i like her hair. and i like her ::boobies::" she whispers toward the end.

i tried not to laugh because i sensed she was trying to evoke that response.

::boobies::

pumpkin head

we were talking with the kids today about our trip to the pumpkin patch coming up next friday. while we were sitting at "circle time" they were all abuzz with comments and questions. as we moved on to snack and were sitting at the table, i asked my friends sitting with me what kind of pumpkin they thought they would choose.

one said he wanted a little tiny one, another said she wanted one as big as her dad and billy said,

"i want one the exact shape of my head!" he said as he motioned his hands around his head like measurements.

o-kay!

everyone has a different version of beautiful...

billy was gathering his things to leave class today and his dad told him they needed to go pick someone up at the airport. billy looks up at me and says,

"it's beautiful. the airport is."

and as i'm asking to make sure he said the airport was beautiful he looks at the clock behind me and says,

"oh no! we gotta go, we're gonna be late!"

(i assure you he cannot tell time yet. he is a VERY young three.)

"okay," i say as he rushes away. "bye!"

"see you in a couple days!" he says over his shoulder. "alright?"

yeah, it's alright with me.

i'm goin' to disneyland!

i walked two three year old boys to the bathroom the other day and one chose the toilet, the other chose the urinal. i walked back to the classroom, then came back a minute later to check on them. i hear the flush of the urinal and then,

"oh, cooool! it's like splash mountain!"

i thought i heard him wrong. i peeked in and he looked at me and said,

"it's like splash mountain at disneyland!"

funny, i remember it a little diferently.

Who's the boss?

Since the start of school this week I've been called Many different names. "Mr. Bachman" "Mrs. Bock-a -Min" "Ms. BlockMin" and My personal favorite, "Mrs. bossman" oh yes, he who is young is wise.

tea time

while visiting with a young student-to-be, we sat down for a lovely tea party. I asked her,

"what kind of tea is this?" to which she replied,

"beer." to which her mother replied,

"did she just say BEER?!" and turned all shades of red. i assured her she needn't worry, as the "beer tea" in question was very good.

mr. bachman

so i have a new job now...i don't work with 2 and 3 year olds anymore. now i work with 3 and 4 year olds at a different school. long story. i'll tell you about it sometime. point is, i'm doing what we call "home visits" for all the children coming into my class in september.

i go to the child's home and we play or have snack, whatever for about an hour. so far it's been fun and pretty mellow. the other day, i met a very vibrant young lady who liked to say my name over and over...sort of.

"mister bachman, mister bachman, missus bachman...come here mister bachman." she kept saying as she ran from one room to the other.

"here i am! i'm mrs. bachman!" i would try to correct subtly.

"oh, hi mister bachman!" she said with her big blue eyes staring up at me.

just like the skunk from bambi would say, "she can call me mister bachman if she wants to."

she works hard for the money...

this is actually from a couple of weeks ago...all the waterpark pictures i took today have the kid's faces in them...and they're all in their bathing suits but i so badly wanted to post the one of them i took when they all hid behind this wall and 'boo'ed me. they were SO stinkin' cute.

yes, this is my job.

love the lyrics

billy's in the bathroom getting dressed...

"les-ee bachmaaaan, leeeeh-seee baaaach-a-maaan! leeeeeh-seeeeee baaaach-aaaaah-maaaaan!"

except about twenty more times and louder than you might be thinking.

"look i made a footprint"

hello, i'm leslie bachman

i walked in to class today to find out that i had already arrived. my co-teacher said, "leslie bachman's already here." one girl really likes to pretend my name is hers and i knew just where to find her.

i met up with suzy in the bathroom as she was getting her sunscreen on.

"hello, i'm suzy suzington!" i said (except that i used her actual name).

"oh, hi. i'm leslie bachman." she said with a giggle.

"well, i guess i can go home now. see you later!" to which she got a horrified look on her face and begged me not to go home.

yeah, they are pretty big flip-flops to fill.

girls have a 'gyna

in the middle of eating lunch suzy exclaims to me, "i don't have a pee-pee. i'm a girl, i have a 'gyna...wanna see? girls have a 'gyna. i have a 'gyna today."

the lord's prayer

"i have a book called, 'the lord of the prayer.'" suzy tells me.

"oh, can i see it?" she shows me and i read the title, "the story of the lord's prayer. hmm...who is 'the lord'?" i ask.

"he's god." she answers.

"who's god?" i push, wondering what the next answer will be.

"oh, he's my mom's brother."

hot pants

i was helping suzy button her pants when she said,

"sometimes you have to stick your tummy in. these pants might be gettin' too small. i might need to get some new styles!"

lunch

"what did you have for lunch today?" a teacher asks suzy who arrived late to school.

"hot chicken...and juice."

then she comes to me and i ask what kind of hot chicken she had. she said, "actually i had fish heads and elephant toenails...and worms."

i don't know WHERE she gets that from...probably one of her crazy teachers.

a new last name...again?

suzy and i are playing when she says "i'm leslie blockman!"

"it's leslie BACHMAN!" i tell her, "like a chicken says, 'bock-bock'"

"leslie bock-bock. i'm leslie block-in-min!" after i stop giggling and nodding my head in disaproval she says, "knock-knock."

"who's there?" i ask tentitively.

"leslie bachman!" she says.

"leslie bachman who?" I ask, wondering what the punchline could possibly be.

she hesitates for a moment with a concerned look on her face. "actually," she says, "i'm leslie tree!"

hmm...maybe that could be my stage name.