Playdoh Consumption

Preschool is going really well.  I originally started out with only the 2 older rooms and I divided them up into 3 different days.  Since the kids are so young I wanted to keep the groups small so that I could give each child more attention.  However, they have adjusted very well to going to school and are really becoming great with the routine I have set up.  Since they are doing so well, I have increased the amount of kids that I take at one time and am going to start taking the Batos to see how they do.  They all are getting older and could benefit from the attention and stimulation that I provide at school.  Hopefully it will go well.  They are really young, all under one, but it will be good for them to learn to play with toys and start having stories read to them and songs sung to them on a regular basis.

One of the hardest parts of school is getting there.  School is about 100 yards (maybe more I am horrible at guessing) away from the baby house.  Most of the children don't walk, and so I have to put all the kids in a wagon to get them there.  I am sure it's a spectacle to watch.  On an average day, I will have 4 little ones in the wagon, two walking, and one in my arms.  I always work up a sweat transporting the children to and from school.  It's kind of a bumpy ride getting there, but the kids love it.  Normally it isn't too bad, but after it rains it gets pretty wet and mushy and it's a pain to get there.  We would like to extend our side walk there but are waiting for the finances and hoping that a work group will come down and help us with it.  When Jenny first mentioned that she wanted a side walk I thought she was crazy, but now I totally understand why.  It would be really nice, someday hopefully!

When we get to school, I take the walkers out of the wagon first, then the crawlers, then I carry in the ones that aren't mobile yet.  They all go in through the gate and sit down on the mats ready to start signing.  I don't even have to ask them to sit down anymore, they do it on their own.  Some days I will have the mat up on the table so that it doesn't get dirty, and the older kids will pull it down and drag it to the middle of the class so that all the kids can sit on it.  I never even told them to do this, they just do it on their own.  When we first started going to school the kids would wonder all over the classroom and I was constantly chasing them and forcing them to sit down.  Now they sit through most of it with out getting up.  They improve each time.

Last week I decided that it would be a good idea to have the kids play with playdoh.  What I didn't think of when I did this is that these children had never seen playdoh before.  This day there were 5 kids at school, 4 of which could play with the playdoh and one who can't because of physical problems.  When I set the playdoh down in front of them, one little boy tried to eat it and I had to run to the other side of the table and pull it out of his mouth.  Even with constant reminders he still would try.  He would look around to see if I was watching and then would pull off the smallest little piece and try to put it in his mouth.  He was so cute trying to be sneaky, but I caught him every time, or at least I thought I had, but several went back with pink stuff in their teeth, so maybe I didn't.  One of the little girls was TERRIFIED of the playdoh.  She screamed, began crying and refused to sit at the table and definitely would not touch it.  I tried to show her that it was ok, but she still didn't want anything to do with it.  Don't worry, she played with it this week and is beginning to like it.  The other little girl was weired out at first, but then tried to steal it from everyone else the rest of the time.  The last little boy thought it would be a good idea to throw his on the ground and across the room constantly.  He has been put in time out several times at school for throwing toys, but is learning that this is not a good idea.

Today we played with playdoh with the younger group.  Before I set a chunk down in front of each child I said "pa manje" "Don't eat it."  This was the second time that everyone in this group had played with it except for one little boy, so most of the group was good with it.  That one boy however, instantly grabbed the playdoh and took a giant bite of it.  I constantly told him no but he kept trying to eat it.  I had to eventually take it away to get him to stop, but gave it back after a few minutes and I am proud to say he didn't try to eat it once after that.  He was so cute today.  He is pretty little and so the table goes up to his chin.  All I could see was his head sticking out over the top.  I love this little boy.  After two weeks of playdoh, I am proud to say that the "playdoh consumption" has decreased substantially and will hopefully continue to go down!!

It makes me nervous having this group sit at the table because although they all sit up on their own, several don't have good balance and I am always afraid someone will fall out of their chair and hit their head on the cement.  So far so good.  Sitting up and keeping their balance is great for them and it is really helping them.

The kids love school SO much.  When I pull the wagon out in the morning, all the kids know what I am going to do, so all the mobile kids run/crawl to the wagon and try to get in.  If they are left behind they cry and try to guilt me into taking them.  Sorry guys, I've gotten used to your cries and it doesn't affect me the same way as short term volunteers, so there will be no giving in from me!!  When we return, the kids who I did take cry and are upset that school is done!

Well this is a really long post so I should go!  More later!!