Today was "Parents Read a Book Day" and they asked for parents to volunteer to come in and read a story with the class. Luckily, it was going to be a slow day in the lab for me, so I signed up for the 9:30 Circle Time to read to the 2s. And of course, there was no point in driving to work for an hour, then turning around and driving 25 minutes to daycare, so this was an excuse to spend an extra 90 minutes at home in the morning, enjoying a coffee, and watching Scandal on my iPad, while Andy dropped Chad off at school at his normal time. What a great way to start a Friday.
When I got to the classroom, the 2's were having a dance party. I watched Chad through the spy window as he and his little friend held hands, jumped up and down, eventually tumbled onto the floor, and then got up to do this over and over. When I opened the door, all the little 2s turned and stared, and Chad came running over. Miss Ashley told them all to sit down for Circle Time, and Chad showed me where to sit and plopped himself right on my lap.
I had debated which Immunology textbook to read a chapter from, but in the end I brought two of Chad's favorite books, and let him pick which to read first. We started with Little Blue Truck, which is a great story about altruism, and the strength of little green toads. I had thought interruptions from Chad during his bedtime stories were bad, but that was nothing compared to a classroom full of 2s. Every time an animal made a noise in the book, someone would shout out that they saw the animal in the picture. And when we got to the page about the big important dump truck coming through, the place went nuts, pointing out all the toy trucks in the room. (It was truck week last week, so there were lots of trucks.) Meanwhile, Tyler was crying because Ryan was sitting too close to him, Michael wanted to interrupt to show me that he had a train on his shirt, and we all had to stop while Miss Ashley asked Bella to please stop banging her head into the cabinet because she was going to hurt herself.
We got through Little Blue Truck, and everyone learned the important lesson that you should be nice to animals in case you need them when you get stuck in the mud, and then we all made big muscles like the green toad.
Next I read them another of Chad's favorites, Llama Llama Mad at Mama. In this classic, Llama Llama gets very whiny because Mama Llama takes too long at Shop-o-Rama. One of the little boys interrupted to tell us all that he sometimes goes shopping with his Daddy, and there was some general discussion about who shops where and with whom. When I got to the line about "Pull and wiggle, itch and cough," Chad participated by providing coughing sound effects. The book had a happy ending, with Llama Llama getting his treat, and all the little 2s clapped.
As Circle Time ended, Chad said, "Jacket?" and I had to tell him that he still had a whole day at school to go. He seemed to understand, and went to go sit with Miss Ashley instead. I hope they have another "Parents Read a Book Day" soon, but they have a lot of other things to celebrate. (Next week there is a "George W. Carver Day", which seems a bit advanced for 2s.)
When he's not at daycare, Chad has been keeping busy with some other activities:
A few weeks ago, he made the birds some bird seed and gelatin treats (another Pinterest creation!). We made one that was heart-shaped, and one that was atom-shaped, and the birds have been munching away!
And we also went to see the Greatest Show on Earth-- the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey circus!
It will probably be another month before I find time to update this again... So... see you in March!
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