Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut, Sometimes You're In Preschool

Here's the thing about having a third kid. They're different. They're awesome but they're different. When my first child was in preschool, a sweeter and more innocent flower you could never find. Sure she was tough and stubborn, but she was also protected from all the influences that could warp her precious young mind. She is now nearly 10 years and still gets upset when people say the "s" word. She thinks the "s" word is "stupid".

Mini is now 4. She can drop the F-bomb in front of her dad with aplomb. She is just as much a sweet little muffin as her siblings were. In some ways, she's even more so because she's the baby. But whereas the big kids were singing "The Wheels on the Bus" and watching Caillou, she is hanging out with her older siblings and their friends and as a result - she is a very different kind of four year old.


Here's a little story to illustrate what I'm talking about. Mini is in an acting class at her preschool (taught by a very talented family friend). They're doing an exercise where they run around a little bit and then FREEZE. Whatever movement they're frozen in - they then have to describe. What it is, what it means, what it makes them feel like.

So there they are, all the precious little pre-schoolers running around and giggling and having fun and.... Freeze! Mini stops. Her legs are straight and open, making her pudgy body into the shape of an "A". Her arms are also straight and right in front of her, hands clasped together. When it's her turn to describe her movement, she quickly turns her hands into little round fists and starts waggling them back and forth, right in front of her pants.

Mini: [proudly] "So... These are my nuts."
Teacher: "I'm sorry they're your...?"
Mini: [slow and loud, since it's so obvious and the teacher is being obtuse] "They. Are. My. NUTS."
Teacher: "I see."
Mini: "Boys have dem. I'm playing a boy."
Teacher: "I see."
Mini: [now swinging her nuts with abandon] "I do it like this." [swings them violently]
Teacher: "Well, unfortunately this is a nut-free preschool, so you're going to have to put them away."

Mini had no argument for that logic, so she put her nuts away.

The end.

(c)Herding Turtles 2009 - 2013