Mama goes to school.

This morning I got the chance to help out in Tobin's Kindergarten class. It's a rare treat since I have the little ones to take care of during his school hours. The time slot for today's opportunity coordinated with Matt's two-hour planning period, so he ran home to stay with Evan and Lauren while I spent a little over an hour in T's class.

Last November, I was able to visit Tobin's class for a couple hours one morning when my mom was in town to help out with the babies. I told Matt about my experience and how the most appropriate word for it was "adorable." I guess with a toddler and a baby, I tend to associate the adjective "adorable" with them, but I was struck by how sweet, kind, funny and cute Tobin and his classmates were. For example, every morning when they arrive, they sit in a circle and share their "news" with their teacher. Tobin's classmate Bailey shared that after she got dressed for school: "I just sat there with my cat on my bed and I just was jiggling her until Daddy told me it was time to go." (I got the impression that this was not malevolent jiggling.) Tobin's friend Logan's news was "My shirt has a hood on it!" Morning circle time was also when Tobin's teacher Ms. Alana noted, "Bennett is feeling kinda sad and grumpy today. So let's remember to be extra kind to him." And then the kids went on to play and learn at various learning centers, all rather peacefully. On that particular day, Tobin played most with his friends Bethany and Callie. They shared sweetly in home center and complimented each other's drawing in art. Yep, all so totally adorable.

Today, I helped with a special art center: painting at the easel. I assisted the kids with putting on their smocks, set up the paper on the easel and wrote down the title of their finished paintings--e.g., "Bad Dragons Destroying Buildings," "Fire Planet" and Tobin's "Purple Flower." It was delightful! More pictures here.