I hate to admit this, but I cheated today. I had every intention of taking a great image that captured the essence of taking some time for myself – in fact, I already thought about how great my pumpkin spice latte would look with the steam billowing over the edge of the mug while I enjoyed the educator tea at Barnes and Noble. However, following a full day of work and a staff meeting, I opted instead to stay in my classroom and work until my 6 o’clock meeting tonight. An impromptu change of plans brought me home a good hour before I planned to be, and I was able to spend some glorious giggling minutes with my kids before it was time for books and bed.
You are now entering the SOLSC portion of this blog post!
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Upon walking through the door, arms laden with books, bags, running clothes yet unworn and my cell phone pinched awkwardly between my shoulder and my ear, I could hear the quick footsteps of little feet running to greet me.
“Mama!” Seneca squealed, letting the word linger long enough to fill the few empty spaces I had in the crooks of my arms. Smiling, I began to shed my belongings and wrap up my phone call.
“Uh huh. OK, well, I just walked in the door and there are a couple of excited kiddos here to greet me,” I explained amidst the continued greetings. “I’ll call you later this week. OK. Bye!”
“Mama!” Seneca said again, this time taking full advantage of my empty arms.
“Hi, Sene-bear! How are you?”
“Um, good,” she replied.
“Did you have fun staying at school all day today?” I asked, brushing the too-long wispy bangs away from her big brown eyes as she nodded in answer to my question. “What did you learn today?”
“I don’t put paper up my nose.”
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While I thoroughly enjoyed spending all day focused on my students, it’s comments like this from my sweet girl that make me realize why I’m so eternally grateful for the opportunity to live my life in the best of both words – school and home. That’s absolutely right, sweet girl. You don’t put paper up your nose!
What about you? What did you learn today?
“fill the few empty spaces I had in the crooks of my arms”
what a lovely phrase!
And as an earlly childhood educator, thank you for valuing the real learning that young children need to do – don’t put paper up your nose – love it 🙂
I like all your picture but this one is the best.
What a great learning goal for the day!!
Hey, that’s a good lesson she learned! 🙂
That’s great to have the best of both worlds. Some people don’t see it that way, but it really is nice to be able to balance and enjoy both.
I’m glad your daughter told you exactly what she learned! I wish all children had the capacity to share such truths with their parents!! And your picture (s) are wonderful
Amazing color in that photo! I love it.
Lynn