The kitten is not in the newspaper anymore. And the very next day after I decided I had to have a kitten and then had that confirmed by the AOL kitten eating very miniature ice cream cone and doing a step dance, and then finding Lover Boy in the newspaper, the very next day I saw (on AOL, of course) a couple of marines in Afghanistan adopting orange striped tabby kittens. It's a plot, I tell you.

I found out today I'm no good at helping suffering people. Our friend who's in the hospital, the nurse stuck a large needle in her hand and held it there, never mind it caused EXCRUCIATING (there's a word that serves its purpose) pain, and this went on for some time until I burst into tears and basically had to leave the room. Good.

On the brighter side, I still am enjoying the little kids in the club each morning. I love to sit on the side where I can see them all seated on the floor, their little faces tilted upward, an excellent view of their baby profiles. I love all the little button noses (almost without exception all little noses, maybe one or two noses in the bunch that look like someone stuck on a round bulb, like a clown's nose). And, I'd like to know what happens to those little noses and how so many of them will turn into great honkin' potato noses in, say, 12 or so years.

Today the review game involved drawing features on a face. If you answered the question correctly, you got to march to the front of the room and draw, your choice, an eye, an ear, or, speaking of, a nose, etc. The children were asked if they wanted to draw a girl face or a boy face. The vote basically broke down like this -- the girls were unanimous for girls' faces and the boys were unanimous for boys' faces. So, a little girl answered the first question and made haste to draw long girl ponytails hair on the blank circle of a face. I guess girls rule. Of course, I thought this was hysterical. The next round a girl drew a single strand of hair straight up on top of the head, well, it had a nice wave to one side. One boy drew a pig nose, so that face ended up with the name Penelope.

It's so interesting to see the personalities that know no shyness, each day it's the same little kids. The story today was Naaman the Leper. The young teacher asked the kids, How would you like it if someone built something for you that you couldn't build yourself, would you like that? (I think the idea was Naaman needed someone to heal him because he couldn't heal himself.) This one little boy thought hard and came up with, I think so (like he wasn't convinced in the least). Oh, and in the review game, when asked the name of the character in the story, the kids were shouting Amen, for Naaman.

Yesterday, when asking the kids what sin was, one little boy suggested, Even dogs sin.

During the sandwich Bible verse review, I whispered to my little friend, Say egg salad, say egg salad! -- 'cause the only sandwich these kids know is peanut butter or deli. Or, if they branch out, peanut butter and jelly. So, a couple kids around Claire heard me and a little boy raised his hand and said, Breakfast sandwich! Okay, I guess that has egg in it, not salady egg, however. And the variation on peanut butter was, Peanut butter with waffle.

Yesterday and today the sweetest 10 year old boy is helping the teens, one of the teacher teens is his big brother. So, he stood up there with the big teens and a little boy (I guess boys rule, too) pointed and asked, Who is that little boy? All in comparison, I suppose.

And finally, for all you preschool workers out there, if you don't play this game, try it. It's called Radio. What child is the radio and sticks his arm straight out to the side. The other child gets to turn the volume dial by raising or lowering the radio's arm. The verse is recited with all sorts of fluctuating dynamics this way, high decibel with the arm raised high and barely audible with the arm down to the side. One little girl thought it was great to move the arm up and down like a metronome ticking at 160. It works much better if they manage to gradually lower and raise the arm or keep it high for one phrase and then low for the next. Anyway, it was a hoot all the way 'round.

The preschoolers are connecting more with the teens each day and seem more engaged in the singing, listening, etc. I think I need to become a preschool teacher, if an old dog can be taught new tricks. Little kids sure seem to bond with bigger kids. The teens are doing a fantastic job and CEF is to be commended for doing such a wonderful job training these kids to serve God. CEF doesn't mess around, they have strict rules and even require the kids to write thank you notes and stuff. Anyone who writes a thank you note in this day and age, as in ink and paper, deserves to go to the head of the class in my book.

Until we meet again,
KEM
PS Too pooped to read over what I just wrote, know the feeling?