Do you want me to be a bear with you?

All the preschool classes are doing creative drama performances this week. Our performances are wonderful, because they are so non-threatening. There's no pressure to memorize lines, because in preschool story drama, the teacher is on stage narrating the story. The kids can listen to the teacher, then say the line. If they are ready, they can listen to the teacher, but anticipate and say the line on their own. The kids are in groups, so they don't feel all alone. The cast might include two mice, three squirrels, four princesses, two detectives, and four rainbow goblins. The show is all about having fun.

Now any Goldilocks knows that you need three bears. In a darling story about a king who went into the woods and ate a big cheese sandwich, there were only two bears hibernating in their den. One of the bears got worried, and wanted his mommy. He went behind the den to sniffle. Then he went behind the curtain. Then my Spidey Sense alerted me that he was going down the dark,dark steps to the dark, dark Green Room (the dressing room for older students). I had to spring into action, and without a phone booth to change. If the bear fell down the dark, dark stairs it would be traumatizing. If the bear went down the steps safely, but freaked out in the dark, dark dressing room, it would be traumatizing. I snuck (sneaking while scuttling) over to the side of the stage to stay out of the video, then up some steps to arrive behind the curtain. I crawled over to the bear and rubbed his back a bit. Then I asked him if he wanted me to be a bear with him in the story. He said okay, and stopped crying. We scuttled back on stage and into the overturned box that was the bears' den. I tried to be as little as a three-year-old, but as safe as a mama. The little bear and I chatted reassuringly and quietly. When the story bears came out of the den to sniff for cheese sandwich crumbs, the two little bears went sniffing while the mama stayed in the den.

There I will be on the video. I hear the camera adds ten pounds. And I didn't even eat the crumbs.