On Fridays a student brings special snacks for the class. This week it was a snack from hell--twenty-one individual cups of diced peaches in heavy syrup. Can you say sssssSTICKY? So we got the children into their coats, then hauled the peaches to the playground, along with napkins, spoons, wet wipes, a sack for trash, a sack for recyclables, a sack for saving the spoons to be washed, a bowl for draining the heavy syrup, a tray for serving, a first aid kit, and the 911 emergency buzzer. We also took the kid who just hit another child over the head with a rolled-up rug.
I opened the fruit cups. The lead teacher drained the heavy syrup. Our oldest student carried the fruit cups on a tray to serve classmates at the picnic tables. This is a big part of a Montessori class.
With just two cups left on the tray, our server tripped. I gasped. The lead teacher gasped. He gasped. Somehow in slow motion he held the tray steady as he fell. The peaches did not spill. It was a Super Bowl instant replay
moment, absolutely golden as he realized he had saved the day! It was as big a relief as finally landing at La Guardia.
I sat with a group of four year olds to eat and play name-that-food.
#1: Yes they are carrots.
#2: No, they are mangos.
#1: They are carrots. They taste like carrots.
#3: I think I know I think I know IthinkIknowIthinkIknow...
Me: What do you think?
#3: Peaches!
Me: You are right. These are peaches.
#1: No they aren't. They are raccoons.
Which reminds me of an old elephant joke:
What is the difference between an elephant and a dozen eggs?
If you don't know, I'm not sending you to the store for eggs!
[Raccoon at the Heard Museum, McKinney, TX, yesterday.]
© 2011 Nancy L. Ruder
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