motherhood – Page 6 – Lemon Drop Pie

Sometimes the long days of summer stretch out and are too long. During one of those long summer afternoons, I agreed to let Emmy give me a facial. One of her favorite books is Fancy Nancy: Ooh La La! It’s Beauty Day! In the book, Nancy gives her not-so-fancy mom a spa day for her birthday. Included in the book is a recipe for a banana honey facial.

So we mashed up the banana and mixed in some honey, and Voila! We had a facial! Nancy’s mom reclined on a lounge chair outside, but I chose to lie down on the kitchen floor with a towel under my head. Lily placed two cucumber slices on my eyes, and then the girls gooped the banana mask on my face a little too eagerly. Gobs of banana dripped down my cheeks toward my ears. I was supposed to leave the mask on for ten minutes.

I held out for six loooong minutes.

When I got up, I had banana in my hair and in my ears. Fortunately, I had already planned on taking a shower after my facial. Unfortunately, the shower did not rinse the banana out of my right ear.

Then I did a very bad thing.

I used a Q-tip.

As I was twirling the Q-tip in my ear, I felt the banana go further into my ear. And then, I couldn’t hear very well. My ear was so completely clogged that I was like Ernie from Sesame Street when he had an actual banana in his ear. Unlike Ernie, my clogged ear was driving me completely batty!

I tried putting a little rubbing alcohol in my ear, which helps to get water out after swimming. No luck.

I tried a little hydrogen peroxide, and could hear the fizzing behind the banana for at least half an hour. It did nothing.

I bought an ear syringe to try to wash the banana out. Nope. Wasn’t gonna budge the banana.

The next day, I finally caved in and made an appointment at a Walgreen’s clinic. And when I got there, I told the truth.

My daughters gave me a facial and I think I have some banana in my ear.

Boy, did I feel silly.

The nurse practitioner had the right tool, however, and she pumped and pumped and pumped water into my ear until I felt dizzy. Out fell a blob (which did not look like banana, but I knew it was) and the relief was so immediate I just about cried. The nurse suggested that next time I should put some cotton in my ears.

Ha. There won’t be a next time.

P.S. Wait! Don’t stop reading yet! I know you’re wondering about how the banana face mask worked. It actually made my skin feel very soft, and I may use it again…without my assistants’ help.

This past Wednesday, after leading them in several songs about days of the week, the weather, and Alice the camel, my co-teachers and I shook the hands of 20 preschoolers and pronounced them ready for Kindergarten! At the end of the graduation ceremony, we all sang the song we sing at the end of every preschool session:

For Grace Preschool is over,
And we are going home.
Goodbye, goodbye,
Be always kind and good.
Goodbye, goodbye,
Be always kind and good.

When my daughters sang this song at the end of their preschool graduations, I couldn’t help but cry. A new phase of their lives was beginning, and while I was happy that they were growing up, a part of me was sad that their preschool years were over. They were going to full day Kindergarten in the fall, and I was going to miss them! How was I going to fill my days while my little girls were at school?

The answer, as you know, was teaching at the same preschool they had attended. Teaching preschool is very different from teaching 2nd grade, as I did for thirteen years before Lily was born. I have found a passion for early childhood education that I didn’t know I possessed. I always used to say I didn’t want to teach children younger than second graders. Now I teach three and four year olds. While it can be challenging (my aunt told me teaching three year olds is like herding cats), it is also rewarding.

A couple of my blogging friends have written about their little ones graduating from preschool, and after I read Tamara’s post about her little one, I wrote this comment: I’m expecting lots of tears from parents tonight at our preschool graduation! I might even tear up, and I’m just their teacher. I’ve taught most of the kids for two years, and I wish I could follow them to Kindergarten! Most of the them are going to the same school as my kids, so I will get to see them every once in a while. That makes me happy.

Tamara, who has a very big, soft and squishy heart, replied back: I can’t imagine being a teacher – seeing kids come and go, but getting close with a whole new class every fall. Ah, this cycle. It was hard for me as a kid. It’s a lot harder for me as a parent.

It is hard. This year, I taught the same group of kids five days a week. Over the past two years, I’ve seen them grow taller, learn how to share, and taught them how to write their names. I’ve seen them learn amazing skills on their own through exploratory play, seen their imaginations flourish, and made them laugh by singing silly songs. It’s hard to say goodbye.

It’s time, however. They are ready. Every single one of my students is Kindergarten ready. I am so proud of them, and am happy to see them fly away from their preschool home. Next fall, the cycle will start all over again, and it’s one of the things I love about my job. The fresh, new faces, the different personalities, and a chance to teach again.

This week, I volunteered at my daughters’ school for Field Day. A second grader said hello to me and I hardly recognized her. She was so tall and her baby face was gone. It’s been three years since I had her in my class, and it was so fun to see her again. I saw several other former students that day. We hula hooped together and played “Mr. Fox” and then I sent them on to the next activity. They had been happy to see me, but they were even more excited about moving on; about graduating to the next station.

They ran so fast they just about flew.

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