The nose knows (sometimes)

A third grader came to me very concerned: 

"Mrs. Y. I smell smoke!  Or teriyaki."

Good thing I paid attention during those teriyaki drills so I knew just how to diffuse the situation.

A boy excitedly grabbed my hand and pulled me toward a clump of weeds saying "you've got to see this!".  When we got there, he continued " you have to get down low to see it".  That's when I realized I was going to see a slug - those pests that eat my plants and slime my walk way ... but when he asked "isn't he cute??!", I found myself saying "he is!".

And that's what hanging out with kindergarteners will do to you.

It's all how you look at it

When I commented on the very large and deep hole they dug in the sandbox, one of the third grade boys corrected me. "It's not a hole. It's an upside down mountain".

Love outside the box thinking, even when it takes me a few seconds to get it.

I'm a push over

Because so many kids like being pushed on the swings, I usually tell them something like "I'll give you a few pushes to get you started" so I can get to everyone. After telling a kindergartner this today, she turned around and responded "but I don't want you to get me started, I want you to get me ended".

Yeah I gave her a few extra pushes :)