Nocturnal Creatures

Spilly said to me yesterday, "I know something about Mr. Thomas. He's nocturnal."

After I finished laughing, I said, "Do you know what nocturnal means?"

"Yes, I do. It means they sleep in the day and they stay up all night to hunt. Like raccoons and possums and bats and Mr. Thomas."

"Mr. Thomas stays up all night to hunt? Are you sure?"

"He hunts for fires."

"Ohh," I said.

It's true. Our neighbour is a fireman. And sometimes he works at night.

I said teasingly, "Maybe when you grow up you can be nocturnal too."

"No. I'm going to be a kindergarten teacher. And they have to get a lot of sleep at night."

Back to School Time

This was the Best Summer Ever. This summer took us camping, to a cottage, to New York City, to Salem, Massachusetts, to Bar Harbor, Maine, and to Halifax. We swam and laughed and saw a Broadway show (Mary Poppins).

But this week was back to the grind. I headed into my classroom on Monday and have been outfitting it all week, preparing lesson plans. Same ritual every year.

Except that Spilly is old enough now to Help. And so she asked if she could join me today. I hummed and hawed, and then thought about how I needed a whole lot of pencils sharpened, books put on desks, etc. So I said, "Well...yes, I think I could use some help."

"Yahoo!" And she began pelting up the stairs.

"Where are you going?"

"I have to put on my teacher clothes."

Her teacher clothes consisted of a red t-shirt and jeans. Apparently this is what teachers wear. This week, anyway. We might spiff up a bit for the first day of school and all.

When we got to school, she met my teaching partner, who immediately laid some more pencils on her. He also told her that it was currently 9:36, and he'd like the pencils back by 9:39. It took her a minute to realize he was joking! Then she got to it, while I began doing some of the nine thousand things on my list.

After a few minutes: "Mommy."

"Yes."

"My hand is tired."

"Your hand is tired of holding a pencil in an electric pencil sharpener?"

"Yes."

"What are we going to do about that?" I said, wondering how I was going to entertain her for the full day.

"I think I'd better draw a picture."

She was in the right place, of course. My classroom is nothing if not art-ready. We pulled out brand new pencil crayons and paper and set her up at a desk. Some time later, she brought the picture to me.

"It's very nice! What is it?"

Slightly miffed, she said, "Mount St. Helen's."

"Oh, yes, of course it is."

"Let's give it to that other teacher."

"Won't he be wondering where his pencils are?"

"We'll tell him his pencils are almost ready."

"Right."

The other teacher was very pleased with his picture and put it up on his wall. Then he and Spilly discussed Vesuvius in quite a bit of detail. And Barack Obama.

Back to the classroom.

"Do you want to do some more pencils?"

"No, I think I'm tired of that."

"Hmm. Do you want to put some books on desks?"

"YES!!!"

So I continued with my list of nine thousand things.

A few minutes later: "Mommy."

"Yes?"

"How many more books do I have to put out?"

"Well, there are 21 kids right now, and they all need a book. And that's just the yellow notebook. There's also a blue notebook, and a pink notebook, and...."

"Aaaaaaah," said Spilly.

"How about we go and photocopy some things?" I said.

"YES!!!"

So we photocopied things. Then we printed some stuff and went to the library to pick it up. While in the library, we couldn't help but notice all the books. So we read, "My Baby Brother is an Alien," and "Olivia Prepares for Christmas." Then we headed back to Mommy's classroom.

On the way, we ran into the principal. Spilly and she had an extended discussion about the state of Mommy's room. Spilly said there was a lot to do and she hoped her teacher would be ready for Tuesday.

I do too. The poor woman doesn't know what's about to hit her.