The Kid with the Giant Worm (05, 27, 2020)
Most of you know that I want to be an Early Childcare Educator, so I went into the ECE program this past school year. I still have a while yet to go, but in the meantime I had a summer babysitting job looking after a little boy while his parents work.
Often, we have many great adventures outdoors. Sometimes I take my phone out to record the special moments. And this was one of them. This is what one of our afternoons looked like after it rained. I taught him how to look for worms and pick them up with a stick. On this particular day we saw a giant worm, which I think perhaps a bird pulled out from the dirt, and he had a fun time playing with it much to the poor worm’s discomfort.”
{IN AUDIO FORMAT}
Me: “This is the video of a long worm and it’s moving.”
Boy: “Is that a worm?”
Me: “Yeah!”
Boy: “I want a worm.”
Popping Peas (05, 28, 2020)
Every day I show boy what is in my lunch and since then he has learned a few new words in his vocabulary, like trail mix. “What’s Emma having for lunch?” is his usual question. The last few days I’ve brought gnocchi noodles in ground turkey tomato sauce. For simplicity, or in generalized terms, I’ve been calling it……..”Pasta!” He enthusiastically guesses before I can bring it out to show him.
Likewise, each week I bring veggies and dip to snack on and this week I happened to have red peppers again, plus some sugar peas which is entirely new to him. I crack open a pod to show him what is inside as I explain peas to him. I don’t think he expected to see that. As he looked on in fascination, I imagined his little mind was whirring with loads of information.
Of course, he wanted one to try! So I gave him a couple and for the next while he was busy picking peas out of the pod. Quickly soon after, and to his delight, he discovered how to shoot them across the table by putting his index finger on top, and with a push, letting them slide out from under. “Popped it!” he announced with a mischievous, rather marvelous, grin. I couldn’t help but smile. Most of them ended up on the floor.
And Other Fond Memories (09, 15, 2020)
Now that boy is back in daycare and I’m back at college plus waitressing, I’ll just be seeing him on the odd day, or whenever. I’ll miss him dearly. Oh the little things he mimics like; “Ok, sounds good” with his head bobbing, or “Oh honey!” as an endearing expression, or “For later” when he means not right now. Some other things he says like, “uppys” to see inside the tall cubboard, or “I need a tissue” to dry his eyes after crying, “Emma’s tools” when referring to some toys I brought with me one day.
The little things he does like, getting excited for garbage day and waving hello to the garbage man, or shovelling dirt into piles piles just like the workmen do down the street, or how he likes helicopter rides in the blanket with all his stuffed animals, how he likes to make playdoh cookies and doughtnuts and bakes them on his toy grill. These are some of my favourite things. This pretty much sums up why I want to be an Early Childhood Educator. Do what makes you happy, is what many people tell you when choosing a career, and children bring me joy!
Coffee & Doughnuts 