Hooky

Tuesday night was a little rough for several of us at the Dickinson house. Clara was teething so naturally I was up with her. Tom wasn't feeling great either. So when I woke up to a dreary, rainy Wednesday morning I was simply not able to muster enough gumption to face waking up a sure to be sleepy headed Melaina to get ready for preschool. So I did what any self respecting mother would do...I played hooky. I let Melaina sleep in and miss school. Clara had been fed at 5:30 and put back down and she was still sleeping away at 8, so again, why fix what ain't broken? Maybe I should have sent Melaina to school so that she will learn that "ain't" ain't a word.

Anyway, around 9:20 everyone started stirring. I fed Clara and went in to greet Melaina. She said her usual "I'm not going anywhere?" I answered, "Actually, no, you aren't this morning. Mommy was a sleepyhead so you aren't going to school today". I thought the subject was over until later when she was eating her breakfast.

She said, "Am I sick?", to which I replied "No, you are not sick." By now I start to feel a slight tinge of guilt wash over me. Melaina then asked, "Did I forget to call you and wake you up?" "No, Melaina, it's not your fault. Mommy slept too late and so you are not going to school today". Let it go, kid.

Then it registered with her. "So, all of my friends are on the blue line?" she said this with a frown in her sweet little voice. And there it was. I felt like you know what. But, nothing stirs creativity like a mommy who feels guilty, so I said "We can make our own blue line!!!" And I hurried to get the blue painter's tape and made a large hexagonal shape on our living room floor. You would have thought I had just created the sun.

"Mommy, it's a blue line in my house!!!! We have a school in here!" Take that you wave of guilt! Ha! I'm the greatest mommy in the world!

So needless to say, the entire day was spent doing all sorts of things on the blue line such as show and tell, stretching, making animal faces. We played show and tell at least 10 times and you would think that Melaina would be the one to show and to tell, but oh no. Kitty and Kangaroo and Porgy had to have turns. Then we built barns out of random objects, went on a treasure hunt in the "dark" which was kind of fun since it was so gray outside, and the icing on the cake? Sandpaper letters!

Everyday at school, Melaina does sandpaper letters. This is the time when the children learn letters by touching them (letter shaped sandpaper on blocks), tracing them and then if they choose, getting 3 of them drawn on their hand. Sandpaper letters are very special to Melaina. They are hers and hers alone. You can ask her about them but she will just tell you, "These are mine and I don't want to talk about them." OK.

So we spent a good amount of time making letters and pictures to go with them and then drawing them on each other's hands. I have to say, it was one of my very favorite days spent with my little girl.

So for your viewing pleasure, here are a couple of pictures of our "blue line" time.

I love that Clara is just along for the ride! She loves absolutely anything that Melaina does. She especially enjoyed the treasure hunt of which I have no pictures since we did that one in the dark. Maybe Melaina will an archeologist...or a cat burglar. It's too soon to tell.