Teenagers and Dinosaurs

Today was another beautiful day in my preschool neighborhood. It may have been raining outside but it was sunny in my classroom. There was one big exception - Miss Eden. Little Miss Eden is usually a bright ray of sunshine, eager to start the day, happy to see her friends. This morning was a whole different side to Eden. I had Eden in my classroom 2 years ago when I started at Grace. I really wanted to go back to teaching preschool but the only opening Grace had was in the "baby" room so I took it to get my foot in the door. What a great year it turned into! Met and worked with two women who became two of my dearest friends, Jasmine and Cathy. And it's where I first met Eden and her cohorts; in fact, six of my original "gang" are in my class this year. So happy to be with the threes because that's where my heart lies. (Put in a bid for 3's last year but they needed me to teach 4's so I did, knowing God would honor my decision. I did, and He has!) Anyway...back to Eden. She cried for about 20 minutes this morning, missing her mommy. I did what comes naturally to me - I sat down in the rocking chair with her in my lap and we rocked and cuddled those little tears away. Rocking was good for both of us this morning. God worked that one out for sure! The arthritis in my lower back and right hip was rearing its ugly head and sitting in my rocking chair gives me relief; rocking Eden was good for what ailed both of us.

Now onto the teenagers and dinosaurs. Scout has a little stuffed dinosaur she carries around in her purse, named "Torrosaurus." We rescued "Torro" from the reject dollar store bin. It looks like it was sewn together from a bunch of leftover parts of other stuffed animals; head of an elephant but with a blunted snout, mouth like a lop-sided shark and the rest is kind of generic. She loves the poor, sad thing. It went to Europe with her last year on her "People-to-People" trip. It has gone on several other vacations, including vacations without her. Scout's friends love the little freaky animal, too, and have taken it places. That thing has been places I've only read about!! What can I say? My kid is definitely unique - and I LOVE her!

More dino news - Scout came home Monday and announced that she wanted a dinosaur coloring book. Okay, I thought, is this for school? Nope, turns out she wants to color for stress-relief purposes. Well, coloring is relaxing. (If you haven't colored lately then you should try it. ) My girl does have a pretty hectic schedule so I can understand needing a quiet activity. Just caught me a bit off-guard for a 16-year old to ask for a coloring book. But hey, sure beats the heck out of some other activities teenagers are engaging in. So...yesterday it was off on a dinosaur coloring book quest. When we found one at Dollar General it was like Scout had won money on a game show! Dang, if I had known spending a dollar on her would extract such an excited response I would have done it sooner. I thought she might have to change her drawers when we got home!

I felt like I spent 5 hours in the car yesterday. Picked Scout up after middle school ball game. (Greenbrier High's band plays @ 1 middle school game per year.) Went on the dino-quest. Looked for ink for our printer. Back home for supper. Back out to continue ink hunt. Gave up ink hunt and came home. Felt like I was still rolling for 30 minutes after coming home. Do I need a tune-up? Are my fluids level?

Goodnight and love to all y'all!