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Lately I swear God is testing me. Monday nights at dance have taken an unexpected twist. I teach all my really little ones on Mondays (babies through first graders) and the past two weeks have been... hmm... eventful? I blame part of it on the holiday craziness and the other half on the weird December weather we're having.
Last week we started out fine. My babies class is first (3-4 year olds) and for some reason they have developed this whole class ritual of fake falling... constantly. I have tried many different methods to get them to stop but it still is a real issue for some of the youngest ones. Let me tell you, it's hard to teach dance when the student is on their butt every 15 seconds. The very youngest (she is just so tiny and completely girly and adorable) is that one student in class that I have to keep close tabs on or she's off in her own little world. She likes to fall the most. Halfway through the class they seem to all forget about the fake falling, and just as this happened last week, this little girl had a real fall while just standing still. A REAL fall, like head to the wood, can't breathe because she's crying so hard type of fall. Of course I grabbed her as fast as I could and she arched back in my arms with her mouth open, bawling but not breathing. It seemed like forever until she did the WA-WA-WA-WAAAAH thing. Then suddenly she just stopped and got angry for a second, confusing me, before she full out wailed. It was kind of weird and scary, yet minutes later she was fine and totally over it. When class was over and I told her mom what had happened she said, "Babies get bumps! You'll find this out soon enough!" and shrugged it off.
Okay, so if that's all that happened last Monday it wouldn't have been worth even writing about... but then my next class came in. My pre-k & kindergarteners. I have 16 of them so it is always a somewhat trying class, although I have the patience of a saint. Okay, maybe that's pushing it but I am very patient when it comes to children. Usually. But asking to go to the bathroom during class frustrates me. Most of the time I say, "can you wait until (insert something here)?" because like every teacher knows, once you let one go, they all have to. Going to the bathroom is a fun activity for them I guess, but I don't know, I'm pretty tired of it.
So anyway, we do the always crazy tap-shoe-fastening session, take attendance in our circle, and then stand up and spread out for warm-ups. I swear, two toe taps in, little A walks up to me holding herself and squeezing her knees together, asking "can I go potty?" I'm about to habitually say, "can you wait until...." when she looks down, and so I look down and notice the little sprinkles dotting her pink tights.
And then the flood gates open... and no, I'm not talking about tears.
Ugh.
So I'm stuck there with the whole moving her and getting pee everywhere or just letting her get out enough that she can turn it off and we can make it to the bathroom dilemma and of course we had to be standing right in the smack middle of the studio floor. Not sure what I decided split-second but somehow we managed to get to the bathroom without leaving a trail. Still her clothes, even her shoes, were soaked. I ran around and managed to salvage some studio clothes small enough to change her into as Judy saved the day and cleaned up the puddle.
I thank the mighty Lord that he chose to laugh at me on a day where I at least had a student helper, or else there would have 15 kids running wild around a puddle of urine in tap shoes. I shudder at the thought. The mothers in the lobby just laughed and said, "Mommy training!" and little A walked back into class in that oversized t-shirt that hung to her knees with a little smirk on her face. Obviously my stress level then was a little heightened and the following classes had naughty kids that I didn't bother with and instead put into corners. "I still have another corner left! Who wants it...?” Mean, mean (pregnant) dance teacher.
So today I'm thinking, okay, last week we had pee and that means this Monday session HAS to be better. The babies are fake falling all over the place but whatever, we make it through. "Yell goodbye on three, ready? 1...2...3!" In comes my pre-k/kindergarten class. I ask little A if she needs to go to the bathroom during our tap-shoe-put-on-craziness. She says no. Woo hoo. A dad peeks in to give his daughter her missing shoe, but what's this? She's not here. She got lost on the short walk from Studio B to Studio A. How does that happen?? This student, however, and yes she is only 4 or 5, has a little record of coming to tumbling and then trying to skip her following class. So Dad retraces her footsteps and finds her, WHERE ELSE, the bathroom... being a good girl, going before class! Whew. Our problem of the night averted.
Or so I thought.
Once again... not two toe taps in, I scan the room and notice poor little S keeled over and puking... yes, PUKING on the floor. I run over and let her "finish" before trying to usher her into the bathroom. She looks at me and says, "But I went potty before class."
If the vomit itself was not a cruel joke, then this statement most definitely is.
"I don't need to go potty" she keeps telling me. I tell her that's not what I'm worried about and get her into the bathroom. She is staring into the toilet and acting oddly fine when I say I'm going to send her home. She frowns and asks why. I tell her if she's sick she needs to be at home resting, "don't you think?" and after quite the dramatic sigh she replies, "Suuure." Once again, Judy, clean up on aisle 4 while I wipe down tap shoes and ankles...
Seriously... how did that really happen? Out of all the years I've owned the studio I have only had one previous pee accident and never a puke story. And now? Back to back?!
I might skip Monday classes next week.
Last week we started out fine. My babies class is first (3-4 year olds) and for some reason they have developed this whole class ritual of fake falling... constantly. I have tried many different methods to get them to stop but it still is a real issue for some of the youngest ones. Let me tell you, it's hard to teach dance when the student is on their butt every 15 seconds. The very youngest (she is just so tiny and completely girly and adorable) is that one student in class that I have to keep close tabs on or she's off in her own little world. She likes to fall the most. Halfway through the class they seem to all forget about the fake falling, and just as this happened last week, this little girl had a real fall while just standing still. A REAL fall, like head to the wood, can't breathe because she's crying so hard type of fall. Of course I grabbed her as fast as I could and she arched back in my arms with her mouth open, bawling but not breathing. It seemed like forever until she did the WA-WA-WA-WAAAAH thing. Then suddenly she just stopped and got angry for a second, confusing me, before she full out wailed. It was kind of weird and scary, yet minutes later she was fine and totally over it. When class was over and I told her mom what had happened she said, "Babies get bumps! You'll find this out soon enough!" and shrugged it off.
Okay, so if that's all that happened last Monday it wouldn't have been worth even writing about... but then my next class came in. My pre-k & kindergarteners. I have 16 of them so it is always a somewhat trying class, although I have the patience of a saint. Okay, maybe that's pushing it but I am very patient when it comes to children. Usually. But asking to go to the bathroom during class frustrates me. Most of the time I say, "can you wait until (insert something here)?" because like every teacher knows, once you let one go, they all have to. Going to the bathroom is a fun activity for them I guess, but I don't know, I'm pretty tired of it.
So anyway, we do the always crazy tap-shoe-fastening session, take attendance in our circle, and then stand up and spread out for warm-ups. I swear, two toe taps in, little A walks up to me holding herself and squeezing her knees together, asking "can I go potty?" I'm about to habitually say, "can you wait until...." when she looks down, and so I look down and notice the little sprinkles dotting her pink tights.
And then the flood gates open... and no, I'm not talking about tears.
Ugh.
So I'm stuck there with the whole moving her and getting pee everywhere or just letting her get out enough that she can turn it off and we can make it to the bathroom dilemma and of course we had to be standing right in the smack middle of the studio floor. Not sure what I decided split-second but somehow we managed to get to the bathroom without leaving a trail. Still her clothes, even her shoes, were soaked. I ran around and managed to salvage some studio clothes small enough to change her into as Judy saved the day and cleaned up the puddle.
I thank the mighty Lord that he chose to laugh at me on a day where I at least had a student helper, or else there would have 15 kids running wild around a puddle of urine in tap shoes. I shudder at the thought. The mothers in the lobby just laughed and said, "Mommy training!" and little A walked back into class in that oversized t-shirt that hung to her knees with a little smirk on her face. Obviously my stress level then was a little heightened and the following classes had naughty kids that I didn't bother with and instead put into corners. "I still have another corner left! Who wants it...?” Mean, mean (pregnant) dance teacher.
My Primary (pre-k/kindergarten) class during Halloween Week.
So today I'm thinking, okay, last week we had pee and that means this Monday session HAS to be better. The babies are fake falling all over the place but whatever, we make it through. "Yell goodbye on three, ready? 1...2...3!" In comes my pre-k/kindergarten class. I ask little A if she needs to go to the bathroom during our tap-shoe-put-on-craziness. She says no. Woo hoo. A dad peeks in to give his daughter her missing shoe, but what's this? She's not here. She got lost on the short walk from Studio B to Studio A. How does that happen?? This student, however, and yes she is only 4 or 5, has a little record of coming to tumbling and then trying to skip her following class. So Dad retraces her footsteps and finds her, WHERE ELSE, the bathroom... being a good girl, going before class! Whew. Our problem of the night averted.
Or so I thought.
Once again... not two toe taps in, I scan the room and notice poor little S keeled over and puking... yes, PUKING on the floor. I run over and let her "finish" before trying to usher her into the bathroom. She looks at me and says, "But I went potty before class."
If the vomit itself was not a cruel joke, then this statement most definitely is.
"I don't need to go potty" she keeps telling me. I tell her that's not what I'm worried about and get her into the bathroom. She is staring into the toilet and acting oddly fine when I say I'm going to send her home. She frowns and asks why. I tell her if she's sick she needs to be at home resting, "don't you think?" and after quite the dramatic sigh she replies, "Suuure." Once again, Judy, clean up on aisle 4 while I wipe down tap shoes and ankles...
Seriously... how did that really happen? Out of all the years I've owned the studio I have only had one previous pee accident and never a puke story. And now? Back to back?!
I might skip Monday classes next week.
Hi Baby Girl! I love your BLOG! I get on here and check it every night to see if you've updated it! Dan got a kick out of it last night! Yep your getting your practice....the peeing and puking! I love reading your writing! Can hardy wait till i get to meet my "tiny lil dancer"!! Hugs!
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