I want to steal these babies so I can have them for my very own.
I haven't posted much about my new job because I don't really know what to say. It's just generally cute all day long.
The first half of the day I have kindergarten (7:50am-11:20am).
Alen: Autistic, tries to get teachers to do work for him, defiant, being mainstreamed in a kindergarten class with Carl, doing better than I thought he would, learning to do his own assignments.
Carl: Possibly Autistic, being mainstreamed in a kindergarten class right now, doing pretty well.
Daney (pronounced Danny, female): Echolalia - repeats whatever is said to her, so it makes it difficult to ask her a question and get a straight answer.
Daniel: Rarely says a word, very focused, hardworking.
Ethan: Autistic, lives in "pretend world" most of the time, cries if something is hard the first time.
Josh: Wants to do his own thing most of the time, has trouble listening.
Mikayla: Very quiet, very serious, very little, my favorite kindergartner.
Stanley: Very Autistic, flails around, runner, chatterbox, unfocused.
Trevor: Can barely talk at all, makes sounds instead of words, but good worker.
Zander: Very little, talks pretty well, never has any disciplinary issues.
Then I have lunch. From 11:50am to 2:20pm I have preschool. They can't read their names, so they have animals that that represent them.
Diego (Bunny): Definitely trouble. Gabe gets him into mischief. Throws shoes, disobedient, understands when he misbehaves, but that doesn't stop him.
Gabe (Elephant): Troublemaker! Not as bad when Diego or Gabriel aren't around.
Gabriel (Dog): Does whatever Gabe does, which makes him a troublemaker, too. Good when Gabe isn't around. Can't talk very well, hits teachers when he's upset.
Nate (Tiger): Low-energy, shy, cautious, GIANT. He's three, but looks five, could pass for six, tallest kid in the class. Every time I say something to him, he just looks at me cock-eyed and raises an eyebrow. Looks worried or concerned a lot.
Nicky (Lion): The youngest and littlest. Three. PDD (Pervasive Developmental Disorder, on Autism spectrum). Likes pretending to be the teacher and telling other people what to do, gives orders to adults ("Hug me," "Snacktime!", "Bounce ball," etc.). Has stolen my heart completely.
Roni & Dror (Baby Cow and Horse, respectively): Autistic, two brothers of a quadruplet set, have one general ed. brother and one gen. ed. sister, identical, mom dresses them alike, total angels. They walk around looking identical, dressing identical, and holding hands.
On the first day (Monday, March 8th), we were trying to get them assigned to animals, we were asking what their favorites were.
Kathleen (teacher): Dror, what's your favorite animal?
Dror: Hamburger.
Kathleen: No, animal. That's a food.
Me: That's okay, Roni. It's my favorite animal, too.
Dror: Horse.
Gabriel said his favorite animal was a lion, but we switched him to dog because when he gets excited and runs, he sticks his tongue out.
I've been trying to figure out which is the evil sibling - Roni or Dror. I've decided it's gotta be their other brother or sister, because these kids are perfect.
Dror: (To Miss Cindy) Can you open this for me?
Cindy: Sure. Good asking, Dror. (Opens water bottle.) There you go.
Dror: Good job!
Cindy: (Surprised.) Oh. Why thank you, Dror.
Later he told me "Good job!" when I got the cap off a gluestick for him. Apparently they've noticed we congratulate them whenever they do things for themselves, so they figured that was just something polite to say. However, it's a little demeaning to be congratulated for stuff like that by a 4-year-old Autistic boy. It's adorable, though.
Last Thursday, March 11th, Kathleen was zipping up Dror's jacket and they bumped heads, really hard. So hard, her first reaction was to hold her own head, then remember and check him. He just stared at her, like he was about to cry. No red eyes or shaking lip, just this really hurt look on his face.
Kathleen: Oh, Dror! Are you okay?
Dror: ... I'm sowwee.
Kathleen: Dror! Hugs for Dror! (Hugs him, has the other kids in line hug him.)
Dror: Hugs for Dwor...
Roni: Hugs for Dwor...
Me: (Walking Stanley to the bathroom) Look, Stanley - we have the same pockets and the same pants. They're kind of the same color. And we're both wearing boots. And a grey jacket. Miss Jane dresses like a five-year-old boy!
Stanley: Look a ladybug.
Me: Yes. A ladybug.
Me: What's up, homeslice.
Nicky: I was at speech.
Me: (Stunned that he actually responded to that.)
Last week, Roni and Dror saw their dad walking with their brother and ran over to say hi and give him a hug. But then Nicky ran over and started hugging him, too, and gave him a kiss, and Miss Cindy and I had to remind him that that wasn't his dad and to let Roni and Dror hug him. Yesterday, their dad stopped by the playground with their sister.
Roni and Dror's dad: (To his daughter and Roni or Dror) Hug through the bars, just like you're in jail...
(Nicky runs over for a hug again.)
Me: Nicky! You're ruining the moment!
Nate's a good kid, just so quiet and hangs back from everyone so he doesn't have many "Look how adorable I am" stories. But when he was riding his tricycle and decided he wanted to stop, he brought his trike over to the others and lined it up with the others, then adjusted it so that it was spaced equally with the other bikes and scooters. All the other kids just abandon the bikes on the painted bicycling path and call it a day. That just shows how considerate and sweet-tempered and well-behaved Nate is.
Today a kindergartner from another class ran up to me and showed me some photos of his house with tiny green footprints everywhere. Apparently some of the kids and their parents had made leprechaun traps to catch leprechauns, and his parents went the whole nine yards and simulated a leprechaun capture and escape.
Most of the traps were pretty elaborate, but some were just decorated boxes with a stick propping them up.
Nicky: (As I was taking him, Roni, and Nate back from P.E.) Hug me.
Me: Okay. (Bends down to hug him.)
Nicky: (Hugs me, pulls away, arms still around my neck.) Down!
Me: What? Down?
Nicky: Yes. Down!
Me: ... Down?
(Nicky tackles me to the ground and flops on top of me.)
Me: (Pinned, unable to get up, surprised that someone so tiny [2'6", approx.; he's almost exactly half my height <5'1">] and light [I dunno, but I can carry him under one arm like a basketball] can keep me from moving.) Okay, get up now! ... Time to get up! ... Nicky, I can't move... I... okay, up! ... Up! ... Nicky! UP! (Finally get him up and off. Making plans to steal him so he can be MY baby.)
I've got such a mom-crush on Nicky. When he sees me he always waves and says hi, he holds my hand in line, we play basketball (kind of. At least, we play WITH a basketball) at recess, and when he gets owies on his finger he wants a kiss to make it better. I'm slowly getting over it, but last week I actually felt angry and a little jealous when his mom came to pick him up.
If ever I was in danger of kidnapping a child, it's now. Nicky makes me want to get preggers and have a kid, just to see if I can produce something equally adorable. I took a picture using my cell phone of Nicky, Nate, and Roni at P.E. today, and then a picture of Dror, and sent them to my mom, dad, and sister. My mom was NO help at all: "They're darling. Bring them home with you this weekend."
That's exactly what I'm trying to keep myself from doing, Mom.
The first half of the day I have kindergarten (7:50am-11:20am).
Alen: Autistic, tries to get teachers to do work for him, defiant, being mainstreamed in a kindergarten class with Carl, doing better than I thought he would, learning to do his own assignments.
Carl: Possibly Autistic, being mainstreamed in a kindergarten class right now, doing pretty well.
Daney (pronounced Danny, female): Echolalia - repeats whatever is said to her, so it makes it difficult to ask her a question and get a straight answer.
Daniel: Rarely says a word, very focused, hardworking.
Ethan: Autistic, lives in "pretend world" most of the time, cries if something is hard the first time.
Josh: Wants to do his own thing most of the time, has trouble listening.
Mikayla: Very quiet, very serious, very little, my favorite kindergartner.
Stanley: Very Autistic, flails around, runner, chatterbox, unfocused.
Trevor: Can barely talk at all, makes sounds instead of words, but good worker.
Zander: Very little, talks pretty well, never has any disciplinary issues.
Then I have lunch. From 11:50am to 2:20pm I have preschool. They can't read their names, so they have animals that that represent them.
Diego (Bunny): Definitely trouble. Gabe gets him into mischief. Throws shoes, disobedient, understands when he misbehaves, but that doesn't stop him.
Gabe (Elephant): Troublemaker! Not as bad when Diego or Gabriel aren't around.
Gabriel (Dog): Does whatever Gabe does, which makes him a troublemaker, too. Good when Gabe isn't around. Can't talk very well, hits teachers when he's upset.
Nate (Tiger): Low-energy, shy, cautious, GIANT. He's three, but looks five, could pass for six, tallest kid in the class. Every time I say something to him, he just looks at me cock-eyed and raises an eyebrow. Looks worried or concerned a lot.
Nicky (Lion): The youngest and littlest. Three. PDD (Pervasive Developmental Disorder, on Autism spectrum). Likes pretending to be the teacher and telling other people what to do, gives orders to adults ("Hug me," "Snacktime!", "Bounce ball," etc.). Has stolen my heart completely.
Roni & Dror (Baby Cow and Horse, respectively): Autistic, two brothers of a quadruplet set, have one general ed. brother and one gen. ed. sister, identical, mom dresses them alike, total angels. They walk around looking identical, dressing identical, and holding hands.
On the first day (Monday, March 8th), we were trying to get them assigned to animals, we were asking what their favorites were.
Kathleen (teacher): Dror, what's your favorite animal?
Dror: Hamburger.
Kathleen: No, animal. That's a food.
Me: That's okay, Roni. It's my favorite animal, too.
Dror: Horse.
Gabriel said his favorite animal was a lion, but we switched him to dog because when he gets excited and runs, he sticks his tongue out.
I've been trying to figure out which is the evil sibling - Roni or Dror. I've decided it's gotta be their other brother or sister, because these kids are perfect.
Dror: (To Miss Cindy) Can you open this for me?
Cindy: Sure. Good asking, Dror. (Opens water bottle.) There you go.
Dror: Good job!
Cindy: (Surprised.) Oh. Why thank you, Dror.
Later he told me "Good job!" when I got the cap off a gluestick for him. Apparently they've noticed we congratulate them whenever they do things for themselves, so they figured that was just something polite to say. However, it's a little demeaning to be congratulated for stuff like that by a 4-year-old Autistic boy. It's adorable, though.
Last Thursday, March 11th, Kathleen was zipping up Dror's jacket and they bumped heads, really hard. So hard, her first reaction was to hold her own head, then remember and check him. He just stared at her, like he was about to cry. No red eyes or shaking lip, just this really hurt look on his face.
Kathleen: Oh, Dror! Are you okay?
Dror: ... I'm sowwee.
Kathleen: Dror! Hugs for Dror! (Hugs him, has the other kids in line hug him.)
Dror: Hugs for Dwor...
Roni: Hugs for Dwor...
Me: (Walking Stanley to the bathroom) Look, Stanley - we have the same pockets and the same pants. They're kind of the same color. And we're both wearing boots. And a grey jacket. Miss Jane dresses like a five-year-old boy!
Stanley: Look a ladybug.
Me: Yes. A ladybug.
Me: What's up, homeslice.
Nicky: I was at speech.
Me: (Stunned that he actually responded to that.)
Last week, Roni and Dror saw their dad walking with their brother and ran over to say hi and give him a hug. But then Nicky ran over and started hugging him, too, and gave him a kiss, and Miss Cindy and I had to remind him that that wasn't his dad and to let Roni and Dror hug him. Yesterday, their dad stopped by the playground with their sister.
Roni and Dror's dad: (To his daughter and Roni or Dror) Hug through the bars, just like you're in jail...
(Nicky runs over for a hug again.)
Me: Nicky! You're ruining the moment!
Nate's a good kid, just so quiet and hangs back from everyone so he doesn't have many "Look how adorable I am" stories. But when he was riding his tricycle and decided he wanted to stop, he brought his trike over to the others and lined it up with the others, then adjusted it so that it was spaced equally with the other bikes and scooters. All the other kids just abandon the bikes on the painted bicycling path and call it a day. That just shows how considerate and sweet-tempered and well-behaved Nate is.
Today a kindergartner from another class ran up to me and showed me some photos of his house with tiny green footprints everywhere. Apparently some of the kids and their parents had made leprechaun traps to catch leprechauns, and his parents went the whole nine yards and simulated a leprechaun capture and escape.
Most of the traps were pretty elaborate, but some were just decorated boxes with a stick propping them up.
Nicky: (As I was taking him, Roni, and Nate back from P.E.) Hug me.
Me: Okay. (Bends down to hug him.)
Nicky: (Hugs me, pulls away, arms still around my neck.) Down!
Me: What? Down?
Nicky: Yes. Down!
Me: ... Down?
(Nicky tackles me to the ground and flops on top of me.)
Me: (Pinned, unable to get up, surprised that someone so tiny [2'6", approx.; he's almost exactly half my height <5'1">] and light [I dunno, but I can carry him under one arm like a basketball] can keep me from moving.) Okay, get up now! ... Time to get up! ... Nicky, I can't move... I... okay, up! ... Up! ... Nicky! UP! (Finally get him up and off. Making plans to steal him so he can be MY baby.)
I've got such a mom-crush on Nicky. When he sees me he always waves and says hi, he holds my hand in line, we play basketball (kind of. At least, we play WITH a basketball) at recess, and when he gets owies on his finger he wants a kiss to make it better. I'm slowly getting over it, but last week I actually felt angry and a little jealous when his mom came to pick him up.
If ever I was in danger of kidnapping a child, it's now. Nicky makes me want to get preggers and have a kid, just to see if I can produce something equally adorable. I took a picture using my cell phone of Nicky, Nate, and Roni at P.E. today, and then a picture of Dror, and sent them to my mom, dad, and sister. My mom was NO help at all: "They're darling. Bring them home with you this weekend."
That's exactly what I'm trying to keep myself from doing, Mom.