One way to earn odd looks from the other mommies
Bring a live snake to show-n-tell. :-)
I asked before I did it and the teachers' only request was that I remain with it. Easy enough. I bagged Scooter in an old pillowcase, tucked him into my coat and off we went. About half the kids came with me to the other room because several were starting to act distressed by the idea of a live snake being in the room. Which I found odd, but .... So. Anyway. Half a dozen shrieking small children is slightly over-whelming, but neither the snake or I lost our cool. Scooter could have done without Isaac trying to pet his eyes, but otherwise the kids were very good about handling him. And once one had the notion that they wanted him around their neck (after seeing him twine himself around mine) they all wanted a turn.
That was about more than the teacher's assistant could bear, but she made her faces, cringed quietly and let the kids have their fun. Two parents stuck around to check him out and they had a surprising number of questions. The dad had an 'oh no' moment when his son announced that he wanted Scooter to come home with him. I explained that I got my first snake in college, and that was a good time to do that sort of thing, so he might want to wait. He seemed to accept that, much to dad's relief. :-)
Ms. H had another freaky moment when Elly got upset. I'd left her playing in the classroom, but she decided she wanted Mommy. So with a little help to make sure she didn't wander to the stairs, she toddled over to me and crawled into my lap. She was still wearing her coat and the snake, sensing a toasty warm dark place, promptly slithered into her hood. Elly gave the snake a cross look, realized that this sensation was just the snake, and she went back to crawling up my body, demanding that I hold her. I untangled them, put the snake on the floor (which THRILLED the kids) and situated the baby.
The kids were all sitting while the snake was on the floor. My attempt at making sure no one stepped on him, but the more he slithered the more giggles and shrieks there were and they crowded around closer. After about 15 minutes (might have been 20) I gathered him up, helped wash all the little hands and sent everyone back to their room.
Later on, during pick-up, there was talking about the snake and the fact that, among all the stuffed snakes there was a REAL one and finally one mother turned to ask, so who brought the real one? And there was clarification that this was MY snake. Not the husband's or something foisted onto me, but something I'd wanted (and gotten as a birthday present).
Funny moments.
I asked before I did it and the teachers' only request was that I remain with it. Easy enough. I bagged Scooter in an old pillowcase, tucked him into my coat and off we went. About half the kids came with me to the other room because several were starting to act distressed by the idea of a live snake being in the room. Which I found odd, but .... So. Anyway. Half a dozen shrieking small children is slightly over-whelming, but neither the snake or I lost our cool. Scooter could have done without Isaac trying to pet his eyes, but otherwise the kids were very good about handling him. And once one had the notion that they wanted him around their neck (after seeing him twine himself around mine) they all wanted a turn.
That was about more than the teacher's assistant could bear, but she made her faces, cringed quietly and let the kids have their fun. Two parents stuck around to check him out and they had a surprising number of questions. The dad had an 'oh no' moment when his son announced that he wanted Scooter to come home with him. I explained that I got my first snake in college, and that was a good time to do that sort of thing, so he might want to wait. He seemed to accept that, much to dad's relief. :-)
Ms. H had another freaky moment when Elly got upset. I'd left her playing in the classroom, but she decided she wanted Mommy. So with a little help to make sure she didn't wander to the stairs, she toddled over to me and crawled into my lap. She was still wearing her coat and the snake, sensing a toasty warm dark place, promptly slithered into her hood. Elly gave the snake a cross look, realized that this sensation was just the snake, and she went back to crawling up my body, demanding that I hold her. I untangled them, put the snake on the floor (which THRILLED the kids) and situated the baby.
The kids were all sitting while the snake was on the floor. My attempt at making sure no one stepped on him, but the more he slithered the more giggles and shrieks there were and they crowded around closer. After about 15 minutes (might have been 20) I gathered him up, helped wash all the little hands and sent everyone back to their room.
Later on, during pick-up, there was talking about the snake and the fact that, among all the stuffed snakes there was a REAL one and finally one mother turned to ask, so who brought the real one? And there was clarification that this was MY snake. Not the husband's or something foisted onto me, but something I'd wanted (and gotten as a birthday present).
Funny moments.