Tweena, I Wuv You

Out of the mouths of babes I tell ya. The title of this entry is what a preschool boy had said to me whilst we were playing together in dramatic play, our "house". I try not to have favorites in the classroom, trying to give equal attention to all the children, but sometimes it is hard. Especailly with J. He latched on to me from day one. From there, it has become an amazing experience working with this particular child. I thought I would be learning from the preschool class as a whole, but this one child has managed to teach me so much. He probably doesn't even know it!
As I said before, he latched onto me from the very beginning. I showed up at Learning and Belonging preschool the second week of classes at the U. One of those days I was there, he bawled when it came time for his mother to leave. She stayed and played with him for fifteen, twenty minutes at one of the centers. When it came time for her to leave, she said goodbye and he clung to her and cried. I jumped in and tried to defuse the situation by inviting him to come play with me at one of the centers. "Just think of all the great things you will do that you can tell your mom about when she comes to pick you up"(Meanwhile, he's still wailing). His mother still standing by. I stayed near him the rest of the day. My supervisor even made sure she placed his set near where I would be sitting at our circle time. From that day on, I have been his favorite...and he mine. One day, my supervisor happened to mention a great comment this preschoolers mom made about the way I work with her son :)
Unfortunately, I am only in the preschool two days a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays. This young boy happens to come Monday thru Thursday (no school on Friday's). Every day when he is on his way to preschool, he asks his mom if it is a "Tryna Day", in other words, will I be there.
After out circle time we go to centers. Each center is a different activity that stresses the different developmental domains; cognitive, social/emotional,language, fine/gross motor, adaptive. He will often ask me to go with him to different centers. Even when it is time to go out for recess, he asks "Tweena, would you play with me?" (though most of his words start with the 'd' sound, typical for preschoolers)
He is slowly but surely relying less and less on my beign everywhere he is. I am starting to se him wander off and play with other children when we are playing together, occasionally he will ask me later to come play with him.

I have often told people that these internships are nothing but a tease. Only being in the preschool classroom for as short of a time as I am is starting to drive me crazy. I find myself longing to be in there full-time. Trouble is, wouldI be able to physically handle being around preschoolers thst much? Lord willing, I sure hope so.

I would rather be doing something I love and get paid very little for it than to be doing something that doesn't mean much but getting paid exhorbidant amounts of money for. I am doing what I love, and that is what matters most. I find myself thanking God often for this experience.