My wife has some competition. She's Asian and six. Not actually competition. But I was in the middle of typing up a bi-monthly exam on Friday when one of the kinder girls walked in with her friend, who she's always attached to by the hand, and they're both giggling. They're both cute, smart, well-behaved girls and one is my current favorite (Jerry aside). She's so adorable the way she acts out every line of the musical while sat in her seat. She gets a real kick out of it when I join in on the dancing. Last month's musical was Stone Soup and one of the songs goes "Put in the salt and pepper. Add the onions and carrots. Then put in a big fat chicken" And the dance for that is pretending to hold a giant chicken then dumping it in and they already find it a funny motion but when Teacher does it, it's hysterical. Fits of laughter. People fall from chairs. They stifle their laughter between tiny fingers splat against their face. And she always knows her lines, always speaks in English, and always encourages the other students to behaves. She also never asks to go to Desk-teacher for a bandaid or to go to the bathroom. She's a great little kid and dressed in a sophisticated way, as sophisticated as six-year-old Korean kids can dress without looking like a doll.
Anyway, she comes into the library giggling like I've just tossed a great big chicken into the soup and I'm asking, "What's so funny, Rachel?" She tries to tell me but she can't get it out and she covers her mouth and when she uncovers it to try again, only more laughter comes. Literally five minutes of this goes on.
Then Maya-teacher comes in with a bit of a laugh herself and asks her, "Rachel, did you say?" She's laughing too hard to answer so Maya-teacher asks me, "Did she say?"
"She's just been giggling since she came in."
"Rachel! Say what you say to me!"
"Harrson-teacher..." They never pronounce that middle syllable. "I love you, Harrison-teacher!"
She dashes from the room, dragging her best friend, and Maya-teacher and I are having a laugh about it and I ask why she said that and Maya-teacher explained they were talking about their favorite teachers in class and Rachel just said that about me suddenly.
Then musical class came and we just started a new Halloween musical, The Haunted Halloween House, and I put off assigning parts the first day because someone always cries. Everyone wants the princess or pretty girl or something, but there are always too many boy parts and there are only three boys in that class. So someone always cries. Usually Rose and Olivia. Even when they get good parts, they want two good parts. Or they want to be paired up on a part with a friend.
Rachel got Tom. Generally Rachel gets bad parts because I let kids draw numbers from a hat and she'll often switch with some crier because she doesn't mind a bad part like Tom. She's generally happy with whatever and I usually give her a second part that's at least a girl but I think she'd be happy even if I didn't do that. She's really a great kid.
But Friday, she nearly cried. I even had an open part that was a girl and I tried giving her that or the main role of the Lonely Ghost, but she just shook her head with her eyes down, leaking a bit. Normally if a kid cries, I feel bad the first time, but when it happens regularly, I just let them cry without trying to help because Rose and Olivia use it to manipulate the teacher and surely others do too. But Rachel never cries and she never complains and she's always good and I felt awful that she was crying and trying to placate her by switching parts wasn't working.
Finally I asked if she wanted to be Paul. She seemed reluctant to admit she wanted that part because she seemed, as much as a six-year-old can, too proud to manipulate someone with tears, but she nodded that she did want to be Paul. Someone else was already Paul, though. Melissa, Rachel's best friend who she's always attached by the hand.
So now I have two Pauls and a kid who can't read playing the Lonely Ghost and Lola playing Tom. But at least Rachel wasn't hurt by the day. She was even smiling and happy by lunch as she and Melissa, attached at the hands, blocked the stairway so I couldn't head home for lunch because they wanted me to eat with them.
Anyway, she comes into the library giggling like I've just tossed a great big chicken into the soup and I'm asking, "What's so funny, Rachel?" She tries to tell me but she can't get it out and she covers her mouth and when she uncovers it to try again, only more laughter comes. Literally five minutes of this goes on.
Then Maya-teacher comes in with a bit of a laugh herself and asks her, "Rachel, did you say?" She's laughing too hard to answer so Maya-teacher asks me, "Did she say?"
"She's just been giggling since she came in."
"Rachel! Say what you say to me!"
"Harrson-teacher..." They never pronounce that middle syllable. "I love you, Harrison-teacher!"
She dashes from the room, dragging her best friend, and Maya-teacher and I are having a laugh about it and I ask why she said that and Maya-teacher explained they were talking about their favorite teachers in class and Rachel just said that about me suddenly.
Then musical class came and we just started a new Halloween musical, The Haunted Halloween House, and I put off assigning parts the first day because someone always cries. Everyone wants the princess or pretty girl or something, but there are always too many boy parts and there are only three boys in that class. So someone always cries. Usually Rose and Olivia. Even when they get good parts, they want two good parts. Or they want to be paired up on a part with a friend.
Rachel got Tom. Generally Rachel gets bad parts because I let kids draw numbers from a hat and she'll often switch with some crier because she doesn't mind a bad part like Tom. She's generally happy with whatever and I usually give her a second part that's at least a girl but I think she'd be happy even if I didn't do that. She's really a great kid.
But Friday, she nearly cried. I even had an open part that was a girl and I tried giving her that or the main role of the Lonely Ghost, but she just shook her head with her eyes down, leaking a bit. Normally if a kid cries, I feel bad the first time, but when it happens regularly, I just let them cry without trying to help because Rose and Olivia use it to manipulate the teacher and surely others do too. But Rachel never cries and she never complains and she's always good and I felt awful that she was crying and trying to placate her by switching parts wasn't working.
Finally I asked if she wanted to be Paul. She seemed reluctant to admit she wanted that part because she seemed, as much as a six-year-old can, too proud to manipulate someone with tears, but she nodded that she did want to be Paul. Someone else was already Paul, though. Melissa, Rachel's best friend who she's always attached by the hand.
So now I have two Pauls and a kid who can't read playing the Lonely Ghost and Lola playing Tom. But at least Rachel wasn't hurt by the day. She was even smiling and happy by lunch as she and Melissa, attached at the hands, blocked the stairway so I couldn't head home for lunch because they wanted me to eat with them.
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