Dad's Night at St. Stephen Preschool

As long as I'm on a roll and beginning to look like a jelly roll, I guess I'll have peach crepes for breakfast with a steaming cup of weak coffee. Then it's off to school for a few parent-teacher conferences.

Last night was Dad's Night at school. The kids were so excited at being the "boss" for the evening. I had to separate a couple of dad buddies who thought they were there to swap stats instead of stir the pot with their daughters in the housekeeping area. The children and fathers interacted for about 45 minutes doing "math their way", phonics and letter matching, playing tic-tac-turtle and participating in many other fun activities.

The storm hovered on top of us and dumped it's load, so we were restricted to indoor activities. Normally we go outdoors and the dads stand around the circumference of a large parachute and raise each child, seated on a pillow, high into the air. You can't imagine the kid giggles and daddy laughter. But last night I had to wing it. So I pulled out two large stuffed caterpillar toys, shoved the furniture back and announced that the kids would still get the ride of their lives, only this year it would be like going to the races, caterpillar, not horse races. The kids competed, scooted across the floor as the dad's cheered and rooted them on. Then the kids sang songs, recited rhymes and fingerplays and read simple words that they had learned. Overall it was a nice evening, despite the storm. The moment our program concluded, the clouds cleared out and a giant rainbow filled the sky. I rewarded myself with a strawberry shortcake ice cream from Ted Drewes, a favorite and famous ice cream stand.

The highlight of my day though, was in the morning when we went out to recess and a "good-bye" butterfly landed on one of mystudents whose last day was yesterday instead of June 22nd. The butterfly actually climbed on my finger and the kids got to see it stretch its long tongue out and seek moisture from my skin. It was an awesome day: rainbows, butterflies, kids, ice cream. Hope you have a wonderful day too. Tonight is family night and my three/four year olds will be performing the Three Brown Bears and singing etc. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.