Monday, November 22, 2010

Those Poor Egyptians

I’ve mentioned before that I teach Sunday school for two and three year olds. I’ve been doing it on and off for over 20 years. Most people don’t volunteer to teach these little ones, which is fine with me because I love them.

They are a delight. Once they get passed being afraid (which isn’t bad because they ask to sit on my lap and they snuggle—I miss when my own kids were snuggle bunnies), they are completely honest.

For example, (disclaimer—this one is from many years ago) I asked a little boy to sit in his chair. With sparkling eyes, he said, “Mrs. Keller, what if I say ‘no?’” I said, “Oh, sweetheart, if you say, ‘no,’ then I will have to tell your daddy.” He pondered that for half a second and then sat in his chair.

Then there are the three year olds who try to “shock” me. Of course, what shocks a three year old is not what shocks an adult. One of my favorites is when I pass out animals crackers.

3 year old: “Mrs. Keller, I hate cookies.”

Me: Oh, that’s too bad. Well, you don’t have to have any if you don’t want them.

3 year old, looking terribly indecisive, says nothing. At which point, I surreptitiously slid the child two animal crackers.

And there are the three year old misunderstandings of the world.

Me: There was going to be a famine in Egypt and the people would have nothing to eat.

3 year old: In Egypt they eat only skeletons

Me, trying to figure this out: What?

3 y.o.: They don’t have food. They eat bones.

Me, light coming on: Are you talking about mummies?

3 y.o nods, looking quite pleased with himself

Me: Mummifying is what they did with dead bodies. They didn’t eat them.

3yo, looking disappointed but resigned: Oh.

And, of course, I always have shoe/purse/jewelry bonding. No matter how shy, every two or three year old girl is eager to show you her shoes/purse/jewelry and discuss its merits. And I admit that I’ve worn certain earrings/necklaces/shoes because I knew that “my girls” would love it.

5 comments:

  1. Aww! Cute:)

    Yes, every time I babysit, I try to wear my zebra flats. The little girls love them and the little boys think they are made from real zebras:)

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  2. I was trying to have an afternoon service at a rest home one sunday afternoon and there was a strange irritating noise in the room. Finally after some investigating we found that one of the ladies sitting on the front row had her hearing aid in her hand which made it put off a high pitched sound. She also has Alshymers (may be spelled wrong). we got a good laugh from that one. you sure have some great memories from your group.

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  3. This brings back fun memories from when I taught the 2s/3s. One year I had one boy in the midst of a roomful of girls.

    The Sunday after Christmas, little Russell could hardly wait to tell me every detail about the new truck he got. Of course it was the best truck in the whole world!

    A girl then told about her new doll. Russell excitedly gave another truck detail. This back-and-forth continued through all the girls with their new dolls, alternating with Russell and his wonderful truck, until Russell finally looked completely dejected and sadly said, "I didn't get a baby doll. All I got was a truck."

    Connie...I enjoy reading your blog. I guess I should join it sometime instead of being a stealth-reader :>) Aunt Judy

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  4. "Egyptians eat skeletons" ranks up with "It rains because the clouds are full of holes."

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  5. Yeah, but I think "I am poop!" tops them all.

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