The Preschooler Whisperer

In case you're not up-to-date on my work-life, several weeks ago I took on an additional position at work as a Three's Preschool Class Assistant. The real name of this position should be Kitten Wrangler. Nope, not even Cat Wrangler. What makes this preschool unique among preschools is that it is housed at a dance and gymnastics academy. What do you think we do every day? Yep.....dance and gymnastics. Oy.

Thursday mornings is the day we do gymnastics. It's a nearly impossible task to get 13 three year-olds lined up, let alone getting the lined-up kids to walk downstairs in single file. After some shoving and pushing down the long staircase into the gym, they are supposed to line up with their little feet on a line on the gym mats. Hahahahaha. Besides my class of 13 little ones, there is our counterpart class of 2-1/2 to 3 year-olds AS WELL as at least one other gymnastics class for preschoolers in progress. It's too bad we don't make the groups wear matching t-shirts, because all kids that size look about the same. This is where I become a kitten wrangler as I get one of our kids back into the herd just as another one is trying to escape to the other group because that group is doing just the thing that the escapee wants to do.

How does any of this make me a "Whisperer"? Switching topics now, one of our activities is a potty break. Andrew is a kid that likes to take both his pants and underpants completely OFF before he sits on the potty. Which means that one of us, usually me, has to help him get them back ON when he is finished. Andrew is not very coordinated. I know this because he usually stands on TOP of the pants that I'm fervently trying to pull up onto his body, so I have to pick up both a naked him and his pants to get them on. Andrew is a tall and solid 3 year-old boy. This isn't easy. I've heard my cohort plead with him to keep his pants down around his ankles while he pees, to no avail. The other day it was my turn. I told him that I knew he could sit on the potty with his pants pulled down but not completely off. I explained as I sat him down that his pants were doing to stay RIGHT THERE. I closed the stall while he did his business. I fully expected his pants to be in a pile on the floor when I opened the stall, but LO and BEHOLD, they were still perched at the end of his feet. Progress! I praised him up and down, and he grinned with pride. Later I told his mother that Andrew had a milestone today. I knew she fully expected me to talk about some neat thing he said, and that I could understand him completely. Andrew's speech is hardly there, so far. Nope, I told her with a grin, Andrew kept his PANTS on while he went potty. Oh boy! She said her husband will be SO happy to hear that since he, in particular, gets rather frustrated with having to dress him every time he goes potty.

I'm a Preschooler Whisperer, I tell ya. I can't wait to see if by next Tuesday Andrew will repeat this major feat. I'll keep you posted.