Well, VBS is going well. I have determined that if insanity needed to be given human form it would be a room full of 14 3-4 year olds. Last night I spent the evening with the preschoolers because one of our workers was sick (I also was somewhat sick, but her kidney stones trumps my ear infection and sore throat, and I don't really get the option of being sick, whereas an unpaid volunteer does...thus, to the preschool classroom I went). So, I always find the preschoolers entertaining because they find the fact that I stand on the stage to welcome everyone and do our opening lesson absolutely fascinating! 'I know you! You're the captain!' they exclaimed with delight when I went upstairs the first day, as if I was some kind of celebrity - it was pretty hysterical. They are also pretty focused on me wearing the captain hat ALL the time. And they are quite certain my name is now Captain. 'Captain, look at my shoes', 'Captain, it's your turn', 'Captain, can I have some water'...and so on - you get the picture. My favorite of the whole evening, however, was when we took our shoes off to play one of the games and the one little girl says 'Captain, I like your toes' (referencing my toenail polish), it was pretty hysterical.
So, my main focus last night was to find some way to handle one of the little boys who is WILD! I'm not talking the normal 4 year old wild, I'm talking ramp it up about 3 notches 4 year old on a sugar high wild, and have that extend for the full 3 hours. In Brandy's professional opinion the only real tactic is timed positive reinforcement, she cautioned however the problem with that age is they don't really get time yet, so you can't do the 'if you sit here for 5 minutes we'll go get a drink of water' or 'if you finish this game in 10 minutes we will go downstairs and sing songs'. So, it was just me and wild child hanging out all night. 'look at this paper, what color is it? red. right, very good, what is the color of the spyglass, that's right it's red too, what's your favorite color, red? wow, I like red, how about that story, did you hear what she said about the snake? did is surprise you? yes, why? oh, it surprised me, have you ever seen a snake? yes, what color was it, ok, now come sit here with me and listen to the directions so we can play the game, no right here, did you hear the directions, yes, ok, no, come over here, we have to wait our turn, yep we are starting, but look you go in 3 people, let's count down...'and that was ALLLLLLLLL night. I actually started playing a game with myself to see how long I could keep him on task before he broke off attempting to run around the room. I'm pretty sure I got to a solid 4 minutes one time, which was pretty awesome. However, by the end of the evening he and I were like peanut butter and jelly. He even sat with me when we sang songs and didn't go running up the stairs like the previous 2 evenings. :)
So, all in all it was successful. My throat is feeling MUCH better, and I had a good night sleep last night for the first time in a few nights, so I think the week is moving along quite splendidly. Honestly, one of these nights I'm going to remember to bring the camera home and put some pictures on her of the contained chaos that is the High Seas Expedition :)
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