A Side of Rice

I have asked the children to come up with nicknames for themselves, so that I can refer to them in this blog without revealing or compromising their identities, in case of future political aspirations. Oldest son (6) has asked for Scooby Doo. Middle son (3) has requested Tarzan. Youngest daughter (2) has emphatically chosen Cinderella.

Tarzan's preschool has a rice table. It's like a sandbox, but it's up off of floor level, and filled with dry rice rather than sand...the theory being that rice is easier to clean up, and harder to get lodged in one's eyeball. In addition to the rice, it has small buckets, shovels, funnel-type things, little trucks, etc. It's a great favorite for playtime, which comprises at least the first 15 minutes of preschool. Cinderella loves the rice table.

So on Thursday, I brought them in to drop Tarzan off. We go in the classroom, hang up his coat and backpack, and get his nametag. While Tarzan and I've been doing that, Cinderella has zoomed over to the rice table, wedged herself in the corner in between two other kids, and is playing very happily. I let her play for a couple of minutes before I began my first attempt to get her out. She refused, so rather than deal with the kicking and screaming that would follow a forcible removal (I know, I wimped out) I let her play awhile longer. Next time I look, one of the very motherly and solicitous three year olds has helped her off with her coat, and informed me that "This preschool is really for three AND two year olds." The teachers were fine with having her in there, so I hung around during clean up time, and song time, both of which she fully participated in.

Finally, the teachers told me to just leave, since she seemed to be enjoying herself so much. I went over to the church office next door to help them fold some stuff, so I could come right back over and remove her if she decided she'd had enough higher learning. Well, she didn't. She stayed through the entire class, participated in everything, and proudly showed me her worksheets and puppet craft when I came to pick them up! From now on, I think she'll be staying in the car when I drop off Tarzan!

Here's the gross part.

We came home, she took a nap, and it was about three hours later that I checked her diaper. At first, I didn't know what the small white things were - my first fleeting thoughts were maggots? Some kind of worm infestation? I was EXTREMELY grossed out and am very proud of myself for not screaming and throwing her off my lap and across the room. So I pull the diaper off, and a shower of rice falls onto the floor. It must have been a least a handfull. And not just loose in the diaper either. There was rice wedged into place that certainly would have made napping an impossibility to me!!! I don't know how it got there. But the princess and the pea, she is not!

So go enjoy your dinner now! Bon Appetit!