Becoming Analise

During the day as a preschool teacher, I witness many hilarious moments as preschoolers interact with each other. It’s funny to watch them learn, grow, and solve problems through their four- and five-year old understanding of the world and how it operates. This past Thursday, my kids were playing musical chairs. There were three groups of kids playing their own version of musical chairs. Group 1 – A group of boys was playing musical chairs together, and they were interested in playing by the rules. Therefore, they asked me to dictate when to stop, so that they could properly eliminate a player each time. Most of the boys had fun, and there weren’t any major fall-outs (minus one boy who was angry that there weren’t even chairs for everyone…he was still learning the point of the game…) Group 2 – A group of girls decided they wanted to play after watching the boys. However, they didn’t want my involvement in the game. One girl decided she would be in charge. She was deciding when...

Two rather unpleasant things have come to my attention lately. One has to do with bruises, and this revelation came through my husband. The other has to do with Facebook, and this revelation came through my daughter. After explaining, I bet you can relate to one or both of these unpleasant realizations. Bruises Recently, I’ve noticed that I always have bruised knees. I kept trying to think what I did to acquire these bruises. Then, I remembered that I am a pre-k teacher and am always on my knees setting up a learning center or reading a story or cleaning up an accident. The latest bruise is from a dump truck that came flying down the hill at me when I was tying someone’s shoe. I used to be proud of my bruises because I thought it meant that I was tough (and I rarely have cool, discolored bruises because I don’t do things that could possibly cause bodily harm because I am a chicken!) I don’t bruise easily, so when I do have a bruise, it must mean something painful happened. Now...

Riley Grace is a singer. She sings all day long without stopping. She sings songs that she knows (or thinks she knows), and she makes up songs about completely random topics. Sometimes, her singing is soft and soprano, and other times it is powerful, passionate, and a bit through the nose! There are usually several key changes within each song.  Lately, she and I have been listening to Bethany (Dillion) Barnard’s new CD, “To Those Who Wait” and her EP on repeat. (Side note: If you’re looking for new music, I highly recommend those two albums. They have greatly ministered to me the past few weeks!) She has learned about half of the songs. Every time we get in the car, she has a song request. The song request as of late is entitled, “To Those Who Wait.” The other night, she was singing these lyrics in her bed while she was supposed to be sleeping: “Lord, today….. Lord, today…. Lord, today… etc. “ So apparently, she hadn’t learned much of that song! Here are some of t...