At Preschool for a Day

Last week, I was the "cookie" lady at DS1's preschool. I got to tell you, it was an amazingly awesome experience.

Here's the gig, I like to bake. DS1 likes to bake. I thought his class might get into it. I emailed the teacher and volunteered to bring in pre-made cookies, but have the kids mix the frosting and then frost the cookies. I gave her a few dates and she took me up on it.

Here's the fears. DS2 is in a class of 12 kids, they call it a cluster. They are in a huge room they share with another cluster of 12 kids, so in all, I'd have 24 children with which to deal. Each cluster has two teachers. In NY State, to teach preschool you have to have a master's degree in early education. Basically, to me, the novice at this stuff (kids, not baking) the numbers are intimidating, but I figured the teachers would know what to do. Also I wasn't sure how DS1 would feel about having me in the room.

The reality; it was awesome! When I arrived, the kids were out of the room at "theater movement" class, or as they told me when they arrived "te-a-ta movement". I thought that was totally cool, something I would do now, but never had the exposure as a kid. I was given the table by the sink, and told I would have 5-6 kids at a time. When they came it, they immediately eyed me a bit suspiciously. I was surprised to learn I was the first visiting mommie so far this year.

The teacher, who I now think is a miracle worker, said, "This is DS1's mommie, she's here to decorate cookies with you". These simple words totally defused their anxiety. The kids were instructed to go wash their hands before coming over to me. DS2 was in the first group and quickly organized his buddies into the first group. They all wore aprons I brought along, which was hilarious. These were a handful of my adult-sized aprons that I just tied up around their arm pits, and two of DS2's small ones.

They helped mix the food color into the frosting. I did one big bowl of orange, which they took turns with (dropping in color and mixing, there was so much color, that I had never seen orange so bright1), and zip lock baggies of yellow, green and pink, which they mixed by just squeezing the bags. The cookies (eggless, substituted buttermilk for regular milk) were pumpkin shaped. I had little spatula's with me, so they spread their own orange frosting, then added any decorations they liked. I had little m&ms, candy corns and sugar sprinkles. The kids were amazing! They concentrated, were totally into it, and even asked permission to eat the candy at the table.

After the first group got started, all the kids wanted in on the action. To be swarmed by 24 kids, even though they are all only about 3 ft tall, was intimidating! But we were organized and to keep things moving, the teacher designated a separate table as the "eating table", which the kids moved to once their cookie was done.

DS1 moved to eat, but then came back. He wanted to stay with me. I wasn't sure what to do, but the teacher came over and said loudly, "We all need to remember to say thank you to DS1 for sharing his mommie, as that is a special treat for all of us. He's her special helper today." Then I gave him a towel and he cleaned up each seat as the kids moved to the eating table. DS1 was happy I was there, but also a bit proud. I think he thought it was cool we could do this thing that he and I do together fairly often with all his friends. As the kids came to join us, he introduced each one; all 23 kids! Even I don't have that grace under pressure and I've known my friends much longer!

Again, I was so impressed by these kids. They were nice, polite, overall amazingly well behaved. And, they were into it. They wanted to eat their cookies, but they weren't stuffing their faces with the candy; they really wanted to decorate first. Also they were taking their time, showing effort and trying out all the tools I had brought along. They were chatting with me, and helping one another. It was very cool. An hour flew by in 2 minutes!

I had planned on having them do three cookies each, but after decorating one, they were ready to eat, so plans changed. I put two undecorated cookies in a bag for each kid to take home. They helped me with their names and put the cookies on the hooks with their coats.

At the very end, the teacher asked me to read a story book. That was awesome. The book was a silly Halloween story, which rhymed just a bit. The kids caught on quickly and helped me with the rhyme. They were attentive and stayed with the story. Then, it was time to go.

I left the school on cloud nine. My son was proud of me - and I know there is likely to be few of these precious moments. I am glad I'm not a preschool teacher, but I think those who are should be applauded! So, now I'm wondering if we should do gingerbread people, or if I should wait for Valentine hear cookies to volunteer again.