Our Weekend with Mrs. Bear
Every weekend a lucky girl from Lauren's class gets to take home Mrs. Ted E. Bear for a visit (a lucky boy takes home Mr. Bear - I guess they are estranged). On Sunday evening the lucky parents of the lucky girl get to write an entry in Mrs. Bear's journal about all of the fun things Mrs. Bear did that weekend. This entry is supposed to be dictated by the kindergartener, but when you read the journal, it is obvious that the parents are doing most of the story telling. I don't mind cleaning up the grammar and organizing things a little bit, but I do try to get Lauren to remember the things that she did with Mrs. Bear and tell them to me.
On Lauren's first turn she was very excited, loved changing the bear into her pajamas and back into her clothes, and she carried her all around town. It helped that she spent most of the weekend in the car with nothing else to do but play with the bear. When we sat down to write the journal entry, she was very enthusiastic and carefully decorated the page when we were done.
Round 2 was not so successful. I think part of the problem was that when Lauren returned Mrs. Bear the first time, something was going on at school and she did not get the full-blown journal reading and heroine's reception that previous bear/care-takers had. The other, larger part of the problem is that Lauren doesn't want anyone, ever, under any circumstances, to tell her what to do. When her teacher says, "Lauren, you can take Mrs. Ted E. Bear home for the weekend and play with her," Lauren's gut reaction is, "You can't make me play with her."
Therefore, all evening Friday Mrs. Bear stayed in her little tote bag. Midway through Saturday morning, Lauren remembered her and changed her into her pajamas. She took her outside where she was "helping" take down the Christmas decorations (and then forgot and left her outside when she came in for lunch). At bedtime, I asked her if she wanted Mrs. Bear in her room and she responded with a rousing "NO!" On Sunday morning she came into my room to inform me that she had taught Mrs. Bear how to do a flip in the air. That was it for Mrs. Bear. I propped her up on the table so she could watch the kids doing a craft, but Lauren didn't so much as glance at her.
Sunday night we forgot all about the journal, so Monday morning before the bus came I sat down with Lauren to attempt to write the journal entry.
Mommy: So what did you do with Mrs. Bear this weekend?
Lauren: I don't know.
Mommy: Didn't she go outside and watch you take down the Christmas decorations?
Lauren: No, she was in the wagon and she couldn't see what we were doing.
Mommy (head beginning to pound): Well I'm going to put here that she watched you. What else did you do?
Lauren: Nothing.
Mommy (teeth beginning to clench): What about when you taught her to do a flip in the air?
Lauren: Okay.
Mommy: Well, what did you do?
Lauren: I just flipped her.
Mommy: And she watched you do your spin art on Sunday?
Lauren: I don't think she was really watching.
Mommy: I'm putting down that she watched you.
Lauren: Can I have some more Smart Start?
So I filled half a page of the journal (unlike the 2 full pages everyone else had) and then told Lauren I was going to tape on of the spin art pictures to the rest of the page for decoration, because we didn't have time to debate how and when she would decorate the page in the 4 minutes before the bus came. Hoping to avoid a repeat episode of "My Boring Disinterested Weekend with Mrs. Ted E. Bear" I (calmly and matter-of-factly) suggested "Why don't you tell your teacher that you want to skip your next turn with Mrs. Bear since you don't seem to like playing with her or telling stories about her?"
I think that is what I suggested. Apparently what Lauren heard was, "Why don't we chop off Mrs. Bear's head, pull all of the stuffing out, and then kick her to the curb and run her over with the car?" She immediately began to wail (in the I'm-not-really- seriously-that-upset- but-if-I-keep-this-up-long-enough-I -probably -could -work-myself-into- a-tizzy voice that is her specialty) "NOOO!!! I will play with her next time, Mommy!! I will!! I promise!! Don't tell my teacher that!!"
Hah, a likely story. I'll keep you posted.
On Lauren's first turn she was very excited, loved changing the bear into her pajamas and back into her clothes, and she carried her all around town. It helped that she spent most of the weekend in the car with nothing else to do but play with the bear. When we sat down to write the journal entry, she was very enthusiastic and carefully decorated the page when we were done.
Round 2 was not so successful. I think part of the problem was that when Lauren returned Mrs. Bear the first time, something was going on at school and she did not get the full-blown journal reading and heroine's reception that previous bear/care-takers had. The other, larger part of the problem is that Lauren doesn't want anyone, ever, under any circumstances, to tell her what to do. When her teacher says, "Lauren, you can take Mrs. Ted E. Bear home for the weekend and play with her," Lauren's gut reaction is, "You can't make me play with her."
Therefore, all evening Friday Mrs. Bear stayed in her little tote bag. Midway through Saturday morning, Lauren remembered her and changed her into her pajamas. She took her outside where she was "helping" take down the Christmas decorations (and then forgot and left her outside when she came in for lunch). At bedtime, I asked her if she wanted Mrs. Bear in her room and she responded with a rousing "NO!" On Sunday morning she came into my room to inform me that she had taught Mrs. Bear how to do a flip in the air. That was it for Mrs. Bear. I propped her up on the table so she could watch the kids doing a craft, but Lauren didn't so much as glance at her.
Sunday night we forgot all about the journal, so Monday morning before the bus came I sat down with Lauren to attempt to write the journal entry.
Mommy: So what did you do with Mrs. Bear this weekend?
Lauren: I don't know.
Mommy: Didn't she go outside and watch you take down the Christmas decorations?
Lauren: No, she was in the wagon and she couldn't see what we were doing.
Mommy (head beginning to pound): Well I'm going to put here that she watched you. What else did you do?
Lauren: Nothing.
Mommy (teeth beginning to clench): What about when you taught her to do a flip in the air?
Lauren: Okay.
Mommy: Well, what did you do?
Lauren: I just flipped her.
Mommy: And she watched you do your spin art on Sunday?
Lauren: I don't think she was really watching.
Mommy: I'm putting down that she watched you.
Lauren: Can I have some more Smart Start?
So I filled half a page of the journal (unlike the 2 full pages everyone else had) and then told Lauren I was going to tape on of the spin art pictures to the rest of the page for decoration, because we didn't have time to debate how and when she would decorate the page in the 4 minutes before the bus came. Hoping to avoid a repeat episode of "My Boring Disinterested Weekend with Mrs. Ted E. Bear" I (calmly and matter-of-factly) suggested "Why don't you tell your teacher that you want to skip your next turn with Mrs. Bear since you don't seem to like playing with her or telling stories about her?"
I think that is what I suggested. Apparently what Lauren heard was, "Why don't we chop off Mrs. Bear's head, pull all of the stuffing out, and then kick her to the curb and run her over with the car?" She immediately began to wail (in the I'm-not-really- seriously-that-upset- but-if-I-keep-this-up-long-enough-I -probably -could -work-myself-into- a-tizzy voice that is her specialty) "NOOO!!! I will play with her next time, Mommy!! I will!! I promise!! Don't tell my teacher that!!"
Hah, a likely story. I'll keep you posted.
posted by Shannon at 1:09 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home