Kiddos

I just finished up an internship at an elementary school as a speech therapist. It was such a great experience, and I can't even tell you how much I gained from all the people I worked with. Thursday was my last day, and my heart kind of hurts now. We've had many good times indeed. Kids are pretty amazing creatures, and I learned something new from them everyday. I think they taught me more than I taught them. Just see this list of things I could come up with off the top of my head:

• If you wear a ring on any finger on either hand, it means you're married. Just ask every kid that gasped as they asked if I got married over the weekend.
• My supervisor is a God, just ask the 2nd grader I was teaching opposites to--she was a child, and Mrs. Allen is "a God," not an adult.
• If somebody of the opposite gender brings you lunch, it means *gasp* you like them and you're married to them, just ask the giggly 2nd grade boys in the upper learning delayed class who witnessed a lady drop lunch off to their bachelor teacher.
• My hair is messy, not curly. Just ask the little boy with Down Syndrome who would so happily tell me every time I worked with him.
• You're never too young to start schmoozing the ladies. Just ask the 2nd grade boy who, when asked to define the word 'pretty,' immediately exclaimed the little girl's name sitting next to him without missing a beat.
• The opposite of "hot" is "ugly," just ask the learning disabled boy who asked me if by "hot" I was referring to "hot girls."
• If you're going to refer to something as "easy," don't call it a piece of cake. It only gets people's hopes up, just ask the autism unit.
• Life is full of excitement, just ask the 1st grade little girl with pretty severe mental disabilities who always finds so much joy in the hall decorations she walks past multiple times every day.
• It's embarrassing to like girls, even if you can't help yourself, just ask the two fifth grade boys who drew that such unfortunate, much dreaded slip from the conversation jar--"What girl do you like?"
• Miss Hillary (another speech therapist) is cooler than me. Just ask the kindergartner who thinks I'm the worst ever.
• Santa Clause is of course real! Just ask the questioning and confused 4th grader who came into speech, asking my opinion on the matter, and then explaining that he couldn't possibly be fake because the cookies and milk were gone every year when his dad can't drink milk and his mom hates cookies.
• As modeled by a preschooler, the only way to think is when posed in this thoughtful stance:

 

 

Leaving with several bear hugs that all but knocked me off my feet, colored cards written by my life skills class saying thank you and that they would miss me, an offer to pay me $1,000.00 if I stay by a crushing 6th grade boy, the gifting of the Miss Nelson is Missing books, and countless other thoughtful acts made me feel pretty special as I left. I'll sure miss that school. Those darn kids sure have settled into my heart and left it a little fuller, all 65 of those little rascals.