Ariel would be jealous...

the theme right now for the preschool is ocean life. so for the past week and a half we have done nothing but ocean crafts like, water coloring dolpins and making fish out of paper plates. we even made blue jello for todays snack with submerged swedish fish :) all of this ocean life talk of course leads to new and fun things to play while we are out on the playground! today i was sitting on a step of a jungle gym while watching the kids; and tanning my legs while i was at it. i should have a pretty awesome farmers tan come summer break. but i was soon interrupted by two little girls.
"ms. lauren! did you know i am a mermaid?"
"no i did not!"
"yeah. i am."
"wow. that must be fun!"
"ms. lauren, i havent always been a mermaid." (she said it as though she were about to disclose a very important secret in her life. she looked at me very seriously and her voice became very quiet and intent. it's like she was about to tell me how horrible her life was before going to rehab for a serious drinking problem.)
"oh really? how did that happen?"
"it was a long time ago before i turned five. i was only 4. and i went to the beach and this mermaid came up to me and was like, 'do you want to be a mermaid?' and i was like yeah. and then she said 'ok', and gave me a beautiful tail and a crown and now i'm a mermaid."
"wow that's pretty awesome. how's that going for you?"
"it's good...i like swimming at the beach the best. and my tail's invisible. and i can make go away so i can walk on the land and go to school and stuff."
"well that sounds like a pretty sweet mermaid tail! what does it look like?"
"it's pink and it has sparkles all over it."
the other little girl had just been standing there smiling the whole time and hadn't said one word besides 'uh huh' and 'yeah' and high pitched giggles. but finally she looked at me and said in a wistful voice, "yeah and mines...with sparkling." i don't know what that means, but it sounded like a good time. i was about to ask her to please explain what that all entails, when i was interrupted by the pink sparkley tailed mermaid.
"oh and ms lauren i can talk to dolpins!"
"really."
"yeah. i can call them to me. watch. eeeee! eeee! aaahheeee! EEEEEEE!!!! only they wont come right now because we're not at the beach."
"wow that's amazing. i didn't know you were so talented! well i'm sure they heard you anyways."
"yeah. theyre my friends. and when i dont feel like wearing my tail in the water they let me ride on them. oh and i'm friends with the sharks too."
"really? they don't want to eat you?"
"no. theyre nice. i make my brother ride on them because he swims slow."
"oh thats nice of you. do you swim fast?"
"yeah. and he's really slow. i dont want to wait for him."
and then they were off, swimming as fast as they could do the other end of the ocean. the dolphins were calling and they needed to attend to them.

that wasnt the only highlight of the day, a group of girls came over later to show me a teeny tiny gray and orange spider crawling on a twig that they had lovingly named katie. convinced it was with child (or children) and probably very hungry and tired, they decided to build it a home made of leaves and mulch and feed it grass until it felt better. but only 10 minutes later i heard from another girl that the spider was dead; probably from being held too tightly in too many little hands. or maybe katie was just paralyzed in fear from the sheer terror of 7 little girls fighting over whos turn it was to hold her and her twig she was clinging so desperately to. either way i never saw her again, but i wish her all the best.

now i'm sitting at the front desk answering phones and talking to parents and feeling very much like an administrative assistant, except for the fact i'm writing on my blog. a little boy just got picked up and was smelling his hands. according to him, he was checking if they were clean....they were.

and that was tuesday.