Feeling Thankful For Our New "Normal"

On Wednesday, my school had an early out day so the students were excused at 12:30. I quickly prepared a few things for next week, visited with a colleague, and then left to pick up the boys from preschool. When I got there it was 2:45--the earliest I've ever picked them up so I was looking forward to seeing what they would be doing at this time of day. When the teacher opened the door, it was dark and quiet. She explained that nap time started a little later that day so the kids were still asleep.  Miss Shara went and woke up William. He sat up with his sleepy eyes and was so excited to see me.  Miss Tobin woke up Van and told him to go use the potty. Then she turned off the ocean sounds (the white noise to keep the kids asleep) and the other kids' eyes popped open. Then she asked William to turn on the lights (his special job) and all the kids sat straight up. It was the funniest thing.  I was laughing with Miss Shara, who was finishing folding the towels. She told me about William and how he hardly ever wants to play with the other kids when she is there. He only wants to sit by her and discuss skeletons and zombies. The Family and Consumer Science teacher was there too and she and I talked about our Thanksgiving plans. While we were helping Van put on his backpack, he couldn't quite fit his arm in because he kept putting in his elbow first. She laughed with me and commented, "He's so cute." Then Miss Tobin told me to ask William about turkey bowling. She said that the science teacher brought a frozen turkey and asked the preschool kids to come bowl it into the bowling pins. She said that William had the biggest smile on his face and that she wished she had taken a picture. She added, "It was the cutest thing to see his smile and how much he enjoyed it." Miss Tobin handed me their stack of work and on top were some laminated place mats that they put together for Thanksgiving dinner. There was also a picture with their turkey handprints. The teachers mentioned as I picked up their lunch boxes that there might be some lunch leftover because the boys had a "Thanksgiving feast" that day with some snacks while they watched the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving movie.  As we began to leave, I told the boys to say "thank you". They did. Miss Tobin made the sincere comment, "You have a nice Thanksgiving." I stood there at the door with the boys in tow looking at the teachers' faces. I could tell by the way they were looking at my boys, how much they enjoyed teaching them. I felt overwhelmed with gratitude for the care that William and Van receive at their preschool. As we walked outside to the car, I thought about their day and all the fun things they got to do and the thought entered my mind, "I'm thankful for our new normal." It's taken a few months to get adjusted, but I'm thankful that I can be the bread winner, that Isaac is enjoying school and working hard to become a professor, and that our boys are making fun memories at preschool.

This month, they learned  the song, "Albuquerque Turkey"at school. I had them hold a few things they made (a corn cob and a scent turkey) at preschool.