I'd Hire Him As My Teacher Aide, but Those Pesky Child Labor Laws Get In the Way

The freshmen are looking younger every year

Prepping for the school year is less than easy with a Widget rampaging about the classroom. But it sure wasn't boring.

Actually, The Widget did amazingly well today. He was still a little too snot-nosed and congested for daycare, but MUCH better than he was on Saturday. So he tagged along to work with me today, on my first trip back into the building since school let out.

I didn't get up on chairs to tack and staple decorations onto the wall because I didn't want to give him ideas. And I didn't rearrange the room because I didn't want to squish him. And I didn't get syllabi printed off and copied because there's a new printer/copier system and I don't have a clue how to make it work yet.

So what DID I get done? Well, I pulled a bunch of posters and books out of my cabinets so that The Widget could perform the important task of strewing them under the tables and slamming the cabinet doors shut. I also unpacked the gorgeous new desk chair that one of my mentees gave me at the end of the year so that The Widget could help me put it together by using my car keys as his screwdriver. I did manage to do some lesson planning while The Widget rearranged chairs, scattered crayons around the room, and made friends with a custodian or two.

He was a big help.

And I could have eaten him up with a spoon.