Today the triplets got a little surprise at pre-school when I volunteered to be the class helper. Each day, one parent from the class is the class helper, who gets to hang out and play with the kids and be an extra set of eyes & ears for the teacher. Since no other parent had signed up to be the helper today, I volunteered.
Now, when a parent is the class helper, their child gets to be the leader. The leader gets to do things like ring the bell that signals that it's time to clean up, be the first in line and lead the class to the next activity, and lead any group activities. Since today was "purple day" at the school, I thought it would be appropriate to have Elisha be the leader for the day (purple is her "most favorite" color, after all). She was in heaven.
It's very interesting watching the triplets in a more social situation than they're used to. I saw a lot from them that I liked, and little bits that I didn't like. They all did very well with sharing and following directions, with a few exceptions (to be expected). That didn't surprise me at all. But when it was time for "free play" I was surprised to see Juli off in a corner by herself drawing. Well, it surprised me at first, after I thought about it for a while, she is the one who most often will go off into a corner of the house to play by herself when we are at home. I guess it just caught me off guard, especially when she moved onto something else, again something no one else was playing with, when some of her classmates decided to join her little art session. It seemed as tho she didn't want to be around the other kids. She wasn't mean or nasty to them, she just wanted to be alone, and would move on to something else any time someone tried to join her.
Now, this could very well have just been her mood today, so it's something that I'll have to watch for the next time I'm the helper.
KJ and Elisha on the other hand, were in the middle of the mayhem the entire day. They really seemed to enjoy playing with the other kids. Especially KJ. He had a great time with all of the other boys on the little climber/slide playset that they have. They were quite rambunctious, but no one needed more than a gentle reminder to slow down or take turns.
I had a good time today with all of the kids. I'm looking forward to the next time I'm the class helper (might be a different story by the end of the year, since I have to do it 20+ times...)
