ben and i teach 4/5 year-olds in primary. it is a little bit fun and funny, but mostly inspires comments out of me like, "can we move soon?" but my comments are (sometimes, sort of, supposed to be?) facetious.
the hard part is mostly that it is from 2:00 to 4:00 pm -- two hours of sunday during which nora nearly falls, then eventually does fall, apart. and adding other attention/energy-requiring activities to that can be trying.
but i was just thinking about church today and even laughing to myself a little. i usually sit by a little boy during sharing time who is generally all over the place and needs to be focused on something or saying or doing something. so every few seconds/minutes he whispers "teacher!" then tells me a secret, like:
"teacher, i fell out of my bed this morning."
"teacher, my name is bob now."
"teacher, a wedgie is when you pull up your pants reeeally high in the back."
"teacher, i want a pretzel."
"teacher, look--" (unbuttons two chest-buttons of his church shirt and pulls each side apart to reveal a buzz lightyear costume)
he also likes to put the end of his shoelace into his mouth, pull it tightly, and pluck it like a bass.
and yet another aspect of teaching four and five-year-olds:
"teacher, i need to go to the bathroom."
"do you think you can wait until we're finished with our game?"
"no."
"okay, everybody line up and we'll take a bathroom break."
(at this point about 15 seconds have elapsed since she asked to go to the bathroom)
"teacher, i just peed in my underwear."
