Letters from the Front Line

Probably the only thing worth noting that's changed around here lately is that somehow we've agreed to be nursery leaders at church. Little kids are very much not my thing. It's an understatement to say I felt scared and overwhelmed going in on our first day this past weekend, but we've come out the other side with only a few bleeding scratches to speak of on our legs (of unknown origin).

We have 15, soon to be 16 kids on the roster, all between the ages of 18 months to 3 years. We were lucky in that only 11 of them were there on Sunday (only).

Most of them magically appeared in the room, so I never saw their parents, and spent the first half hour hoping they wouldn't all need a diaper change at the same time because I had no idea who or where their parents were. A couple of people came and went, bringing supplies or condolences, and all left with a hearty "good luck!" And a look of relief that it wasn't them.

It turns out, aside from the FIFA-inspired meltdowns (most from one kid), the first hour was pretty easy. We had Rosalind with us for the first hour, and she started to meltdown too (nap time), but fortunately my mom came and relieved me of her after that.

All in all, we had 11 tantrums, two potty breaks needed, no diaper changes, two crayons removed from mouths, several crackers dipped in water, no spills, one tiny 18 month old smaller than Rosalind who had to be taken out for all the crying, four songs sung by tiny voices, three bonked heads, and, as mentioned, only a couple scratches on my ankles (Sam wears pants, the lucky dog).

It was crazy. I wanted to cry sometimes. 11 toddlers is too many-- not even Michelle Duggar could argue with that. But! The hardest part besides keeping them from attacking each other when a toy was snatched was teaching the 45-second "lesson", and even that wasn't too bad (although it is reeeeeally hard for me to over-simplify topics). I tried to get Sam to do the lesson "you're the teacher here, after all!" but he pointed out that I'm really the ringmaster in this situation (am I though?), so me it is!

Yikes. The most surprising part though? I didn't die. And I didn't cry. 

I WILL SURVIVE.

An irrelevant picture placed here just to take up more space.