Saturday, January 26, 2008

the juicer

On Thursday one of my kiddos was having a very, very bad day. Bless his heart, he was trying so hard to hold it together, but to no avail. When you're five your body can be kind of hard to control, especially if you have other issues in the mix.
At lunch club we'd gotten the other children out of the room and were waiting for him to "show me he is ready" or that "he is being a boss of his body" before we could go join his class at recess. This took awhile, especially since he also had a very runny nose. We had to keep stopping to practice blowing (which wasn't going very well).
So finally he was ready and we left my small room, while he clutched a used tissue in his hand. Pick your battles, I thought, figuring we could find a trash can later. He tends to hold onto tissues like security blankets and I didn't want to begin another fight by forcing him to throw it away immediately.
We timidly approached the water fountain so he could get water before heading out to play. After he finished gulping it down he put the tissue into the running water.
(And this is where I know I should have taken it away from him... but 1) the tissue was covered in snot and 2) I have a terrible, terrible habit of curiosity. Truthfully, part of me wanted to understand why on earth he put water on his tissue. So I watched and waited, ready to pounce if needed.)
He closed the wet tissue in his little fist and we proceed to head for the stairs to go outside. Suddenly he stopped, held his tissue hand out, and started squeezing.
"I'M THE JUICER" he announced, holding the tissue out so the water streams onto the stairs. "I'M THE JUICER" he continued, moving the tissue above his head so that his face is covered with the water.

And I had been so happy those germs had been on that tissue. ick.

Based on what I know about the kiddo, and the day he was having, I can only imagine what kind of sensory relief being "the juicer" gave him. It's satisfying, really, if you squeeze something hard enough in your hand to feel the juice or water run between your fingers. So, now I know what he likes. Let's see if next time I can re-create it without a dirty tissue, yelling in the hallway, or getting water all over the stairs.

Hmmm...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What if he gets to wash the tables with a wet sponge? If he is taught to squeeze the sponge over the sink - not on the floor and not on his head - before he heads to the tables? I am envisioning tables covered in puddles of water... but maybe we could make it work? Just a thought.