Oink, oink, swine flu is here

The LA Times wrote today, "Swine flu outbreaks are already sporadic throughout the country, and they are highest in the Southeast. "The most likely explanation is that schools started earlier there," said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, director of the CDC."

Our public schools did start about a month ago and our school is just now getting hammered with the flu. There is one case with a teacher out that is confirmed H1N1, I was told today, and the classroom next door to us had 6 children absent. Many other teachers have been home sick and the substitutes who have been called are declining to come in and cover classes, because their own children are home with it.

In my classroom, the teacher is out to a training session for two days and we had three subs. At 2:00 today, a message was broadcast over the intercom asking teachers who have children requesting to go to the nurse for bandaids for minor cuts etc should instead redirect those children to the office, and leave the nurse for those who complain of nausea or who have a fever. The nurse's office sure was busy today.

Meanwhile back in Pre-K land, I was putting anti-bacterial ointment on one boy's nasty cut in preparation for applying the bandaid, and two of my smaller boys walked by and asked, "What's that?" and I said, "boo-boo cream." They laughed like crazy, saying 'boo-boo cream' over and over. It doesn't take much to tickle a four-year-old's funny bone.

My heart beeps for kids

In the science center at the pre-kindergarten class in which I work, there is a pair of stethoscopes. My bruiser boy who has a voice like a foghorn and stomps around the class like he is on a football field, unexpectedly loved the science center, slowing down enough to examine the shells and the microscope and kaleidoscope and all the other minute things. When he got to the stethoscopes, he joyfully held them up and said, "Hey! These are for listening to heart-beeps!"

Another cute day in PreK

Today the pre-kindergarten children, who are 4 years old, were directed to draw on a blank piece of paper as many circles as they could. Large, medium, and small. The teacher and I were going around to each child and asking them to count the circles they had drawn. I would ask, 'How many circles did you draw?" and they would answer "I drew four!" even if there was one on the paper. Or sometimes they answer, "I drew B," mixing up a letter versus a number.

One little girl has the cutest plump cheeks, and still has a bit of baby fat on her wrists and is the sweetest and tiniest of all. I got to her drawing and I leaned way down. "And how many circles did you draw?" I asked.

She looked up at me with a furrowed brow, shrugged her shoulders, and said, "All of them."