movement of c

Last week I was teaching at this preschool, not one of my usual clients. My friend Liz, who was teaching here is going away to Chile in a couple of weeks, so I took over her classes this month so she had the free time to get her things together for an overseas journey. In an email prior to my first week at the preschool, she stated:

…watch out for ruby, the red head, who sometimes hurts other kids especially while lying down on the mats.

Okay, I thought to myself….another crazy redhead, what else is new? Well little did I know what was in store! I arrived promptly at 3pm for my class, and the children were still napping (remember naptime in school?). Except there was one child awake, standing by the plastic toy-kitchen, wearing a long black cape with flames coming out of the top. The room was dark, and classical music was playing. The children asleep atop of their small preschool cots were small and peaceful. But the cape-flame child seemed bigger, much bigger. “That must be Ruby,” I thought to myself.

It came time for class, the children were groggy and Ruby was now puttering around the computer area. I said, “You must be Ruby.” She stares at me. “Do you want to come join our circle for class?” She stares. “You know Ruby, Miss Liz told me about you, and I would be so glad if you came to join our ciricle.” She smirks, but turns away.

So, Ruby sat on this minituare sized couch while we had our creative movement class. I kept looking at her, because really she was twice the size of the other children, and she was wearing a long black Dracula-style cape. Her hands were chubby, and her skin was pasty white, with cheeks to match her hair. Her name is Ruby. And she tried to carry away this tiny little child halfway through class. Madeline, a little munchkin who is taking class with kids older than her, doesn’t really say much. She just turned two. She is half the size of normal preschoolers, and about 1/8 of the size of Ruby. All of a sudden, we are practicing pencil rolls one by one, and I hear a squeal. I turn to see what’s going on, and Ruby is picking up the girl and trying to walk away!

Ruby came back, she sat back on the couch with her cloak, and only approached the circle at the end when I was handing out stickers. The world is a crazy place, and red can sometimes be a scary color, which is why I’m going green.

Thanks to my awesome and beautiful boyfriend Eliot, my room now has 4 beautiful green plants. He found time (from his many life adventures) to gather many house plants and showered our room with them yesterday. It was like a true awakening to see the green around the room, sending thrills through my spine! Okay, Christina, it’s only a plant you may say, but no no no. These are wonderful friends to bring clean oxygen to our environment, and pleasantries to our brains!

Really, I have been feeling like I wanted to make the room more comfy lately. I have a few ideas for redecorating the stainless-steel utility shelves that we purchased at home depot last year, and have a game plan to decorate one of the walls, which may or may not involve a large mirror (which makes a room look twice the size.)

These plants have brought a whole new element to life inside of our foxhole. The sun is shining in through the many deflected angles of neighboring buildings, and I can’t wait to grow with them. The question now is, does talking to plants really help them grow? Well, the answer is certainly yes, but blowing on them would do the same thing, or simply, talking to someone else while you stand next to the plant. When we talk to our plants, we give off pure carbon dioxide which makes plants healthy. It’s Life, and Life is good, any way you cut it…animal, mineral, or vegetable.