Oh, the joys of four year olds.

This week I wasn’t teaching, which meant I was on bathroom/crisis duty. Totally fine. There are two of us in the class for a reason. Eleven kids…it’s a lot. I don’t know how pre-school teachers do it.

As I was sitting there, watching the kids, managing the couple who are just a little more wiggly than the others, I saw something that didn’t look right out of the corner of my eye. Rebecca* has a habit of sucking on a little piece of her hair (I won’t comment on how I feel about that habit…), but something looked off. Her hair had a light blue streak going through it…

GUM!!!

I was out the door with her in about 2.2 seconds. And this is when you know you’re starting to love a kid. We went into the bathroom and I ever-so-slowly got all of the gum out of her hair. With my fingers. Her gum. My fingers. And somehow, I was okay dealing with this…which is a small miracle considering that I don’t generally like children I’m not related to/that don’t belong to my friends. That is love.

The best part was, after I had gotten it out, she was upset that I wanted her to spit the rest of it out. “My daddy gave it to me!” But apparently I really do have the “angry mom” face down because she handed it over as soon as she saw it.

When I saw the Primary President after church (who incidentally saw me going into the bathroom with Rebecca), she joked about my “baptism by fire”. And then she said, “All you need next week is a bloody nose, and I think you’re initiation will be complete.” I think I can pass on full initiation, thanks.

Next week, we will be starting with potty and gum checks. And maybe I’ll be purchasing some tissues for my purse…just so I’m prepared for the inevitable bloody nose. And maybe some wipes.

*Name has been changed for obvious reasons.