He is...Happiness

"He is....Happiness." This is how one of the Chinese teachers described him to me; and, it is a statement that although it may not be exactly grammatically correct, is the only way to describe him.

Psalm 127:3

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD

His name is Jasper. He is somewhere between his 3rd and 4th year of life. He gives the best hugs out of any of my Kindergarteners. When he is sad, you can see it in his whole body (even if his face desperately tries to be happy), and he gives even better hugs. And when he is happy, he is happy with all that he is. When he's excited, he is the most excited. Sometimes he just can't control his excitement, the will of every atom in his body to LIVE—and then he gets in trouble for not sitting nicely :( He is genuine. He tries so hard to be good. He repeats anything you tell him louder, and with a bigger smile. He yearns to be loved. His name is Jasper.

Recently, my P1 students have been learning the dialogue:
"I'm sorry!"
"That's okay!"

At John's suggestion, I had 3-4 students form a line. Starting with the first student in line, I shuffled him backwards until he lightly bumped the student behing him. At that point, he would turn around and say: "I'm sorry!" And the other student would reply: "that's okay!" We would continue down the line until each student had bumped the student behind them and put this dialogue to use.

We hadn't reviewed this dialogue for about a week (which was also about the length of time that Jasper had been missing from class) and so I had slightly forgotten about the activity. Then, one morning, as all of the students were lining up on their dots, and forming two lines, I was walking along the line and talking with the children. Jasper was stading on the dot next to me, and I saw him moving over toward me, then promptly turn, and every so carefully, stick out his bottom until it bumpped my knee. He then swung around and with his shoulders shrugged (like I had forgotten I taught them) his high pitched voice calls something to me. I look at him and smile, and then continue to talk to the other child (Jasper often says things that no one can understand—not even the Chinese teachers). But then, he did it again. I'm a bit confused, as I still can't figure out exactly what he is saying after he so carefully knocks me with his bottom. Well, the third time was the charm. Finaly, I caught the muffled words "I'm sorry!" thrust from his mouth. At this I heard a click in my head (gears turning) and I reponded, "that's okay!" Jasper, content to finaly have gotten what he came for, then moved on to the next student who he walked straight at, did an about face, carefully bumped with his bottom, did another about face, and called "I'm sorry!" the entire time, being completely overjoyed that he knew just what to say after purposely bumping into people with his bottom. :)

And that, is just one of many Jasper Stories.

Diligent Little Helper

Everyday after English class is over, all of the children flood into the bathroom to "xiao bien, xi shou" (go to the bathroom and wash their hands). As most of the children are between the ages of 2.5-3 years old right now, this whole going to the bathroom on their own thing is relatively new. Additionally, their parents like to dress them in 500 million layers, therefore they generally need help pulling their underwear and pants back up. Usually, one of the Chinese teachers sits in the bathroom, and when they waddle out with their pants and underwear around their ankles, they line up in front of the teacher, where they wait for her to pull up all of their bottom layers before they go wash their hands. Every once in a while a student wanders past the "re-dressing station" and makes it out into the general classroom still wearing half a birthday suit, and in a state of caring less that they're flashing everyone.

Recently, the Chinese teacher hasn't been quite as quick to man the "re-dressing station"–and I am less that eager to fill her spot–so one of the students has been diligently taking her place (she's quite the director even during class). Like a traffic guard she stands watch, the other children line up in front of her, and one by one she makes sure that their bottoms are properly (or even improperly) pulled back up. She is diligent and dedicated to her job, and tomorrow I hope to catch a "kodak moment" of the happenings. :)