Archived: Ms. Vicki is a saint

Original Post Date: December 6, 2006
Last night was Abby’s first ever school program. It was a Christmas program, and all 4 classes of 3 year olds at her school participated. It was, maybe, the cutest thing I have ever seen. We had the video camera, and I filmed them as they walked down the aisle to take their seats when the program started. Abby’s was the last class to enter. The first three classes walked calmly and sweetly to their seats. Then came Abby’s class with their teacher, Ms. Vicki. Right in front of Abby was Sam, who Abby has gone to school with since she was 10 months old. Sam caught sight of the camera and ran straight for it, Abby hot on his heels. “Am I on CAMERA? HELLO!” Abby blew kisses. They both mugged until Ms. Vicki corralled them into their pew. Directly behind them sat the pastor of the church that houses Abby’s preschool, and I lost count of the times he had to gently ask Abby to turn around and sit down. When her class got up to sing, Abby’s voice was louder than all the others. Can’t imagine where she got that from. She was so proud of herself, and she had a ball. I kept thinking, Ms. Vicki takes care of Abby, Sam, AND 9 other 3 year olds EVERY DAY, and she's always so calm. The woman has a special spot reserved in heaven, that's for sure.
This past weekend, we spent lots of time decorating the house inside and out for Christmas. My friend Sarah came over to decorate a gingerbread house with Abby, which was enormously entertaining to observe. Adults have in mind how such things should go. You decide how you’re going to decorate the house, you find the candy you need, you put it into place. Here’s Abby’s method. You pick up a random piece of candy. You try to eat it. If your mom stops you, you put it onto the first unadorned spot of icing you find. You try to eat more candy. Repeat. The house is VERY interesting, but Abby thinks it is a work of art. Sarah displayed extreme patience—or maybe she was just laughing too hard to protest.
Today is Dead Day on campus, the day between the end of classes and the start of finals. Our office is doing our annual Fall Dead Day Soup Day, during which we all bring a crockpot of soup and invite all the staff and faculty of the college for lunch. We pretty much eat all day long. In fact, I think I hear a little scoop of soup calling my name now. Better go answer the call.