Cookie Monster

It is Friday and I think that calls for a little levity, especially considering my last post was so weepy. Good stories always come out of the 3-4 year old Sunday School Class that I teach. This event took place a couple of weeks ago. I was reminded of it again because Sally and Vonda have been talking about their 3+ year-olds testing limits.

We have a regular routine to the class - they come in and play until a critical mass has assembled. We clean up the toys and sit on the carpet for our "welcome activity", followed by our story. Then we move to our tables to learn or review a memory verse, do our craft project, and have snack. After snack we go back to the carpet to sing until class is over.

Our classroom is not unlike the dorms we lived in Sophomore year - two rooms connected by a small bathroom. So the children can go to the bathroom by themselves and when they come out they get assistance with reaching the sink for hand washing.

Well during our singing time one of my three year old boys went to the bathroom. He took a little longer than normal but I didn't think too much of it. Nor apparently did the other three adults in the room (that have all had children I might add). Well just as I really began to wonder about him, the handle turns and he comes out. I get a look at him before he goes to the sink. And what I see causes me, with slight panic in my voice, to say, "What is on your mouth?!" My co-teacher's cue to look horrified. It is just not what you want to hear when I child comes out of the bathroom! I learned here that three year-olds are very truthful. "Cookie," he says.

As he gets his hands washed and mouth wiped by another adult, my co-teacher sails through the bathroom to the classroom on the other side. No class meets in there on Sundays. What she found was a couple of bags of leftover treat bags that I had brought the class before Christmas. The Children's Church class had met in that room on that particular Sunday. I left all the bags in there for those teachers to send home and there were a couple extra. And guess who found them?!

I later went to look and what was really incredible was that they were on a high counter, behind something else - I even had to lean over to see them! This child's head barely comes above my knee! Three year-olds also have extrasensory perception when it comes to sniffing out cookies.

Of course, the other part of the story is that I tell this to my own parents and my father admonishes me for letting that child get into another classroom. "Not watching him properly." "Other door should have been locked." "Could have gotten out into the street." A) I'm not the only adult in the room, and did I mention that all of them have kids? B) You can't lock the bathroom doors from either side, I checked. I am sure that is for safety. C) If he made it to the hall, there is a big desk where several more adults are present to ward off weirdos and prevent escapees. D) Not once in 3+ years that I have been teaching or helping with this class has a child ever gone through the bathroom to the other side. The lure of the month old cookie is strong.

Lessons learned-
Three year-olds are:
sneaky but not very good at it
truthful
equipped with supersonic smellers
are able to scale tall counters when there is a cookie at stake

Your own parents will:
never stop telling you what to do
still not accept "I wasn't the only one" as an excuse for anything

Happy Friday everyone! Especially those with three year-olds!