Tiffany:
I had a very sweet (for the most part) class this year. In April, we were studying how animals grow and change, life cycles, etc. and I asked the kids to bring in a baby picture for show and tell. Each kid had a chance to show the picture and we would discuss how he/she had grown or changed since he/she was a baby. On the last day of April, I was supposed to bring in my show and tell. Well, I forgot. And then I forgot the next day, too. I knew my class wouldn't let me get away with forgetting two days in a row, so I ran down to my friend Renee' who I knew had an ultrasound picture of her grandson in her bag. I admit, I used someone else's ultrasound picture to announce to my class that I was pregnant.
At first, they didn't get why I was showing a picture of a baby "inside its mommy's tummy" (the perk to teaching kindergarten is that there are typically at least 3 or 4 pregnant moms every year so the kids were pretty familiar with ultrasound pictures). Then, it dawned on M. and she yelled out, "Ms. Baron's going to be a mommy and that's her baby!!". Kids were screaming and jumping around. It was nice to see how excited they were.
Well, from that point on, the kids became very involved and very protective of my pregnancy. One little boy, T., decided right away that I was having a baby girl and that her name was Amy. He came in every morning for the rest of the school year and said, "Good morning, Ms. Baron. How's Amy?". He'll be crushed when he finds out that we aren't naming her Amy. He was onto something, though. In a vote, 26 of the kids in my class thought I was having a girl and only 5 thought it would be a boy. I guess kids are a little psychic - or T. was a powerful influence in the class!!
On one particularly crazy day, I was starting to lose my patience with the class and M. - the little girl that finally figured out the ultrasound picture - stood up with her little hands on her little hips with her little head swinging back and forth and said to the class, "Ms. Baron's angry. If Ms. Baron's angry, her baby's angry. And if her baby's angry,
I'm angry, so y'all had better shut up!" I had to turn away because it made me laugh so hard. And finally, on one of the last days of school, another sweet little boy, C., brought me this picture he drew of my girl baby. Notice my big, empty stomach (because the baby wasn't in there anymore!) and the natural beauty of our baby girl. I think she looks like Kevin in this picture!!
