AYE-AYE CAP'TOOT- and other adventures in preschooling

It's 9 0'clock on a Monday morning. Do you know where your 5-year old is? Well if your 5-year old is either Max or Camila they are probably sitting by the window at Grandma's house, eagerly waiting for Aunt Rachel to get there so they can begin another educationally stimulating day of preschool. More likely, however, they are running around with a Nerf gun in one hand and a cup of "pink lemonade" in the other, seeing who can yell the loudest and, as the case was earlier this week, who can make the most Nerf bullets stick to the sliding glass door. And then, when Aunt Rachel finally staggers in 15 minutes late, arms loaded with dog carriers and school bags, and a yappy Aussie/Pom at her feet, there ensues a few minutes of confusion as the elated 5-year olds discard their plastic guns and fall to the ground as voluntary fodder to Pia's licks and butt waggles. And that is how we start an educationally stimulating day of preschool.

One of the lesser-known hats I wear is that of preschool teacher to my niece and nephew. I use the term ever so lightly and I absolutely do NOT claim to know the first thing about teaching 5-year olds. I just found a pretty awesome curriculum online and get all my ideas from that. We have already made it to the letter 'P' and I'm feeling pretty good. But I've learned that Preschool is more than just letters and math. It's also about pop culture (and a little bit of potty humor). Every once in a while I come to "class" and Max starts using an unfamiliar expression, which Camila quickly picks up on and after 10 minutes it becomes the catchphrase of the day. I first noticed this one day when Max, wielding a sword, pounced a pretend enemy while shouting, "By the power of friendship!" Sometime prior to this incident I had the unhappy misfortune of watching the popular Cartoon Network series called Adventure Time, from whence the aforementioned expression comes. I don't even know how to begin to describe this cartoon, but I will say that it creeps me out.

Marshmallow Igloos

Remember making these when you were in preschool?

A few weeks later Max and his older brother Jaxon introduced the quote "cheese and sprinkles!" (Rio) to express surprise and glee. That one stuck around for at least a week. "Easy breezy lemon squeezy" reappears every now and again when Max wants to show off his adeptness at a certain task like drawing stars or writing the letter 'M'. A couple of months ago I was delighted when they presented me with yet another phrase, commanding (repeatedly I might add) "Now rise my royal chump." (Wreck-It-Ralph).

One of my favorites jumped out of Max's mouth when he successfully climbed to the top of an artificial boulder at a park up Provo Canyon. After a few minutes of complaining that the challenge was too difficult and me compelling him to keep going, Max reached the top and exclaimed "I'm not a beginner, I'm a 5-year old winner!" That's right you are! And he continued to use the phrase every time he summitted the surrounding boulders.

The 5-year old winner

The other 5-year old winner

But I haven't been able to figure out the source of his latest expression. The other week after I had given the two kiddos some minor instructions having to do with choosing the marker they wanted to use that morning, Max responded "Aye-Aye, Cap'toot". Camila about fell over with giggles at that one. They've made up silly names for me before, but usually the names they make up rhyme with Rachel or a male relative. (I can't tell you how many times they have called me Grandpa. Intentionally.) And so I am left to puzzle over the source of this name. If anyone can tell me, I would be much obliged.

Preschool is great, both for me and for Max and Camila. It's a miracle we have survived this long.

A lesson on mountains and nature

Our most recent lesson on Outer Space. We made constellation telescopes.