I've decided it is not wrong to feel such elation over a bunch of kids instead of over a boy. Plus, the elation seems more stable from the kids.
The past two days have been wonderful for me. My parents are out of town, so I've been able to putter around the house and do whatever to my heart's content (if only whatever included my fellowship proposal). Mostly, this has meant hanging out with people (out of the house, strangely), cooking/baking, reading, and watching Gilmore Girls. There's been some cleaning too.
Now, to get to the elation. On Saturday morning, I started babysitting for a new family, and the kids are great. In fact, they are G-R-E-A-T great; it's truly that wonderful. They were so excited to see me, and we played the whole time. I have finally figured out what great babysitting truly is.
First, we did science experiments. I showed them how to make a volcano (so simple, yet so amazing), and I attempted to explain acid/base chemistry. Since they're 6 and 4, I expect this to be the first mention that will later jog a memory in their mind (my child raising philosphy: teach high and teach often. It's okay if they don't understand the first time around. They will eventually, and they'll be smarter for it. Plus, it gets them thinking, and brain muscles need to be exercised, too). We also played with cornstarch and water, so I got to attempt to explain some molecular chemistry.
After that, we played in bikes outside and used the sidewalk chalk that I brought over to outline dead body shapes on the pavement. Good times.
The kids had so much fun that the four year old was upset when his mom came home. That's the first time I've ever had that experience, and it was so sweet.
Even more elation occurred today. I went to a halloween party at my church, so I carved a pumpkin and hung out with the little kids I babysat, plus more little kids. I put the word out there that I was available to babysit, so hopefully more people think of me (plus, I may have gotten a house cleaning gig, too). My pumpkin is quite simple, but he ended up cute.
The best part, tho, was the end of the night. I helped clean up (like I do after every church event -- ingrained from years of helping rather than sitting around while dad cleaned up. Many hands makes for light work). Then, I gave a ride home to the dad that runs the youth group, since his wife had taken the car. We chatted a lot in the car, and it was wonderful to catch up; I started out babysitting his kids, and we used to talk all the time. He's a wonderful guy. I agreed to go talk about my travels to the church youth group, which should be lots of fun.
When I got to his house, I noticed they had a new front door (years old, but new to me), so he invited me inside to see other changes. When I got in, his daughter was sitting on the couch crying; her chemistry homework was getting the better of her. A half hour later, he was offering me a job as her chemistry tutor. But even better than the job offer was the great feeling I got from helping her out. I truly loved seeing her frustration slowly melt away as we read the lab together and talked about the different questions. I showed her how to balance an equation. When I left, I'm pretty sure all the chemistry homework was done.
I love teaching kids about science so much. Heck, I even love other subjects. I think teaching is truly ingrained in my blood, and it's what I'm called to do. I hope memories like this will be enough motivation to get me through six difficult years of graduate school so that I can be qualified to teach at whatever level I'd like.