Last night, as I was participating in the dance with baby, I admittedly was thinking more about what my slice would be for today than what was happening with the spoon. Until, of course, my six year old woke me from my thoughts with the insight of a big sister.
"Mom, she's doing good tonight!" she said.
And she was right! The baby was doing well! She was enjoying the dance of sweet potatoes-opening wide and savoring each bite. I almost missed the beauty of the dance because I was lost in my own thoughts. Such a wise big sister to point out the obvious to the mommy who was missing it right as it was unfolding right under her own nose!
Almost immediately my mind started to swirl. That one comment from big sister is all it took to set my thoughts in motion.
As I'm scooping sweet potatoes into baby's mouth it hits me. This intricate dance of sweet potatoes is just like the process of teaching. We spoon in little scoops of knowledge and only some is retained. The rest seeps back out uneaten, unused. So we do what we do and we catch the dribble, shovel it back in and hope that this time it stays. But, like all good baby-feeding moms, we stay at the ready, knowing that the dance might not be done...knowing that we might need to catch and scoop yet again before the dance is complete.
And so I sat there with my mind buzzing from this idea. Thinking all at once that it was pretty late in the day to be thinking in metaphors and how cool it was that four days ago I would have had the thought and let it go but now, instead, I will share it with the world through my slice and just maybe someone will read it and relate to it!
As we get ready to stare down the barrel of Monday, let's remember to have our scoops ready. There might be a little bit of dribbling, but at least we will be ready for it!
I am stocking up on napkins as we speak! Maybe if I provide lobster bibs for each kid that would help? I liked the visual; I could see her gobbling!
ReplyDeleteLet me know how those bibs work out!
DeleteThis slice reminds me of Linda's blog title: TeacherDance. http://teacherdance.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteI marvel that as you sat distracted with thoughts of a slice, you were staring a slice right in the face! Funny how that works. This is an encouraging analogy. It is a reminder that even when it feels like we've failed, like they haven't gotten it all, we need to notice what our students have learned and keep building on it until they are full!
Thanks for your kind words Christy. I agree, we all need that reminder sometimes.
DeleteChristy, thank you for the reference to my blog-I really do think teaching is a dance in all its intricate steps & maybe you've given me an idea for a kind of slice myself sometime.
DeleteI love feeding my daughter. It really is a dance. A yummy one when sweet potatoes are involved.
ReplyDeleteBTW: If you haven't seen it yet, then check out Tyler Florence's book Start Fresh. It's like my baby food bible.
Thanks for the comment and the tip Stacey! I will check out that book...Tyler Florence is a chef I've watched on tv for a while but I've never seen that book!
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ReplyDeleteRobin, I left a comment & now it's disappeared. I'll come back to see if it first needs your approval. I loved your post, have been feeding a young granddaughter & know exactly what you mean. It's a terrific analogy.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure where your comment went! I got it in my email though, so thank you!
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