A Wonderful Awful Idea

Beckham received a Christmas package the other day and cushioning the gifts was about 40,000 packing peanuts.  The teacher in me thought {stupidly} What a great tactile learning experience this will be! and I promptly encouraged him to dive into the box after we removed the presents and placed them under the tree. 

He loved it.  He sat in the box with the peanuts, turned the box over and dumped the peanuts on the floor,   squished the peanuts in his hands, stomped on the peanuts, sprinkled peanuts throughout the house,  scooped the peanuts, and tracked peanut crumbs everywhere - all while I enjoyed a) his amusement b) the fact that he was occupied for longer than a nanosecond while I fixed meatloaf and mashed potatoes. 

Then it was clean-up time.  It looked as though someone detonated a styrofoam bomb in my living room. AND OH MY WORD THE STATIC.  Every time I would try to scoop them up, they'd cling to every part of my body and ultimately wind up back on the floor.  Becks was no help in the matter because he couldn't manage to shake them off his hands.  I kid you not when I say it's taken almost a week to clean up the remains of the peanuts. 

And that, my friends - as the Grinch would say - was my wonderful awful idea.  Please learn from me.

{PS. Don't forget to join in the Headband Headwarmer Giveaway posted below!  And, also, go buy yourself a Wonderful Awful Idea Grinch shirt for seven bucks from Walmart as seen in the pic below! My fellow first grade teacher gave it to me as a gift. Love!}

Hmmmm, I betcha can't guess what I gave as Christmas gifts this year?!?!