Circle circle, dot dot...

Circle Circle! Dot Dot! Now you've got your Cootie shot!
Circle Circle! Square Square! Now you've got it everywhere!
Circle Circle! Knife Knife! Now you've got it ALL your life!

An all too familiar jingle that can commonly be heard on any playground with children of the opposite sex. This little rhyme is known to "immunize" children by administering an imaginary "Cootie shot". There are many different variations of the "immunization" and only if you're lucky will you reach the 3rd and final verse of the song; in which you will forever be cured of Cooties. I did a little research on this infectious disease that seems to be rampant amongst the youngsters. You really ought to Google it. The interpretations and stories are interesting and all together hilarious. No wonder adolescence is such a tough stage of life. If you were unfortunate enough to be on the Cooties bandwagon at such a young age (and most are at one point or another), the complex disease and all of its ramifications are sure to mess you up.

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, an outbreak of Cooties seems to have taken place. The tattling and the conversation have turned into "he kissed her" and "I asked her to be my Valentine" and "I don't like her, she's a girl!" and (my favorite) "I have 2 Valentines, but I think I don't want them anymore". Commitment issues starting at the ripe age of 7...yikes.

Friday is our Valentine's Day party. We're celebrating Friday because any smart teacher would plan a party on a Friday afternoon rather than a Monday (the day of the actual holiday). That way we can load them up on lots of sugar and giddiness and send them home for their parents to deal with for a couple of days. I think I'm more excited to hear the giggling and see the blushing cheeks on their sweet little faces than I am about cookie decorating and heart themed games. They've been decorating their little boxes and preparing their cards this week. Several of them have come and whispered to me "secrets" about their Valentines and what they wrote on their cards. Wasn't it great when Valentine's Day was fun and exciting instead of depressing and annoying? Regardless, I kind of secretly love the holiday. And I love it even more this year simply because I get to celebrate it with 15 Cootie infested 2nd graders. I get to see them send notes to each other and grin ear to ear as their cheeks become rosy as they open a paper heart that reads "Be Mine".

I'll leave you with this story, my one 'Cootie' reference from today. It all started with an unexpected question from a little boy during my small group reading time.

We were reading a book about Veterinarians (tomorrow is Career Day)...
Student 1: "Ms. McKinney...how do veterinarians know that an animal is a boy or girl?"
Me: (completely taken back, unprepared, and unaware how to dodge the bullet) "Well...they take a picture of the animal, kind of like an X-ray and they can figure it out that way..." (terrible answer...I know)
Student 2 (male, obviously): "Well no, not really. Just like human girls have Cooties, so do animals. So if it has Cooties, it's a girl. If it doesn't, it's a boy."
Student 3 (female, obviously): "Well boys are dumb." (Is it bad that I really wanted to high-five this girl and warn her that it doesn't get much better....? ha, joke...kind of.)


Happy Valentine's Day! Make sure you get your Cootie shot this season!
Please enjoy this precious spoof of a Public Service Announcement in regards to this cute contagious disease we call Cooties.