Chickery chicks and ducklings, too

We picked the girls up from school this afternoon, planning on killing some time with them between school and ukulele practice. We knew that Mr. A. had some little hatchlings in his room but hadn't been down to see them yet, so we figured we stop by to take a gander. I warned Benjamin that it wasn't a sure thing, however, because sometimes on Fridays kids take the hatchlings home to babysit over the weekend (something our children have been dying to do for the past four years...but something I've always said no to).

We were in luck, however, and they were still in the classroom. Mr. A. let the kids spend a good 45 minutes playing with the ducklings and chicks (and looking at the snails and beetles the class is studying and playing with puppets and reading stories—"once your classroom, always your classroom," is Mr. A's motto). It was a fun afternoon!

Here are the girls taking a peek at the chicks:

Rachel is an old pro at chick handling:

Miriam's always been a bit more timid around the chicks. She prefers to have a barrier between herself and their messy bottoms.



Benjamin followed suit:



Zoë wasn't too sure about their sharp beaks:



Not that I can blame her—that's a pretty impressive-looking weapon:



Those ducklings though...

Zoë loved the ducklings right away. They hatched just this week so they're still downy soft and so sweet (the chicks are a couple weeks old so have lost some of their "cuteness" and developed more of their "chickeness"). She just could not even...

Yes, she's kissing the duckling.

All the kids were in awe of the ducklings, truthfully.

After getting familiar with the ducklings, Zoë was much braver about the chicks.

Mr. A. let Benjamin feed the chicks, which Benjamin thought was great.

 Here are the little two watching the chicks eat their dinner:

And here's Miriam just relaxing on the carpet with a chick:

It's hard to believe it was only last year that this classroom was hers. She's done a lot of growing this year—all the kids have. Mr. A. was fishing out photos from Rachel's time in his classroom—pictures of tiny Benjamin and preschooler Miriam sitting in on activities with sweet little Rachel. It's crazy how time flies!