On a cold, brisk day in early November, I decided to spend a day in my three-year-old son Nicholas’ class at the Albright Learning Center, the College’s early childhood development center. All I can say is I now know why Nicholas sleeps so well at night.

They called me “Nick’s Mom.” So, that was my name for the day. Not Jennifer, not Jen, not Ms. Jen, not even Mrs. Stoudt, but “Nick’s Mom.” But I wasn’t there in mom capacity. I was there to be a student and to do everything they did.

We arrived at 8 a.m. Not all of the children were there yet, so we had free play. Mixing pretend batter and baking pretend pancakes in the mini-kitchen with Summer and Miss Amy, the assistant teacher, was the first order of business. That is, until Nicholas decided such domesticity paled in comparison to the revving of car engines and crashing of metal. Boys will be boys.

But, as I quickly learned, three-year-olds at the Albright Learning Center don’t do anything for too long. Fifteen minutes later it was to the table for a lacing activity. Little did I know then that the carefully organized day of educational activities, exercise and free play would have me completely worn out.

Nicholas chose a turtle, Summer chose a duck, and I chose a fish. I sat in a miniature chair with my knees up around my neck lacing a string through 20 small holes around the exterior of my fish. As I laced the 20th hole, an enthusiastic “Good job, Mommy!” came from the other side of the table.

Soon after, Kylie, Mason and Jaiden arrived. It was time to pick our daily jobs. As we made our way over to the carpet, an argument broke out between two children who each felt that he should be line leader. Of course, someone mentioned the words “door holder” and they both wanted that job too. Sadly, one of the children engaged in the argument was my Nicholas, and it wasn’t pretty.

But, today was a very special day. Today,“Nick’s Mom” got to be line leader.

It was an important job leading the class down the hallway and outside to the playground.

I was ready.

We lined up at the door. My three-foot-tall troops fell in line behind me. Excited to lead the way, I started to open the door, but quickly stopped just as the troops broke out in song…

“My hands are hanging by my side.
I’m standing straight and tall.
My eyes are looking to the front.
I’m ready for the hall.
Zip it up, throw it away.”

Okay. Got it. Zip it up, throw it away, no talking in the hall. Off we go to the Village.

Traveling down the hallway dodging hanging air balloons and beaming with pride at my important role, I said “Hi, I’m the line leader,” to a passing teacher. “No talking in the hallway, Nick’s mom,” scolded Miss Jen, the head teacher. Oops, they mean business. Sorry.

We entered the Village, a room bursting with primary colors that’s crafted to look like a town complete with a fire station, bank, house, school and roadway with mini-cars that my adult behind wasn’t even going to try to squeeze into. I wasn’t in there for two minutes when I heard, “Come on, Nick’s mom.” Oh no, they want me to go down the sliding board into the ball pit. Yikes!

Taking a deep breath I climbed the stairs that led to the second floor of the play buildings and WHAM!, smacked my head on the four-foot ceiling. All I could hear was laughter. Apparently, smacking your head on the ceiling is pretty funny stuff when you’re three. Seeing stars and hoping that I would not get a headache, I crouched over and made it to the slide. Laughing their little heads off, Mason and Jaiden were eager to push me down the slide…. whoooaaa!

So they did.

After four or five more times down the slide and into the ball pit, it was time to head back to class. Thank goodness! That slide was not meant for adults.

Back in the room, it was now circle time. “Okay class, go to the carpet and criss cross applesauce,” directed Miss Jen. Hmmm, criss cross applesauce? I didn’t know what that was so I paid close attention. Ah! It’s what we used to call sitting “Indian style.” After about three minutes of sitting criss cross applesauce I thought to myself, now why do we torture children by making them sit this way? My back was killing me!

I stuck it out as Miss Amy led a review of flash cards with pictures of tea cups, turtles, toads and tomatoes…today was ‘T’ day.

By now it was…10:15 a.m.? Is that all? Oh well. Time for snack.

I finished my three French toast sticks and Dixie cup of milk and sat watching the children, some who ate with gusto, others who weren’t at all interested. Is it time for nap yet? I’m really tired.

Nope. Its circle time again. Miss Jen called each of us, one by one, back to the carpet. “Criss cross applesauce, everyone.” I swear my legs and back will never be the same!

We sang “I’m a big kid on the potty” and “All the little children should wash their hands,” and we danced and sang to “Hat and Mittens, Scarf and Boots” (sung to the tune of “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes”)

It’s gotta be naptime now.

Not yet. It’s 10:55 a.m. and we’re headed out to the playground. Once again, the line leader led her troops to their destination. This time, I was careful not to make a peep.

It was one of the first cold days in November. Used to the unseasonably warm weather we had been having, my nose was frozen in about three minutes, so I decided I better join in the activity to warm up. Tossing my cares to the wind, I joined the troops as they ran around the playground. I mean, they really ran. We slid down the slide, crawled through tunnels and climbed on anything we could climb on. As I stood on top of a juggle gym, one little boy from another class asked me to tie his shoe. I leaned over to help him and he went on to tell me about the girl vampires that were all around. He warned me to stay away, stay far away. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll be sure to stay away.” I figured he either had an older brother with girl trouble or a pretty vivid imagination.

Back in the classroom there were more activities before lunch. Carrying out the ‘T’ theme of the day, we each chose a different color of tissue paper—I chose yellow. Miss Jen explained the activity. “Okay class, you’re going to tear your tissue paper into tiny pieces and glue them onto a piece of paper in the shape of a ‘T’.” Ooh, fun! I like crafts.

I meticulously glued pieces of my yellow tissue paper to the letter T. Nicholas was having much more fun throwing the pieces of his green tissue paper onto Miss Jen’s head. She didn’t seem to mind, and was laughing along with him, so I continued with my project. Two more coloring projects and one counting activity later, it was finally time to prepare for lunch.

We were called one by one to go potty and wash hands. I politely asked,“May I please use the big people potty in the hallway?” To my delight, Miss Jen said okay.

During potty time we had free play with cars and dinosaurs. The boys immediately grabbed the big, scary dinosaurs, roaring as loudly as they could, while the girls gravitated toward the baby dinosaurs. Kylie told me she was protecting the baby dinosaurs from the boys. I didn’t blame her. Boys can be scary sometimes.

Finally it was time for lunch. Peanut butter and jelly seemed to be the favorite that day. Unlike my fellow students though, I took a walk on the wild side…I left the crust on.

Full from my PB&J and carrots, I watched the teachers prepare the room for nap. I was so glad it was finally time for nap. I was exhausted! But when I looked at the two-foot by four-foot mats on the floor I decided my naptime might be more comfortably spent in the teacher’s break room. So, I excused myself as the children curled up on their mats and drifted off to sleep to a calming lullaby playing in the background.

“We talked about the weather, the days of the week, and the letter ‘T’.

While the children slept, I felt I better catch up on some work. So, two hours later, sans nap, I headed back to the classroom, even more tired than before I left. Will this day ever be over!?

The children woke up and went through the potty and clean-up ritual again. Then, we were back on the carpet—criss cross applesauce again—for the song wheel. A good way to get everyone’s juices flowing again, I guess. From “Bingo” to “Working on the Railroad” to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” we sang a litany of songs. And, except for one, I even knew all the words. I could tell Nicholas was impressed.

Afternoon snack followed song time. Pretzels and fruit snacks. They’re called fruit snacks, but I can assure you that nothing about the squishy, gummy, colorful little bits shaped like cartoon characters are either fruit or snacks. But the kids really enjoyed them. (My confession: I brought them in as a special treat.)

Book time in the “Cozy Corner” was next, followed by a coloring activity at the table, and then circle time again—yep, criss cross applesauce.

Circle time consisted of a rousing game of Hot Potato. It was down to just Nicholas and“Nick’s Mom.” Feeling confident, I tossed that“hot potato,” a.k.a bean bag, over to Nicholas, but he quickly shot it back at me just as the music stopped. Nicholas was the winner. With hands clapping and a grin from ear to ear he gave himself an enthusiastic “Good job, Nicky!” We all echoed his sentiment.

Next we sang “The Wheels on the Bus” complete with hand and body motions. My vocal chords have never had such a workout.

What I wasn’t ready for was what came next.“Okay class,” Miss Jen said. “We’re going back to the Village to play with the toddlers.” [Heavy sigh from Nick’s Mom.] The ball pit again.

I led my line quietly down the hallway once again. As I opened the door to the Village it was like opening the door to a zoo. There were 10 toddlers running around, excited to see the three-year-olds who had come to join them. I stood frozen for a moment, but only long enough to realize that if I didn’t get out of the way I was going to be run over by a toddler in a mini firetruck who was moving so fast he must have been on his way to a fire.

Then, I heard those four little words again.“Come on, Nick’s Mom.” Oh no. Back to the ball pit…