"Auntie...Can I play with my pet?"

sorry to post another picture of a gecko....you'll see why in a minute. also...this gecko is in NO way as cute as mine and chris's pet gecko gilbert.

On Thursday I took a sub job at a local (as in its on the north shore, instead of in town) school. It was a cute first grade class that I had taught about 2 weeks previous. The kids are cute, call me auntie (love this), and give me hugs at the end of the day. What's not to love?

After lunch, we came back in and started working on a little cut and paste worksheet, while i read the students a dr. seuss book. A particular little boy (somewhat of a trouble maker) who conveniently sat in the back of the u shaped classroom, was straining to hear and see the pictures. He gathered up his worksheet and color crayons and came and sat on the carpet right next to the chair i was reading from. Feeling like this was ok, I continued reading, because he was very intrigued in the story, and was actually getting his work done.

A few minutes passed, and he quickly and quietly stood up and walked over to where his backpack was stored in his cubby. Intrigued as to what he was doing, i let him retrieve whatever it was he was looking for out of the side pocket of his backpack. He came back to me, something in hand, and asked "Auntie, can I play with my pet?!"

I stopped reading, looked at him and asked "well, what is your pet?"

Then i saw it.... a black, limp, and lifeless GECKO!

Shocked, i quickly replied "ewww, thats gross! where did you get that?!" knowing full well, he retrieved it from his backpack pocket.

He told me where, and proceeded to tell me that his gecko pet was named "Candace". very fitting for a gecko, am i right? haha. I made him put the pet gecko outside, as i felt really bad for the poor little creature and knew that he was probably going to be dead within the next few hours.

Oh the adventures of a teacher....guess i shouldn't have been too suprised right? :]