My days of unemployment are OVER!!! Praise Jesus!!! I've been in free fall for about a week, but I knew God would catch me!
I had an interview at a place called Apple Tree Children's Center one day, and it went well, but not quite phenomenal. I was given a quick tour of the place, and it seemed just a tad chaotic, smelling strongly of clorox trying valiently to cover up dirty diaper... and failing. I was told that they would be doing interviews all week before making a decision, and my first thought was: "Shoot, competition. I'm SOOOO not getting this job!" I came out of that interview and returned a phone call, and BAM! I had an interview the next day with [company name removed in the interest of not getting sued after reading scary official stuff about confidentiality in employee handbook]!
That interview went even better! It was a tad nerve wracking at first: it was a small office with a desk on either side and a chair in the middle. There was a manager at each desk and me in the chair, and both of them asked questions at the same time. That chair totally felt like a hot seat! All of this in addition to the fact that they asked me to bring a copy of my degree with me... you know, Associate's in Liberal arts? The one that has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with early childhood education? Yeah, that one. A friend told me that that's pretty standard when the degree has nothing to do with the job, which made me feel a little less foolish about it, but still underqualified. But the two were best friends, "work wives," they called it, and since the interview was all about me, I was invited and welcomed into the whole thing until it felt more like a conversation than an interview, and I was almost sad when it was over. They were thoroughly impressed, and they promised to call that afternoon for a second interview this morning.
I went in this morning, and this interview was more like a chance to see how I do with the children and see if I'd be better in the infant room or the toddler room. It was supposed to be a half hour in each room, but they were having a crazy day with tours and a surprise visit from a Higher Up from Chicago, so I was only in the infant room for about fifteen adorable but slightly awkward minutes (the teachers in there were pretty obsorbed in taking care of the dozen babies all over the room), then I ended up being with the toddlers for over an hour. That was the most fun I've had in a long time! I got to know the names of about half of the class and I helped coral toddlers from here to there. I was on the floor with them, replacing shoes ("Everybody needs TWO SHOES!" I said about ten times, tapping the little ones' toes), reading to them, talking about pictures, clapping with them when they fit the blocks together right, and trying to keep them relatively contained as they waited to go outside while one of the teachers counted them.
Then we went outside. There was one little girl who was brand new to the school, and she was used to that time of day being nap time, not play time. So I got to hold this adorable little girl in a pretty yellow dress as she snoozed in my arms. In the interests of the upcoming afternoon naptime, one of the teachers finally came and woke her up to try to get her to play for a little bit. Shortly after that, I had another little girl snuggling with me in my arms. It was later explained to me that she's in a not-so-good home situation. When one of the managers finally came out to get me, she was shocked to find this little girl locked onto my hip, refusing to let go!
I was offered a job on the spot, and I automatically said yes! So allow me to introduce myself: My name is Kaycee, I'm a toddler teacher at [a top secret company that I apparently cannot name in a blog for fear of financial ruin], and I haven't started work yet, but I'm already in love with my class! To celebrate, I went and put some gas in my car and went to Starbucks for a Strawberry Smoothie, because there are actually some paychecks on the horizon!
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