Show and Tell

Lately, I've been thinking about some of the more interesting things I took for show and tell in my life. Spencer has to take something for show and tell every Monday and it is supposed to be not a toy. It is supposed to be something interesting for the other kids to see. Personally, I think 4 year olds find other kids toys very interesting to look at, but that might just be me. As we hunt around our house and yard to find things for him to take in, I am reminded of some of the things I took in as a child.




The first show and tell that I remember was in 1st grade. I had started collecting Smurf figurines. Every week, if I practiced my piano like I was supposed to, my mom would take me to J.I. Cooper and buy me a Smurf. (If I didn't practice like I was supposed to, it might surprise you to know that she would spank me with a wooden spoon. Actually, that was just once. And I am certain that I and my smart mouth deserved every spank.) I could stand before the Smurf display for hours trying to decide which one to purchase. The first one I chose was Postman Smurf. I loved him and played with him. I kept collecting Smurfs until I had about 9, which I thought was about 100. So the first show and tell, I bring my Postman Smurf in to show my class. I tell about it and how much I like it and how I have 8 other Smurfs at home. I was really proud of myself and sat really tall in my seat. A little later, some kid gets up with his giant bag of smurfs. He probably had over 50 smurfs. Everyone was in awe of his Smurf collection. Somehow my one little Postman Smurf seemed small and insignificant. I was totally dejected. Who gets their kids that many smurfs?

Also in first grade, I took in a "Merlin." You have to be at least 30 to know what a Merlin is. I loved my Merlin. Played with it constantly. I wish I had it now to show my kids. They would probably die laughing at it.


Second grade was the year of the strange show and tells. It was in this year that I took in a giant puffball mushroom, a cow's tooth and the most wonderful baby pictures in the world.




The giant puffball mushroom grew in my Grandad's yard in Haslett. With my dad's help, I carefully extracted it from it's home in the yard, placed in a shoe box and rode with it cradled on my lap for the 2.5 hour drive back to Toledo. I cared for my mushroom in my room until it was show and tell day and then took it in to my class. My teacher, Mrs. Alexander, was actually really impressed. I got to keep the mushroom in the classroom on display for several days until the mushroom started to stink. Then I took it home and kept it in my room where it continued to eminate the most horrible smell. Slowly, it opened and rotted and released fungi spores all over my room. It was really probably quite unhealthy but my mom was in the hospital and my room was a mess anyway. No one really noticed. Finally, the stench was even too much for me and I threw the mushroom away. It was a sad day. While looking on the web about the mushroom, here's an article about the harms of inhaling the mushroom spores. Guess I'm lucky to be alive. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00032029.htm

Also in 2nd grade, I took in a cow's tooth. My grandpa had a great woods behind a far field he owned. Once, I was exploring the woods and came upon a bone head of a cow; aka: skull. I was mystified. Right before my eyes was the entire skull. It was amazing! I brought my dad to see it and he also thought it was pretty neat. But not neat enough to take home. I begged and pleaded. Finally, we came to a compromise. I could take a tooth. Which I did and carried home in my pocket back to Toledo. I took it for show and tell that week. I could tell the other kids were very impressed.

Finally, in second grade, I took in the most amazing pictures of my new baby sister. She was born 12 weeks early and weighed just 2lbs 15ozs. She was 14 inches long. I showed these precious snapshots of her bursting with big sibling pride. I remember my teacher tearing up viewing the sweet photos. They really were wonderful to behold. Images of a tiny, red baby being sustained with all kinds of tubes and miracles of modern medicine. She was the miracle baby. She still is.

So that's my show and tell experience. Back to the hunt for something interesting for Spencer to take next week!