I am amazed at how much I learn from children. Last night I had the opportunity to babysit an eight year old and a ten year old. I spent more time with Cooper, the eight year old because Grace, his sister was in ballet until almost six forty-five. I picked up Cooper from "homework center" which is an afterschool program for kids with working parents that is provided by local college kids. I never realized how small he was until he and I got out of the car to go grocery shopping. His mom told me to get him something from the store since he was going with me. So as began to walk through the parking lot and through the store I became quickly aware of how 1) dangerous the parking lot is and 2) how easily it is to get lost in the grocery store with a ton of scary people everywhere. I don't usually pay any mind to these things, but then again I don't usually have a small eight year old boy with me either. He decided on this ball that was attached to a wrist piece that you could throw and would come back to you with the same force and speed. While we were waiting on his sister at the ballet school, I noticed how excited he was with the toy. He threw it and caught it. He bounced it and dodged it. He kicked and punted it. For about thirty or forty minutes straight, nothing but play. When it came time for homework, he wouldn't put it down. In the end, I had to take it from him so that the homework would be accomplished. He is a really smart kid. He had to construct six sentences using his most difficult words in a vocabulary list. He did great. The thing that I learned from Cooper was that if I played as much as he did, then I wouldn't be so caught up in "trying to lose weight" and that there are times to play and times to work. I should be excellent at both. The other thing I noticed is that he never noticed the people around him. He didn't care what they thought. He was comfortable being himself. Children never cease to amaze me.