The joys of teaching

I seriously have considered writing a book about all the "joys" of being a teacher. Despite the fact that I really do LOVE it, sometimes I really don't get kids. I think sometimes we forget they're little people still maturing and learning everyday. Occasionally, I get reminded of this fact. Recently, my students and I have started talking about TAKS and what it is. Since I teach 3rd this is really the first time they've ever taken a test like this. The kids all seemed to understand how important it was and they all were pumped and ready to do their best on our first practice. I have this one little red-headed boy in my class who has extreme trouble with focus and paying attention. His teacher last year compared him to a spider monkey. I hope this paints a visual. The teachers feel me. They've all seen it. Loud, active, fidgety, and...immature. I love him, but geez he wears me out! I can only figure God made him red-headed as some ironic joke or worse....a taste of what's to come in my household. Anyways, he did great on the first part of the practice, but then.......A kid threw up. It totally distracted him and he missed the last 20 questions. As if that wasn't enough, I discovered he'd actually made a very clever dot-to-dot with his scantron. There is was- a giant "K" (his initial). I rewarded him for his creativity, then I made him fix it. I had to laugh even though I wanted to cry. The next day we took a practice math, and again, his attention bit the dust within 15 minutes. This time, no dot-to-dot, but instead a smiley face at the bottom where all the bubbles are for scanning codes. It was right there in the spot that says "for office use only" Oh, I love being a teacher. It was a great laugh for the day, but that question entered my mind again.
"Should we REALLY be testing 8 year olds?" 35+ questions? I wonder what dot-to-dot he'll make on the REAL test? =)