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Teacher by day, Mommy by night
Teacher by day, Mommy by night
Juggling the demands (and insanity) of being a high school teacher, a wife, and a mother to a toddler
Member Since: October 28, 2007 Last Signed In: November 18, 2009 Blog Views: 5274 Send To A Friend Sign Guestbook Add as a Friend
A Real Sick Day
Oh, Right...I'm a Nerd Is Halloween the New Christmas? The Good, The Bad, and The New Adventures in Potty Training, Part 2 Oh, Wow Five Things I Learned This Week Looking for that dang glass... Here We Go Again... Yet Another One Bites the Dust October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 November 08 December 08 January 09 February 09 March 09 April 09 May 09 June 09 July 09 August 09 September 09 October 09 November 09 
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About a month ago, I took a day off to be with Emerson and a friend and her daughter. It was a lovely day. We went to the Folsom Zoo, hung out at a park, and had oodles of snack foods. The lovely day was made even lovelier because the next day I had class, so taking off a Friday added a day to my too-short weekend. A perfect day.
Today was not that kind of day. I dragged myself out of a bed a bit late, but managed to make coffee before Justin had to make his way to work at O'dark-thirty. The morning was puttering off to a regular Wednesday start...until I was starting my make-up routine and heard a cough. A yucky wet cough from Em's room. Rut-ro. Sure enough, I went in and Em had a 101.4 fever. Too high for day care. Luckily, today is Wednesday, so there's a little more wiggle room in the morning. I was able to call in my sub and send a lesson plan (though not stellar) to my school. Em and I spent the morning watching cartoons, which was nice but it got old fast. Then, I hit upon a new issue as the mom of a sick three year old. They get bored. And a sick, bored three-year old with a yucky cough is a bad deal. She kept wanting to run around and play, but then she'd double over with her cough. Not fun. So we played dollie, painted, read stories, and even played around with mommy's scrap booking materials. Eventually, I relented and we watch Barbie Fairytopia, which is really bad, but Em sat memorized. Needless to say, Em was less than pleased when Barbie completed her journey and finally got her pretty, pink wings, but she mostly willingly complied with taking a nap. She's still sleeping, a sure sign that she's sick. Justin should be home soon, and I'll head to class in a couple hours. Tomorrow, it's back-to-work time. I'm more than a little scared about what happened with my 1st and 2nd period freshmen, but at least there's only two days of this week left. And tomorrow Justin's on Emy duty. Real rough job, btw. :)
For my past two graduate courses, I have not been feeling super studious. In fact, I have been a horrible student. Always rushing to finish my homework at the last minute, I managed to scrape by in the last two courses. But it was a close call.
It's not that my classes this year haven't been interesting. Well, one, the course on categorical programs and special education, was mildly interesting. But the other one, my fiscal class, was a bear. Mostly, I have just not been interested. I have made a good-ish effort in participation: I bring my materials. I attend class. And I try to raise my hand at least once per class. Again, a good-ish effort, but not stellar. But today I started my last credential course, and, surprisingly, I really like it. It's my foundation of school law class. Actually, I shouldn't be surprised that I like it. The course is right up my alley: tons of information, new words and concepts, and even better--Latin. Awesome. I love Latin. While I am tired, and I will not be crying tears of sadness when my class is done on December 12th, it is nice that my last course is on a subject I'm genuinely interested in. I took four pages of notes today...and it was fun. Sick, I know. *On a side note, I have been blogging on Sac Moms Club for two years now. Thank you for all of you who have been reading and commenting. It has been a great experience, and I have met so many wonderful people. Thank you!*
There are certain events that I don't really remember pre-child. Halloween is one of them. I know I used to do things for Halloween before I had a kid, but my memories are a hazy blend of drinking, questionable costumes, and too much candy.
Now, as a mother, Halloween has become a paramount event. I'm not quite sure why, as Emerson still doesn't really get it. But for some reason I now get really excited. Here's the tale of our Halloweens so far as parents. First Halloween As I was still in the haze of early motherhood and Em was only 4 months old, this was a quiet evening. It was a Wednesday, so there wasn't a whole lot of action. We dressed Em as a jalapeno, which she hated, handed out candy, and had a couple beers. Second Halloween This is where my mad desire to make Halloween special began to surface. I don't know if I was feeling homesick or lonely (we had just moved to Sacramento the summer before), but all of a sudden it became really important to capture the magic of the holiday. So we carved pumpkins, dressed Em as Yoda, and attended my uncle's church's "Trunk o' Treating." Third Halloween Last year, Halloween was a bit truncated. We had to leave that evening to drive to Redding. Also, Em was NOT into having a costume at all. At first I was really bummed, but then I came to the realization that Halloween was not about me, but her. So I made sure to do things she likes. Em really loves all things pumpkin. So we went to a harvest festival with my mom, carved pumpkins, and bought a veritable family of little pumpkins. Fourth Halloween Last night, we celebrated a full Halloween. Em dressed as Super Girl, which she only mildly hated. That evening, Em and I went with friends to a Waldorf School "Pumpkin Path", which was a very sweet, calm alternative to traditional trick o'treating. Afterwards, we went back to our friends' house and had Em's first sleep over, which was partially successful. She fell asleep okay but in the middle of the night she woke up scared. We took her into the living room with us. Then, the real sleep over began. She kept us up all night wanting to play. Needless to say, this morning hurt. But we remedied the situation with a greasy breakfast in a bar/restaurant. Nice. So I seem to be over my must-make-Halloween-special disease, but I am struck by a weird post-Christmas like feeling I have after every Halloween. My mood reminds me of being a kid, having opened all your presents and eaten way too many cookies, and thinking "what now?" There's always Thanksgiving...
This week I started a new adventure at work. My principal asked me to begin training as Teacher-in-Charge, a position that is mostly like a Vice Principal (just not paid like one.) Our current TIC, as they are so affectionately named, is pregnant and will be out in March. While it has not been decided if I'll be covering her when she leaves, my principal thought it wise to train me in the ways of high school administration.
So here's my first week of admin experience: Monday: I had a really hard time sleeping Sunday night, which is typically the case when I'm starting something new. I arrived work freshly ironed and made up, but feeling quite lost. I really didn't have an office, and I had no idea what I was going to do. First thing, I sat through two admin conferences. Unfortunately, my new adventure ended early because another teacher needed my sub so he could pick up his vomiting daughter from daycare. Back to the class room I went. Tuesday: I spent the full day in the office. I handled a few suspensions (mostly for cell phones...ugh), but spent most of the day talking to kids about attendance and behavior. It was a rather uneventful day, and actually I don't remember a lot of it. Wednesay: I was back in my room because my students had To Kill a Mockinbird presentations. The only bad thing about being out of my class this week is that it was the end of the quarter. This means that all my students' projects and tests, etc had to be graded this week. Big ugh. My principal asked me to TIC on Wednesday, but I needed to be in my room to make sure my kids were on track. This was a challenging day. Thursday: This day started weird and just continued. I cannot go into a whole lot of details, as these are sensitive issues pertaining to students, but I will say that these topics were covered by my day: condoms, handcuffs, counterfeit money, and public urination. Sigh. Needless to say, I ate my lunch at 3:45. Friday: Today was my last day for the foreseeable future in the office, and it was a busy one. This week was Homecoming, so we had a minimum day and a parade outside our school. It was a fast-paced day, but things went really smoothly. And (big deal pause here), I figured out how to use the walkie-talkie finally. So next week I'm back in my room. This is comforting, but I am looking forward to my next office adventure. I enjoyed the change of pace and new skills. However, I could really use a beer.
It's actually been over a month since we started this wacky potty training thing, and I can't believe how far we've come. It has not always been smooth (I have a new cheek wrinkle since August), but I am immensely proud of my daughter. And, heck, I'm even proud of myself.
Potty Training, Week 1 Things went ROUGH. In fact, I considered calling it quits many times, but I kept hearing my mom's voice in my head--BE CONSISTENT. Well, the only thing consistent about that first week was my constantly being covered in pee. Or cleaning up pee. Or watching Em's bum like a hawk. We survived because of great friends and their support. Luckily, Em and I have a friend (WMDS on this site) who recently went through this with her daughter. She was very understanding, even when Em unloaded a gallon of pee right in front of her. Nice. PT, Week 2 We had a couple challenges this week. First, Em had a birthday party to go to without me. The same patient friend from week 1 was willing to help out and take Em for me because I had a wedding. I was seriously considering smacking a diaper on her, but then Em brought a tear to my eye and a hope to my heart with the words: "Mommy, I have to go potty." And she went potty. It was glorious. And short lived. Later that night, she totally whizzed on the carpet in front of my sister and brother-in-law. They were fine, but I think they started to understand my pain a bit. PT, Week 3 I was actually very excited for week 3 because Em was going back to day care. Cherie, our provider, is super helpful and gives fantastic advice. I was a little nervous because I didn't want to overwhelm Cherie and cause her unnecessary clean up. I mean, if it's your own kid, it's one thing, but someone else's...not so great. Em used pull-ups at daycare and underwear at home. We still had a ton of messes at home, but slowly but surely she started to use the potty. PT Week 4/5 Em went another week in pull-ups at daycare and then Cherie said the magic words: "Underwear is fine." So Monday morning I dressed her in underwear and we really haven't looked back. That's not to say everything is honky dory. I had an unpleasant, messy morning. Number 2 is not going well. But we went away a couple weekends ago and Em had zero accidents. She even used a diner potty. And this Friday, we were at a restaurant and she grabbed my hand and asked to go to the potty. Amazing. I knew this day would come. I just wasn't sure how. Now that I can almost say we are potty trained, I am not ashamed to admit that I am more than a bit proud of myself. But I am really amazed by my wonderful, ever-growing brave little girl.
I cannot even remember the last time I blogged, or what I blogged about.
Here's why:
1. I need to buy better shoes.
My new position of Advocacy coordinator (the person in charge of the homeroom curriculum) at my school requires me to run around the school quite a bit more than I am used to. I have a couple pairs of Clarks and Aerosoles from when before I was pregnant, but I need to buy a pair ASAP. Your work should not make you limp. 2. If I calm down, my daughter will learn. During the summer I was a little intense about Emerson potty training. Now that I am too busy to be super worried about it, she's basically potty trained. I never thought that would happen, but this experience shows me to relax and let things happen as they may. It's much more enjoyable now that I am not following Em's bum with my eyes in a high panic. 3. There are no useless educational experiences. I'm in my third and final semester of the administrative credential. While I am definitely tired of attending class on Wednesdays and most Saturdays, I am impressed with how much I have learned. I know so much more about my school and district, and I feel like I can really contribute intelligently to conversations about things like school budgets and educational programs. In addition, I have made great friends and I don't feel so isolated at my school. 4. Fried foods are not my friends. I had fried fish tacos on Friday and my stomach is still mad at me. Enough sad. :( 5. My husband is amazing. My husband is working at a rough school. He has a completely non-ideal teaching assignment and his room is wrecked. Most people would lost it in the environment he is in. But not him. He takes things as they come. He is truly unflappable. His patience, kindness, and appreciation for the small things in life are immeasurable. He stuns me. So there was my week in number form. Now to go make coffee.
The last time my sister was here we were talking about that old saying: "Are you a "glass-half full or half-empty" person? My sister, who's always been a bit pessimistic, said that her glass would be broken.
Personally, my perspective switches quite a bit. I can alternatively see the best in people and the world and I can quickly lose all hope and direction. This week I am trying to see the glass half full (and not cracked, dirty, or out to get me.) Surprisingly, it's working. We have had some great news. Justin got offered a job in Stockton. It would be easy for me to get really upset about the commute, the not so great school he'll be working at, and the fact that the principal has yet to contact him. Yet I am not upset. I have found myself floating above all those worries. I am just so happy that Justin's hard work has finally paid off. I applied for the v.p. position at my school and did not get called for an interview, even though the principal said he scored my paper work high. Honestly, I was more than a bit angry about not getting an interview. It's not that I thought I'd get the job, but I wanted the chance. However, I have a great teaching schedule this year (English 9, Honors 10, and seventh period prep). By the end of the week, I noticed my mood was changing. I started to realize that I could enjoy this school year. Surviving last year has taught me a lot. I never thought that my family would survive on one income with Justin and I both in school. Yet we did. This year will bring its own frustrations and struggles--Justin's first public school job, my last year in the admin credential program, and Emerson's potty training. (I would happily write someone else's masters thesis to not have to do that last one.) While I'm nervous, I'm actually feeling pretty good about all the things I am going to do this year. Hey, look at that water filling the glass...
Tomorrow, I begin my ninth year of teaching English. I actually started working last week, but it never seems really until I'm eyeball to eyeball with students. Well, tomorrow it will be as real as it gets.
There are certain constants to the weekend before school starts. My "weekend" before doesn't always look identical to the previous years, but I do have certain traditions. Back-to-School Traditions
This weekend officially marks the end of my summer. Sigh. I don't technically start work until Tuesday, and I don't start teaching until the 17th, but I have a bunch of work to do.
And I'm so excited about it I can hardly stand it. Ha. This summer, as with most, had its high and low points. But the one thing I can say about it was my family did a lot. What Happened Over My Summer Vacation
Well, it's time to put on pants that zip and shoes that aren't flip flops and get back to work! |
