14 months old

I can't believe it, but A is 14 months old today. For months, people have been asking if he's walking yet, but he isn't. He seems really content to crawl everywhere, but he really loves to stand up while holding onto things--anything really, legs, couches, refrigerators, but the sound of the dishwasher door still brings him... er, the crawling version of running.

"No" has become a big part of our life. He doesn't say no, but grunts it and shakes his head. We see this most often when it comes to food. He'll tolerate food on a spoon for a few bites, but much prefers food he can feed himself. He especially likes to take the food out of a container, rather than off his tray.

This morning, I asked if he wanted some milk, and I think he nodded his head yes. We are amazed at how much he clearly understands, although his vocabulary is so slight.

His Grammi blanket continues to be his favorite friend. If we are bringing it back to daycare, he HAS to hold it in his carseat, and screams at me when I move it to strap him in.

Yesterday, I picked him up from school and they were fingerpainting. It was cute, but it seemed that more kids had paint on their faces than on the poster. Hilarious... I wish I had had my camera. Speaking of which, they take pictures frequently of the kids. The school's director told me a story of a picture--they were watching A and saw him rub his eyes, but he was continuing to play. They checked when his last nap was, and he was due. The next thing she knew, he was asleep with his head in a cubby. She snapped the picture, and it's too funny. He IS back to sleeping in his crib, but now that he's getting over his cold, he's back to one nap a day.

Nectar of the gods

Once, I echoed Ben Franklin in proclaiming that "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Sometimes, I corrupted his quote with wine.

These days, however, I'm becoming (once again) a follower of the savior whose name is Cola... Coca Cola. It's what gets me through the work day, especially the post lunch periods of the day.

Everyone knows I'm in over my head, over my head

I somehow expected to be better at the juggling act called working mother. I didn't expect perfection, but I also didn't expect the disaster of a house, desire to eat nothing but takeout, and early evening collapse on the couch. I also didn't expect A to go to bed at 6pm, leaving me with two very short hours home with him (and at least half an hour of that is spent making dinner... I have to somehow find more time on the weekends to prepare meals in advance).

This week at work just sucks butt for after school commitments. In addition to Back to School Night on Tuesday, we also have a new school bonding session on Friday evening AND Saturday morning. It sounded just fine to me over the summer, but now that I know what my weekends look like (and that we also have a baptism on Sunday), I'm just dreading that I have to be at work instead of doing any of the other gabillion things that need to happen over the weekend.

**SIGH** At least it can only get better.

NO TEARS!!!

YAHOOO, there were no tears when I dropped A off at daycare this morning! We went around, putting his breakfast in the fridge and writing a note to his teacher. Then I put him up to the table there... a little girl was eating her cereal, but on there were also Cheerios and Goldfish. As anyone who's ever babysat A knows, he soothes himself with food. So, he didn't cry at all when I put him down, and he also didn't cry when I looked over my shoulder and happened to catch his eye.

As for me, it's Back to School Night tonight. Joy of Joys. I can appreciate that the parents want to see our faces, but goodness, it's such a long day and tomorrow's going to require a trip to Dunkin. Or maybe even to evil Starbucks for some extra caffeination. Despite meeting her several times, I want to go to Back to School Night at daycare... that's right, BTS Night at DAYCARE. See here for other ways daycare is trying to prepare us for real school. Too bad, though, cause I'll be celebrating my 21st birthday that night.

We survived, part 3

We made it. We both got paid and have survived the long summer of no money coming into the house. Our savings are seriously depleted, but there's still a little something there.

We had a good time at the wedding, although we left before dancing and cake. We initially planned to go to a hotel after the wedding, but M was a little concerned about how A would sleep with us in the room, so decided to just drive home. The wedding was an early one, though, so it wasn't so bad.

In the rush to get out the door, I forgot my camera. So, those promised pictures are coming, but they just won't be of the wedding.

Look, Mama!

This morning when I was feeding A, he pushed my chin and started to point at one of the characters on the wall. I thought, "Nahhh, he's not doing what I think he is." But then he did it again. And again. And again. How did he know to turn my head?? Dunno, but he did.

I apologize for the dearth of pictures these days. Since we only see A for about 4 hours a day, there haven't been too many pictures taken. I will definitely take some this weekend, since we will be at the wedding of one of my college buddies and A is taking his first trip to New York state and Connecticut. It's also his first long trip (2.5 hours!), so hopefully we'll survive.

No crying?? Sorta....

Today, when I dropped A off, I had a lot of "errands" to do. I had to drop off some food, diapers, wipes, and a change of clothes for him. So I was carrying him hither and yon for a few minutes longer than normal.

After kisses and hugs, I handed him to the early morning lady, and...he didn't cry. Of course, Mommy is a dumb head and turned around to him and said, "I guess you're getting used to it here!" causing him to cry.

But progress is being made!!

The effects of daycare/work

A is starting to adjust to daycare. When M picked him up on Tuesday, he was asleep in his crib rather than on the floor. Yesterday, he took two naps, each of about an hour... he's starting to settle in.

We came home and he went to sleep around 6:15, and then stayed down for the night. Sleepy boy! It did mean, though, that he stayed asleep until 6:30, which is when I need to wake him up. I fear an earlier bedtime is in order, reducing FURTHER our time with him.

It's really no matter, because I'm back to falling asleep on the couch around 8:30. Sleepy Mommy too. I'm missing all the good shows!

Fundraising?? ALREADY?

M and A came home today with this book. I thought, oh cool, we're getting something for our *insert large sum of money here*. Nope. It was a sample book that we can get for free if we get 10 chumps to spend $25 and get one.

Of course, there's well over $25 worth of coupons, and we'll probably end up buying one anyway.

But seriously? Fundraising? For a year old? Who I am PAYING for his childcare, rather than a public school?

We survived, parts 1 & 2

We survived our first week of school/daycare! A took a long nap yesterday, but didn't take his afternoon nap at daycare (he did around the time I got home). I guess he's starting to transition to one nap.

We're taking a wait and see approach to the daycare situation. We're not quite sold yet, but want to give them a chance for the dust to settle. I'm not sure if our expectations are too high or what's going on. Of course, the other daycare I looked at is now on my commute every day. They don't provide food or milk, which was a major selling point for us where he is now, but school lunch there isn't the world's healthiest food. I want to try to get A eating as healthfully as possible for as long as possible.

We also survived the month of no health insurance. I wasn't too too worried about that one, but it was a niggling concern in the back of my mind. We were covered if anything happened because we could have just paid for COBRA after the fact, but it seemed so wasteful to pay $1400 for a month.

I went to sleep right after A did last night. I had a migraine coming, so I just laid down. I woke when M said he was going to bed and then slept until 4:30. So it's an early morning for me, but I still got a ton of sleep.

Overall, the week went pretty well. I'm struggling to adjust to the new school and their different ways of doing things. At least I'm not in the same boat, though, so I can talk to people going through (or who have gone through) the same transition. My students seem very enthusiastic, which is always a good sign. I just found out about an accommodation plan that I have no idea how to fulfill and I also have no idea how this student got into the school with such a plan. **SIGH**

I was offered an opportunity to pick up another course for the year. It would have been for Economics, which I've taught before and would have been a breeze, and would have been a great resume booster, because I would have been in the employ of the county college. However, at only $100 a week and on top of my already can't breathe I'm so busy schedule, I decided it just wasn't worth it.

Speaking of my schedule, for whatever reason, my old school kept us at a load of 5 classes in a two day rotation, plus two duties. When I moved up to 6 classes there, I was released for all of my duty obligations. In all the other schools on campus, however, teachers have 6 classes in a two day rotation plus two duties in that rotation (I have one on each day). It makes it hectic, because it means I have 83 minutes free plus 30 minutes for lunch. Granted, my duties for this semester will allow me to get some work done, but it's a lot to handle.

HOORAY for the weekend! I'll get some pictures of A up!

A bright spot today!

Before I turn into the miserable complaining lady, let me tell you about my bright spots today.

First, I came in from lunch to discover a box of roses on my desk. I received them from my Godson and his family. So sweet and beyond thoughtful!

Next, students made me laugh multiple times today. I had forgotten how much I love working with sophomores (who, as an aside, are exactly half my age). They're still in that innocent zone of a freshman, but are much more savvy and have a element of maturity. I was also impressed by this group's desire to help. I've heard talk of it, but today saw it firsthand. My textbooks were delivered to another classroom, so I asked my class to help me move them. After doing that, I started organizing them by number and a small group of them just started helping, without being asked. They weren't too interested in reading aloud (and who would be, going over school policies that they already know?), but I had them chomping at the bit to help me/run errands/etc.

It was a draining day, as it always is on revised schedule days. My old school had us jumping in slowly, with shortened classes (they had 20 minute classes today) all week, but my new school has us diving in with full length classes starting tomorrow. This drain, in addition to my worry induced insomnia, had me napping on the couch when I got home.

But it was a good day. A did alright again. He was napping (on the floor, yet again) when M picked him up. He apparently couldn't get enough of his school lunch, which was cheese roll ups. I just discovered he also had corn for lunch.

M starts tomorrow. The roller coaster ride begins.

Daycare

The first full day of daycare went...okay. There was some misunderstanding about food, and he was given cheerios and milk for breakfast, it looks like he had oatmeal for lunch (until I called and then he got school lunch). M said that he only took a 10 minute nap and that he cried every time they tried to put him down, so they just let him sleep on the floor when he collapsed there (and slept for an hour). I laugh to think of it, but my poor baby! I know he'll get used to sleeping with all the other kids around.

I'm having a difficult time for so many reasons. Not only am I leaving my baby, but I am in such a weird place at work. I'm a new teacher but yet a veteran one; old to the district, but new to the school. I'm not just falling into it like I sort of expected. Further, the making friends issue I've been worried about is probably going to be even worse since I'll have to give up my shoot the bull sessions in order to spend my after work time with A.

More from Kim

Kim sent me the link for the rest of A's pictures, and I don't which to order! I'm so pleased with her work.

Check it out here, password is my former last name (case sensitive).

The zoo

Our Saturday plans changed unexpectedly, and we still wanted something to do. M said, "Let's go far away!" And I suggested Philly. But one of our typical visiting spots there (Dave and Busters) doesn't really seem like something A would enjoy. So tossing around ideas, one of us said "the zoo.' Rather than drive all the way to Philly, we instead went to Turtleback Zoo in West Orange. It was a good decision because he didn't last all that long before getting sleepy AND it was about half the price of the Philadelphia Zoo.

M was very surprised that with the love this kid has of dogs, he wasn't super interested in the gray wolf. It was kind of sitting in a log, so maybe he didn't see it. He was, however, very interested in the little boy checking out the wolf.

We were both very surprised that A was SO. EXCITED. to see the black bear. It wasn't even close, but he was bouncing in his seat and pointing.

He was also very interested as we walked through the bird aviary. They had parakeets all over the place, and they were beautiful. He was pointing at them and seemed to have a good time.

Pictures coming soon... pending work not taking it all out of me this week. :(