Who knew?

I've never been much for rocking Adrian to sleep. Sure there were probably times during his first 4 or 5 months of life that I might have, but truthfully I was so sleep deprived I don't really remember much from that time in our lives. My mom was always the one the liked rocking him to sleep, especially for naps. I'm just a big believer that they should learn how to put themselves to sleep so they don't rely on help from anyone or anything. That's a reason he's never had a pacifier or gone to bed with a bottle either.

Anyway, our bedtime routine consists of a bath, a few(or 20) books, hugs and kisses, and then I just lay him down in his crib and leave the room. There are a few times when he isn't quite so tired that he cries a little bit for me to go back in there, but that's really rare. Usually he just sits and talks to himself for a few minutes and then goes right to sleep. He stays there for 11-12 hours unless I have to wake him up when I have to take him to my parents' house when I go to work. I just love that he's such a good sleeper. Plus, he's been taking 3 hour naps lately.

Tonight was different though. He had his bath, we read books, and then came time for hugs and kisses before I laid him down. For some reason he was very huggy tonight. He just laid his head on my shoulder and held on tight. Every time I would try to put him down he would cling on to me really tightly. He was snuggling his face into my neck. It was very cute. Finally I asked him if he wanted to lay on me and I would rock in the chair. He couldn't have been happier. It was as if we did this all the time.

Rocking a 35 lb. 20 month old isn't the same as rocking a newborn baby. His legs were draped down around mine. His whole torso covered my whole torso. It only took about 5 minutes before his arms went limp and his grip loosened from around my neck. I just sat there rocking back and forth with tears streaming down my face.

I can't believe he's growing up so fast. It won't be long before rocking him isn't even going to be possible. Then I think about adding to our family and that one day he won't be my "baby" anymore. Nights like these make everything that has been bothering me about work lately pale in comparison to my wonderful life.

Mom is no pro

This statement goes both for my mom and for me. On Monday after work I was hanging out at my parent's house because Jon-Paul had to work late. Adrian's hair had been getting noticeably long and thick. He's had one "real" haircut from Jenni a little over 6 months ago. Other than that his haircuts are usually just me trimming a little here and there while he's sitting in the bathtub.

On this day my mom decided to ask Adrian if he wanted Nana to give him a haircut. Surprisingly he agreed. When he agrees to anything nowadays you take advantage right away. His new favorite thing to say is NO!

She took him into her bathroom and sat him up on the sink and began cutting away with some scissors. Cutting a 20 month old's hair is no easy task even for someone who does it all the time, never mind someone who never does it. He kept turning his head and pushing her hands away. I was trying to keep him occupied with some cheese quesadilla I was eating. This was working for a little while. She still managed to cut her fingers and hands a couple times. After a while I got tired of standing there and I wasn't helping much so I left them alone. She kept cutting and cutting trying to even things out. Yeah, that wasn't happening. After about 20 minutes she conceded that her work was the best that it was going to get.

I took him home knowing that Jon-Paul keeps a pair of trimmers in our closet. At this point Adrian was still excited and willing to let me cut his hair with the trimmers. I warned him that it was going to make a kind of scary noise and surprisingly he wasn't too bothered by it. I looked for the longest number we had which was a 7.

I began to cut the top of his head and it was a lot shorter than I expected. Oh well, it's hair and it will grow back. He was so good and sat still the whole time as long as I was feeding him animal cookies. I did a 7 on his whole head and then shortened the back with a 3 and blended it with a 5. It didn't turn out too bad. Now he just looks like such a big boy!

I'm Happy with my new haircut!!

Working woes

Ugh. That's all I can say about my second week back at work. This was the first week that the kids had to be back. Stress was the word of the week in my world.

This year there are a lot of new things that have to be implemented in our school. The whole school has chosen a new reading program for all of the regular kids. By regular I mean not special education or those not proficient in English. The second big change this year, that actually should be affecting every school in the state because there are some new law imposed by the state, is that those kids who are mainly Spanish speakers should be receiving 4 hours of English instruction.

I start the day with one class that is all Spanish speakers but they scored at the Intermediate level of the English proficiency test that I gave them last year. They are all 7th graders and I only have about 10 of them. They can all speak English pretty well and should be able to pass the test by the end of the year and no longer need the 4 hours. They only stay with me for one hour and then they go to other teachers for reading and writing. I'm pretty comfortable with what I'm doing with them. We'll be doing a lot of practice speaking in English and maybe some writing.

Now comes the stress...

Next I have a class of students that score Pre-emergent and Emergent on the test. These are the kids that speak little to no English. I knew I was going to have this class I just didn't know that there would be so few of them. I had 4 kids on my roster. I have those kids for 4 hours straight. You might think oh how easy to only have that many, but that's a lot of time to fill when they can't talk back. Only 2 showed up on Monday and the rest of the week there were 3. It turns out that one of the girls is too high for that class so she will be moved out.

Another reason it was so difficult with them all week was that I was also supposed to be receiving new materials to teach them with. Well piece by piece it has been coming in, but I haven't had the time to go through it and make plans with it and I still don't have all of it yet. Luckily the kids were very understanding, bored, but understanding. We spent a lot of time playing with puzzles and word board games I got from another teacher last week. I also have a smart board in my room and they like playing with that. It's amazing how long 4 hours can seem when you have nothing to do and 3 kids wanting you to tell them what to do.

Then in 6th grade they are dealing with an overcrowding problem. There are some classes that have 37-40 kids!!! So a meeting was called on Thursday after school to discuss possible solutions to this problem. I think we've decided that I can take some of the Basic level ELL kids in my 4 hour block. I would really like this for a couple reasons. One, I would be getting about 10-14 more kids. Two, I would get to take them to their elective classes during that time so I wouldn't have them all 4 hours every day. The only big change is that my prep would move to 2nd period instead of 6th. I really like having that last hour of the day as my prep right now.

Ok, so the solution was given but now we have to wait another week before any of these changes are made because we have a 10 day drop rule for any of the kids that are on the rosters but they have never actually come to school. We want to have accurate numbers before the big change so that's why we're waiting. Now I have 5 more days with 2 or 3 kids for 4 hours. I'm going to try to find some big project or something that will take a lot of time that we can do next week. I feel so bad for them and it's torture for me.

Back to school....

Well, work really. On Monday I had to report back to work after having 9 wonderful weeks off. For some reason us teachers have to come back an entire week before the students do. Monday was basically spent sitting in boring meetings all day in the cafeteria. We didn't even get to move around and do any of the usual get-to-know-you teacher activities. I would have given anything to have been able to get up once in a while and do one of those stupid things.

After an early meeting on Tuesday morning about the sports I will be coaching this year, girls soccer and boys volleyball, I went to my very bare room and procrastinated about going through all of the piles of books left behind by the previous teacher that occupied the room. By afternoon I was motivated a little bit and began making a few piles more organized.

Today was another day spent all day in meetings. My first one was from 8-11 at the library where we had a speaker about working in teams at the middle school level. This is really funny because our principal is known to oppose the idea of teams, but we had to be there and got professional development hours for it. After lunch I really didn't have a set place to go, but it was suggested I go to a meeting on the training for the new reading materials our district adopted. This went from 12:30-3:30 and was completely pointless for me. Once again I got professional development hours for it though, so I guess it wasn't a total loss.

All of the time could have been spent today working in my room. Technically I'm not a first year teacher and I feel really confident dealing with the kids, but I feel like I'm not prepared materials wise. My room is so bare. I have to go out and buy stuff to put up on my walls. Tomorrow night is already open house for the parents to come meet me and they are going to walk into an ugly room. That's my main concern at the moment. That, and what I'm actually going to be teaching on Monday morning ;)

Summer Vacation 2008 Part 2

After deciding the leave Adrian with my parents we were headed to Los Angeles for 5 days to visit my assistant Daryl and his girlfriend. We got an early start, and after a literal little something in the road we left around 6:30 am. Our drive was uneventful and we were checking into our hotel by 1 pm. Our room was a lot nicer than the one in Show Low and there would have been plenty of room for Adrian if he would have been with us.

We called Daryl and they came to pick us up in no time. They did most of the driving the whole weekend since he did grow up there so he knew his way around a lot better than us. Yes, we had the GPS but having him as our tour guide just made it easier. First, we went to eat at a restaurant called The Kettle. It was cute and good food too. It was close to Manhattan beach which was where we were staying, so after lunch we walked out on the pier.

Next, Daryl took us to his parents house to meet them and see their view. Their house was amazing. The area where they live is amazing and their view is spectacular. I got a few pictures of all of his mom's plants, but I was bummed that the shot of their view of the ocean didn't turn out too good.

After visiting his parents he showed us around more. Different places like Venice Beach, his high school, and other little things we might be interested in. They live in Culiver City, so for dinner we hung around their area and just went to a little mexican food restaurant around the corner.

The next day was going to be beach day and the the Dodgers game that night. We got to the beach around noon and truthfully we were only out there until 1:30. Swimming in the ocean is so fun. I can do it for hours. Well, it turns out the and hour and a half is enough because I got such a sunburn. We all put sunscreen on and didn't even have time to reapply because we weren't out there long enough to have to. We had lunch at a little pizza place near the beach and then we each went to our own place to shower and get ready for the game.

The game didn't start until 7:30ish so Daryl wanted to take us to a famous hot dog stand for dinner beforehand. It was a good thing we got there early. The place is called Pink's and based on all of the signed celebrity headshots and the long line it's a popular place. We ended up waiting in line for 45 minutes, but it was worth it...

The game was fun. We sat out in left field in the front row. We were all tired after our day of fun in the sun and baseball.

The next day was a lazy day, but hey we were on vacation. We hung around Daryl and Shanna's place and did a whole lot of nothing. I think we played a few games, went to eat, and rented a movie.

On our last full day there we drove up to Malibu to see the sights there and maybe hang out on the beach. I had a migraine so I wasn't up for too much sun, and I'm sure I wasn't too fun, but we went.Our last stop before leaving, my suggestion, was the Hollywood sign. It was so pretty driving around all the houses up in those hills.

So, that's it for our vacation this summer. I go back to work on Monday.

Adrian's illness

After our not as fun as it could have been trip to Show Low we had one full day at home before we were supposed to leave for Los Angeles. Since we came home a day early, on Tuesday, Adrian had 2 nights to sleep in his own room which he seemed to be liking a lot better. He was back to sleeping his normal hours, but he still wasn't eating. I didn't mention that in Show Low he developed a cold sore on the side of his mouth that was HUGE.


In those 2 days we were home all he would eat was oatmeal and he definitely looked like he was loosing weight. He was able to drink milk and water which was good, and I also thought at this point he might need some of that Pediasure stuff. We didn't really know what to do. I had taken him to see the doctor about a week before we went to Show Low because he had a weird rash on his stomach and legs.



I thought maybe it was heat rash since it is so darn hot here but the physician's assistant said it wasn't. He had also been exposed to a person with the fifths disease but she said his cheeks would have been more red. She said sometimes kids get rashes and we never figure out why. She gave me some steroid cream and it really seemed to work and told me to keep him really well moisturized. At this point the rash didn't really bother him. It even made it's way onto his face, but the cream took that away.



In Show Low this sore showed up in the corner of his mouth. I had noticed the week earlier that he was chewing on the inside of his cheek right in that spot. It was probably developing then. Also, when we went to see the doctor she went to look in his mouth but he said no and so she didn't. I think she should have tried harder.



We collectively decided that our trip to LA would not be as fun if we took him with us, so my parents kindly volunteered to watch him for us. I love them so much!! Well, even in their care he didn't get better, wouldn't eat, and was itchy all over. He was mainly itchy on his arms and head, and since he wouldn't let them cut his nails he was scratching himself pretty badly. So they took him to the doctor again while we were gone.



He had lost 2 pounds!! Granted, he's already way high percentage wise for his weight so even that doctor said it was ok that he lost the weight, but still when you're only 34 pounds you don't have that much to lose. Turns out he had some viral infection which basically just has to run its course. That's why he had sores in his mouth. Oral gel was the only thing to put in there to make it easier for him to eat. The doctor gave him some different medicine for the itching because benadryl only makes him hyper.



Now, he's back to his normal self eating a ton, but we've found that having him outside in this heat too long makes him itch still.

Summer Vacation 2008 Part 1

Being as that I'm a teacher, I get 9 weeks off in the summer. Jon-Paul is understandably jealous about this and makes sure that we go some where for vacation so he can take some time off too. This summer we went two places. Our first destination we Show Low, AZ.

I love, LOVE going to Show Low. Mainly because when we left Phoenix the temperature was around 110, and the highs in Show Low were around 90. Plus, it's up in the woods so there are all the wonderful smells. I'll add here that the day we left Adrian was very whiny and clingy and we had no idea why. It was so hard to get all of our stuff packed and in the car that morning.
Adrian is under there trying to nap on the way up.



Jon-Paul drove the whole way up there.

We went to dinner at a Mexican food restaurant with my parents when we got up there. The whole time Adrian was fussy and didn't want to sit in his high chair. I attributed it to him being tired since he really only slept 45 minutes in the car on the way up there. We decided to go to bed early in hopes that he would be a happier child the next day.

The first night should have been an indication that something more was wrong with him. Adrian is a child that sleep from 11-12 hours a night no problem. So when we went to bed at 8 and he was up screaming at 8:30 we knew we were in for a rough night. The hotel provided a crib so I thought he didn't like it since it was unfamiliar so I would try and get him out. That only resulted in more screaming. So, basically all night he would wake up every hour screaming and we would tell him to go back to sleep and he would. Oh what a fun night.

The next day we all went up the ski lifts at Sunrise ski park. Well, we wern't prepared for how cold and rainy it was going to be. Jon-Paul, my mom, and me wore shorts and flip-flops. My dad was the only one who wore jeans and tennis shoes. Luckily I had two of my sweatshirts and one of Jon-Paul's in the back of our car.



We were glad to be down off the top of the mountain because we were freezing cold and wet. Adrian seemed to be happy, but then again he was with my dad and he's always happy when he's with my dad.

Night two we thought we'd try something different in hopes that he would sleep. We had him sleep in the bed with us. At home we're used to a king size bed with no child in it, and here it was a queen size plus a child. He slept a little better, maybe only waking up every hour and a half to two hours. When he woke up though it was definitely not happy.

The next day we just hung out with my parents because that's when he was the happiest. They let us go to the movies while they watched him.




We ended up staying one more miserable night but left a day early. He wasn't eating much either and we had to find out why. We got home around 2:00 and decided it was nap time for all of us. We ALL took a 4 hour nap. Our trip to Show Low wasn't exactly relaxing and we still had a child that we didn't know what was wrong with.