It's as easy as riding a bike

Who ever said that has not met my daughter. She is a challenge with new things. N at 5 is much more ready than his sister I think. But at 8 years old she is totally capable of this. I told Don yesterday that he is shirking his dad duty because both kids still have training wheels on their bikes. I told him it is in the Dad Handbook that he should have been out running up and down a sidewalk by now holding onto the seat of a bike. I remember my dad doing this with me. He remembers his dad doing this with him. It is a dad thing. 

So, today he took off the training wheels and we went across the street to the school parking lot and took turns practicing on their bikes. 

N fell down immediately and ran off screaming. I got him calmed down and ready to try again. H tried twice and said she was done. I told her she was not. I had to compare it to when she learns lines or a song or a dance for a play -- that she keeps trying even though she makes mistakes. She was not entirely convinced. 

On N's next turn he started to find his "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!" His bike is so low to the ground though that it is very uncomfortable for Don to run scrunched over with him. He is so short though that he can't do a bigger bike. H kept grudgingly give it another try. When N kept giving it longer tries and showing more success I had to plant the seed...such a mean mom..."How will you feel when you 5 year old brother can ride a two-wheeler and you can't?" I'll let her chew on that a while. We'll keep practicing. After all practice makes perfect right?

Drowning...

It is that time of year again when I feel like I am drowning. Back to school/work and our "normal" routine.  Homework. After school activities. Meetings. Day to day things that have to be done. There never seems to be enough time in the day to fit in everything.

It has been a rough week. 

Last Thursday we found out that Don's uncle had a heart attack and passed away. It was quite unexpected. We are sad about it. He was a wonderful man and will be sorely missed by the family. Our thoughts continue to be with his wife, three children and 6 grandchildren. It has been hard for all the family to cope with.

Last Thursday, as well, I got a call at 9 in the morning from N's school that I had the choice to either come pick him up and take him home or to come shadow him in the classroom. I had to quickly arrange coverage for my classroom and then headed out by 9:30. He had run away from his teacher 3 times and was going out the school gate (kindergarten playground gate). It was a safety issue for the school. N has such a low tolerance for frustration. He was upset about something with his backpack and it just spiraled out of control from there. Had his teacher been able to catch it early this could have all been avoided. However, the reality of the situation is that she has 18 other children in the classroom and can't focus solely on my son. He enjoyed having a day of mommy in the classroom (admittedly I did too...I just wish the circumstances were different). We talked a lot all that day about what happened and it has been better. No more calls from the school. He has had several days of tough separation from me and Don when we drop him off at school. I was late to work on Tuesday because he would literally not let me go. And he was sobbing. I am normally pretty tough with the tears but I don't want to have him start the day off poorly and then end up right back there an hour later having to take him right back home. Luckily for me, my boss is understanding and she knows I am working hard with him. 

H tried out for a play last week and had her heart set on it. She got notice yesterday that she did not receive a call back or get on the final cast list. She was heartbroken. I talked her through the tears. She has an audition tomorrow for her school's winter play The Nutcracker and has practiced her little heart out. She has to sing a portion of The Good Ship Lollipop. I'm not quite sure how to get that song out of my head.

Last Saturday, we had a bright spot in our week. H was in our town's annual parade with her school. The theme was Magic. H and N's school won 1st place among the school entries with their Peter Pan/Cinderella/Wizard of Oz combo theme (the last three plays the school has done). We had a great time watching the parade and H survived her first year of walking the entire way (in past years she has been able to ride on the float because she was little...no more of that once you hit 3rd grade!). Don walked the parade with H and wore his Peter Pan hat the whole way. H was a mermaid. 

Today was another day of sad news. I found out that a teacher at my school who I had known previously in Arizona (we both worked in the dorms at the school for the deaf) lost consciousness during a meeting Wednesday afternoon. Apparently it was a brain aneurysm. She was taken immediately to the hospital but never regained consciousness. They did a brain scan today and found that she is brain dead. Her organs are being donated. This is such sad news. She was a very dedicated teacher and hard working. It does, however, make me so thankful for my own Dad. He had an brain aneurysm when I had just started college and we were very fortunate that it gave us some warning. He was able to have surgery to have it repaired. It was a long recovery. I still remember my pirate daddy with his eye patch. I love you daddy. 

Don will present at the second annual International Day of Signed Languages tomorrow at the state capital. It should be a wonderful day to come together and celebrate ASL as a right for all Deaf people. There is so much work to be done. More and more deaf babies are receiving cochlear implants rather than just allowing them to be who they are -- deaf. It breaks my heart to know that the "experts" who are steering families down the path to oral language and the use of "residual hearing" do so out of ignorance of Deaf Culture and with disregard for the frustration these deaf people face trying to be a square peg in a round hole. Just yesterday, I dropped H off at school and she ran up to her new friend who just joined her school this year. As the girl turned away I saw the cochlear implant attached to her head. H tells me she has to sit in the front row so she can hear. I told H that, no...it is so that she can lipread. That is where I saw the girl's eyes on my daughter. My beautiful daughter who could so easily sign with this deaf child. I digress... Reading Don's speech made me so sad. I know his background of how he was raised and the choices his family made as they put their trust in the "experts" that they were doing the right thing. It is heartbreaking because these choices have such far reaching and long lasting consequences. Still today it is visible and the scars have not healed. 

Time to stop. It has been a hard, very sad week. 

Next week should be better right? A little bit anyway. Here's hoping.

First Day of School - Part 2

Today was N's first day of Kindergarten at his new school - the same school his sister goes to. Novel concept. Two kids going to the same school. N has the same kindergarten teacher that H had so I am very relieved and pleased. It should be a great year.

Photo highlights:

Walking with big sis.

Waiting in line to go to his classroom.

N is one of two "N's" in his class. His teacher had them lead the line today carrying the yellow bucket she uses to collect their folders. N was the first one in class. 

I'm a little bummed. I had hoped he could avoid having to go by his last initial with his first name. Oh well. At least he is in a good school now. 

Not the best photo but there is a story. All the kids were sitting on their square on their carpet. Mrs. F was ready to talk to them about something and N stands up and walks to the front and says, "Excuse me Mrs. F. Can you please stop for a minute? I want my mommy to take our picture together."  I SWEAR I did not coach him to do that! I think Mrs. F realizes I wasn't kidding that N is very different from his sister who she had 3 years ago. Ha ha!

Thank you everyone for your support and kind words through this long and frustrating process. I hope we never have to deal with intra-district transfers ever again. Now that he is in this school he is set through 6th grade. 

September 12 of 12

I have just started doing this monthly challenge from one of my scrapbooking message boards. It is called 12 of 12. On the 12th day of the month you are to take 12 photos of various things that happen in your day. It is a great way to document a snapshot of a day in your life. Today was a busy day but I managed to get photos in  -- with Don's help.

Don dropping H off at school. She waves good bye.

N's last day of school at our home school. He will begin Kindergarten at the same school as his sister on Monday. This past week of waiting has been rough on him. 

N's transfer could not have come through a minute too soon. Holy cow! Would you look at these four giant posters of rules and consequences posted on the front white board in the classroom?? These kids are in Kindergarten. None of them can read this. What on earth is this teacher thinking? 

H eating dinner. She was quite put out that we didn't have hot dog buns but settled on regular bread for her hot dog. 

N was in a crabby mood all afternoon and through the evening. When is bed time already???

I got to drive the new car to work today. On Monday Don took our Saturn in for an oil change and was told there were a bunch of repairs that needed to be done. With his very long commute it is not surprising. So, long story short, we bought a new car on Monday and picked it up on Tuesday. It is a Saturn VUE. The kids love having a new car. I'm not thrilled that we have car payments again after having both cars paid off finally. 

Our latest addiction. Yes Don and I are late to this party but what a great party it is! Highly recommend this series to anyone who hasn't seen it. 

My weekend homework. We are starting a new math series in our elementary school and I need to read up on teaching the 3rd grade math to our advanced group of 2nd graders. I haven't taught 3rd grade math ever (even when I taught 3rd grade! My students were way too delayed to have the grade level text.). So, new challenge for me. Good that I'll be able to ask H for help with my math homework huh?

I'm hosting several swaps on two different scrapbook groups. All due on Monday. Almost everything has come in. Tonight I needed to get started on the sorting.

Here is one group all laid out on my dining room table. This was a calendar group. Each person in the group (12 people) made 12 sets of their elements (title element and one complimenting element) for each member of the swap group. 

When I was done sorting the complete groups, this was my haul. Wow! Feels like trick or treating!

My drink of choice lately. Nice way to end my evening. 

Is he unique?

Don had to take N to the crap school yesterday afternoon for assessments. They tested him on his ABCs, numbers, colors, shapes, and so forth. He knew all of his capital letters and most of the lower case, knew all of his colors, and knew all of his shapes. They wanted to see if he could recite the numbers 1 to 10 which he could but he could beyond that as well as recognizing the printed number. The teacher was apparently quite impressed with that as it is not common in their pre-testing. They tested him on sounds associated with letters and he did great on all except "L". Not a surprise to me for the boy who will exclaim, "I wuv Wiwy!" ("I love Lily!) The teacher was absolutely blown out of the water that N knew many 3-D shapes and said she'd never seen an entering kindergartener who knew what a "cube" and a "cone" were. 

I know that N has an amazing vocabulary. I've never babied my vocabulary for my kids. We've had a heat wave the last few weeks and just yesterday he took a water bottle and said, "Mom, I need to stay hydrated." He amazed his pre-K teacher last fall when he wanted her to draw trapezoids with him on the sidewalk with chalk. She often had to turn away from him to hide a smile or stifle a giggle because of the words that would come out of his mouth like the time she told me he was with another child at a table and they both were working with the same materials and N told the child, "We need to make a compromise."

I think my kids are smart. I just didn't think that these things were so unique that a teacher should be floored over a cube and cone. Is it the school? Is it my son? I'm not running out to sign him up for gifted classes. I'm very proud that he did so well on their testing. I had been worried about him since he has been much more resistant to paper and pencil tasks than his sister was at the same age. I just didn't think he was exceptional in terms of academic skills. 

I guess he is going to do alright. Phew!

How do you spell "relief"?

In our house it has nothing to do with plop plop fizz fizz. In our house "relief" is spelled "intra-district transfer APPROVED"! Thank goodness!!!

I had spent the better part of Friday trying to get the principal of the crap school on the phone. I had planned to ask for an interpreter so that Don could go observe on Monday. I was preparing to begin my documentation trail of inadequate education. I was also planning to ask why on Earth the Kindergarten teachers felt it was in the children's best interest to watch a movie every single day this week. I am now beginning my 14th year of teaching and my students are lucky to get 1 or 2 movies a year. I don't believe I have ever put in a movie the first week of school. Yet this is exactly what N had told me about in his tales of his school days. 

Anyway, the principal proved quite difficult to get ahold of. I called several times. After leaving work I stopped in their office and asked to see  her. The secretary asked if I had heard from H's school in regards to transfer as they were supposed to be calling parents about that today. I said no since I had just left work and had not been home yet. She called H's school while I stood there and asked if they had room in Kindergarten. Yes they did -- they were opening a fourth class (gee...I told them to do that in August and save us all this headache). The secretary told the secretary at H's school that I was standing in their office and then she looked at me and asked probably the stupidest question I've heard all year, "Do you accept K Elementary as a transfer?" Instead of getting snarky (I know...a shock for me), I simply replied, "Absolutely!" (okay so yeah that was a teeny bit snarky but there was so much more I could have said and was thinking...I'm proud of my restraint). The secretary told the secretary at K Elementary that she was going to inactivate N right then and give his paperwork to me to deliver to them on Monday. She said N would start at K Elementary on Monday! I almost jumped on their counter and did the happy dance. Again...more restraint. 

After getting home and listening to the message the secretary at K Elementary left on my phone at 10:30 that morning, it was confirmed and I breathed a huge sigh of relief....N was approved to go to K Elementary and both of my kids would be in the same school. 

About a half hour later the secretary at K Elementary did call me and say that she was informed that the transfers could not go through until September 15 so he would have to wait one more week. One more week with the knowledge that he was moving for sure?...absolutely! We can do that. I'd prefer a move immediately but I will take 5 more days knowing that it is a done deal. The secretary said it had something to do with district policy (again with that darn policy) and allowing the new teacher time to set up the classroom. 

N and H are both thrilled. I slept so well last night. I'm just ecstatic that this headache is over. I don't  have to deal with being the parent who has to watchdog what is going on in the classroom (or what is lacking), I don't have to go to next Tuesday's school board meeting and make my complaints and frustrations public record, and back to school night is September 17...I don't have to choose which child I love more to attend their school's program. That is huge. 

Both kids in one school. Novel concept. 

In the Jungle..the quiet jungle..the lion sleeps tonight...

Or maybe not if N is around. In the video he is showing what he is learning in Kindergarten. On Wednesday it was apparently "Lion Day" and they got to practice roaring. I am quite certain that my son aced this assignment. 

(For Daddy: N is saying, "Hi. I'm in Kindergarten. And at Kindergarten I had Lion Day and I got to roar like this. See daddy. ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!" pauses to look at mommy "Bye bye Daddy.") 

And, yes, that was Lily the Freak Dog walking past in the background. No doubt looking for scraps from dinner.

First Day of School

Here they are! Ready for a their first day at school. N is so proud of his Star Wars Clone Wars backpack. H loves the bling on her dress. 

Here is H showing that she will be in 3rd grade this year. 

And here is N showing that he is going into Kindergarten.

After these photos we went to N's school to meet the daycare supervisor before school to help him to feel calmer. We get there...there is no morning childcare program. No one told me. Big problem. School starts for both kids at 8:10 and my school starts at 8:15. It isn't my crazy life unless some problem is coming my way though, right?

Next, we went to H's school early (with permission from her teacher) and met her teacher before school. She seems very nice. H seemed happy. We dropped her off at the childcare center after that and she happily went to play with the kids before school. 

Then back to N's school. We were supposed to meet on the Kindergarten playground. Apparently not without a white registration paper that was supposed to have been mailed to me though. I received no white paper. Off to the registration line. They didn't have it. They sent us to the office where the secretary (who has frequently lost and misplaced our paperwork before) said we were fine and our paperwork should be there. I told her it was not so she re-did it. Back to the Kindergarten playground. There was a line to get a bag for parents with a name tag for each child. I gave N his name tag and he was excited to have it. 

Then the teachers began calling for children to line up to take them over to the childcare center where they are meeting all this week to determine class groupings. That's when the crying began. Not from my child but from 5 little boys who were most unhappy about leaving their mommies. Not just crying but screaming sobbing hysterics. Those of you who know my spirited little boy know that he can not stand the sound of crying and it sets him off. Five children was just too much for him. He bolted from the playground and I had to go chase him down. I got him calmed down and explained about why these kids were crying. The teachers were trying to get parents to leave the kids with them there and go home. N was having no part of that due to the crying so I told him I would go along for a short time. One teacher told me that I needed to let go so that he could learn to be independent. Reason #568 why I hate this school. They finally accepted that some of the parents were going to accompany the children to the childcare center. Once in there, the crying from these 5 kids was magnified because now we were in this enclosed space. N demanded that I take him home "RIGHT NOW". I explained the situation to one of the teachers who really was urging me to get out ...politely...but the point was nonetheless that I was to leave. I gave N a final kiss and hoped for the best. 

I went back at lunchtime because that is when school lets out for Kindergarten. When I left this morning I was thoroughly unconvinced that the teachers were to be trusted with my child based on the interactions I had had that morning. I was worried he would not make it to childcare. N was waiting with the other children when I arrived. He was so happy to see me. He looked at me very seriously and said, "I didn't have any fun. I do not like it here. I want to go home." Great. I told him I just came to see how his first day went and that I did have to go back to work. I walked part of the way with him to the cafeteria with the childcare supervisor Miss MaryAnn. He said good bye and hung his head. Sigh....

Back to work. All I can think all afternoon is that this sucks and I want to go get my child. My mind is not on work. My brain is not focused on my classroom or students at all. This situation really is awful. I can't stand it. I hope that this is resolved very soon and N is at school with his sister. 

I went to pick up H first. She was in no rush as usual since she had her pals around and was having a grand time. Once she was pried away from her social scene, we headed home and then walked over to the childcare center to get N. When we get there Miss MaryAnn was incredibly sweet. The first bright spot in the day regarding N. She tells me that N and one little girl had been connected at the hip all day and played and played all afternoon. Both are in Kindergarten. A second bright spot. N said he made two friends today. He didn't know their names though. Miss MaryAnn also told me that I can drop N at the breakfast program in the morning since there is no before school childcare. A third bright spot. And a huge relief. 

So, all in all...H had a great day. She is off to a great start. She already brought me the permission slip to sign for her to participate in the practices for our city's annual parade coming up in a few weeks. Her school always has a float. This will be her third year to do that. She also had a permission slip to sign for her to audition for her school's winter play, The Nutcracker. She has already been practicing the lines and the song for the auditions all evening. N made it through the day in one piece and made two friends.

Maybe tomorrow will be better. I can hope.

A mother's worry

I never worried about H when she started Kindergarten. She was always confident and ready for school. She didn't have trouble separating from me. She knew I would be back. She was eager to make new friends and see what the world held for her. 

My boy on the other hand...I am very very nervous about him starting Kindergarten tomorrow. Take away the stress I've had all summer over this transfer red-tape and policy. He is spirited and I worry that it will go over like a lead balloon in school. He has improved so much this summer but his level of frustration is still very short and his anxiety in new situations can lead to more behaviors emerging that normally would not. I'm worried that a school that can't even keep track of my paperwork is supposed to keep track of my boy. I'm worried that he might not remember to go with the childcare lady after school is through despite the extra steps I am taking tomorrow morning to help with this transition. I worry that he will be sad that he is not with his sister in the same school. I worry that no one at this school knows him if he needs help. They know who he is at his sister's school. I'm worried. This is my baby after all. My last one...or so Don tells me. 

He is so small for his age. When we went to do a little back to school shopping, guess what size pants we had to get for him. 3T! And only those that had the adjustable elastic waist. 

I have to just hope that things are going to go smoothly. This is a public school. They are supposed to know what they are doing. I just don't have the confidence in this school to give them that trust. 

N has told me several times today that he does not want to start school. I know he is nervous about starting at a new school where none of his pre-school friends are. He has asked to call his best buddy several times. He is missing the familiar. Nervous about what lies ahead in this unknown place that we had not anticipated him having to go to. I don't think he would be as nervous if he was going to school with his sister. 

I hate this policy. I guess I will be back on my rounds of phone calls to the schools and various people at the district office again starting tomorrow and through the week. They must just love me.