Back to Work Again!

Wednesday night I got the call that the next day would be my first day.  The teacher I am subbing for was put on bedrest and then induced the next day.  (baby and mama are doing fine!)

Its been an ok transition back to work- I am working with the same 3rd grade team I worked with last year plus my old teacher friend (the teacher I subbed for last year.)  So in that sense, its been great.  The hardest teaching part is getting adjusted to a whole new set of kids in such a short amount of time.  When you are teaching full time, you have 9ish months with them and are ready to let them go on to the next grade level.  But 3 months at a time is really hard.  I was getting to the point last semester in 2nd grade where I knew each student really well and could truly help them learn and grow.  And now that I am in a brand new class I am starting back at zero.  Learning a whole new set of names and a new schedule and switching gears to a new curriculum (not to mention worrying about the durn STAAR test!) is much harder than I remembered.  Its going to take me quite a while to get to that point with these 3rd graders where I can truly help them learn and grow.  I feel like it is a disservice to them.  They will survive of course, as will I, its just frustrating sometimes.

That, and its been really hard leaving the girls.  We had such a wonderful time with me being back at home for those 5 weeks.  They have been adjusting ok.  They both love their preschool and are super excited on the days they have it.  The daycare I am using is in home, and it is a 1/2 mile from our house.  The woman who runs it has a son at their preschool, so that has been great for them.  So honestly I think its just me missing them and they are really fine. 

I try to make the most of our precious time together.  Even if it is super cold I try and get them outside each day.

Going to Costco to shop and eat is one of our fave Friday nights!

Elia pushing the baby while G gets on her bike with her sweet new basket.

 

Obsessed with putting stuff in the basket- especially dandelions.

Running at the field by the park.

I already have a mental countdown- 11 weeks to go!

Turn off the TV!!!!

I have a love hate realtionship with the television. As a teacher, I would always get so annoyed when kids would tell me they watched TV all weekend or all afternoon. These same kids never wanted to read or be creative in any other way. That is my hate part of the relationship. When I was pregnant with Gianna, I was on bedrest for the last 4 weeks. Thats when I fell in love with the TV. Maybe love isn't the right word. I became infatuated with the TV. Obsessed. Can you blame me? There wasn't anything else to do during the day! And since then I have never truly been able to kick the habit. TV literally got me through those last 4 weeks of pregnancy. ER and Law and Order reruns, how I love you!
But I still go back to the hate part of the relationship. Especially because it effects my own kids. I dont want them to be one of those students who has no imagination and NEEDS the TV. So I am constantly second guessing myself about how much G can watch. Is it ok for her to watch a whole movie in one day? What about 2 in one day? How many shows can she watch too? Are they filling her head with mush, turning her brain into applesauce, as my mom used to say?
If you follow my blog, you probably read this. And it is 100% true. I really do love my SAHM job. But sometimes I get a little crazy when its cold as H outside (or in most cases, hot as H outside), we have done every craft twice, and Gianna is trying to help me cook noodles on the stove and she almost burns her hands off in her eagerness to get on the stool to "help" me. Sometimes, mama needs a break! And what better way to get a break than to plant her in front of the boob tube and let something else entertain her for a change? There are some days (usually preceded by nights with little sleep) that I am totally ok with it. Elia has been teething the past few nights, so I have not been getting my usual beauty sleep. I let G watch a few shows before dinner, so I could get some stuff done. When Dora was over, I said, ok G, time to turn the TV off. She was was so upset I almost turned the tv back on just to make her wailing go away. After threatening time out and otherwise distracting her, she stopped crying. But in the next hour or so at some points she would tell me "I was crying because you turned the TV off." A little later, I was in the kitchen for a while and G was in the TV room. After a while I heard the tv go on. I go into the room and see her with the remote pointed at the tv and her free hand is covering her eyes. When she sees that I am in the room with her, she starts crying soooooo hard! I was confused by this situation because I didnt really know if she was hurt or something. I turned the TV off, got her to calm down and asked her what the problem was. She wailed to me, "I was watching TV and shouldn't have"
Wow, that was quite a rant for such a small story. I thought it was hilarious!