Update in Bullets

October

* My co-lead contracts H1N1 and is out for the last 2 weeks of October

* First week she was out she had all supplies for her part of the lesson plans set and ready to go

* Second week, she hadn't gotten a chance to get the supplies together. Her part of the lesson plans were finished though.

* After trying to get supplies ready and projects put together for the second week, I scrapped her lesson plans-(with her ok)-and put together my own.

* Second week went okay. Kids were a little off because she wasn't there. They thrive on routine and when we change it, it shows.

November

* My co-lead came back, still a little weak, but okay. Kids were excited and off the wall

* Kids calmed down after the first week of her being back. I started getting a chest cold.

* I now have a full blown chest cold.

* I got a $0.50 per hour raise.

Update of sorts

Well the room is coming together finally. All of the painting is done, the shelves are in place, and I loaded them up with toys. My biggest aggrivation at in the classroom was the fighting that happened between the kids. It wasn't the little tit for tat stuff that happens every day, it was the all out brawls--hitting, kicking, spitting, and biting that was going on. These are 3 year olds, or nearly 3 year olds here. Perfectly capable of talking and not resorting to violence. Sure I understand that occasionally 3 year olds will forgo words in favor of physical but this was ALL THE TIME. Then something interesting happened. It stopped.

Once I put a bunch of toys out--not new mind you, just ones that had been put up for whatever reason before I began working there--the physical brawls have pretty much stopped. We have the occasional physical fight...but only about once a week and only with specific kids-(okay, 1 specific kid who is a holy terror and bully). My "run around like a crazy person and throw stuff" kids come in, find a toy, and they sit and play with it now. My cryers aren't crying nearly as much. My whiners aren't whining nearly as much. My biter has not bitten in 3 weeks. The house area is being picked up, the books are being put on the bookshelf--not stepped on and ripped. The couch is being used to sit on, not jump off of to body slam each other.

All of that because there's enough for them to do now. Ironically, I thought having more toys out would require more work on the teachers part. That just isn't the case though. The kids actually put toys away when it's clean up time, they want to know where they are for next time. Sure some stuff gets tossed in whatever ole bin is available at the time, but it's less than it used to be. In short, the kids are RESPECTING the toys more and more, resulting in less stress for me and more items for them to play with. The reasons behind WHY this is happening are numerous, one I will go into in another post. But for now, rest assured that although I am still majorly sleep deprived and the paper work is nowhere near done, the classroom and the kids are turning over a new leaf.

THAT my friends, is why I LOVE my job.

Meetings, Lack of Sleep, & The List

We made some progress on "The List" today. By we I mean myself and my assistant/co-lead. She isn't technically a co-lead because she doesn't have the credentials yet, but she's acting as a co-lead and doing co-lead things by her choice. Anywho, back to the point. We made some progress on our list today. A 4 hour meeting this afternoon did the trick. We're about 1/2 way through it. The other 1/2 of the list contains stuff that needs to be done while we're at work. That 1/2 of the list is going to be tough. We have limited time while the kids are asleep to get the stuff done--and that's only after we've both taken lunch breaks-(mandatory)-and cleaned.

I'm severely lacking in the sleep department this week. I've gotten no more than 5 hours of sleep a night and fueled myself through the day with coffee & Diet Coke. Tonight I'll get an earth shattering 6 hours.

Nonetheless, we're plowing through slowly but surely. Of course the boss and the director want everything done NOW, but it's just not going to happen and quite honestly, they can deal with it or do it themselves. They seem to think everything should run just as smoothly as before when there's been a massive change like this. Sorry, that's not how the world works.

I've got another meeting--a mandatory work related meeting--on Wednesday night. I've heard that it could go for as short as an hour, or as long as 3 hours. If it's 3 hours, which it very well could be because we have a LOT to go over, that means I'll be out of the house from 7am-9:30pm with one 30 minute break. Then I have to be up at 6am the following morning to be at work by 7 or 7:30.

So basically this week looks like another meetings, lack of sleep, and list working week. How far away is Thanksgiving?

Lots of Changes

Since I last posted, things have changed drastically at work. My co-lead up and quit 2 weeks ago, no warning, no 2 weeks notice, just up and quit. I was immediately the sole lead teacher in the room now. I've got 3 kids coming back from being home all summer, 3 new kids starting in the next week, a different assistant teacher each day--3 of which have never worked in the room before, and a list of things to do that gets longer by the day.

My co-lead who quit left quite a mess for me. Paper work from months ago that needs to be caught up, files that need to be labeled and organized, lesson plans that were due 2 weeks before she quit--but she never turned them in despite telling me "don't worry about it." And about a million other things to do in the next week before we officially start our school program up.

To say I'm stressed would be an understatement. All of these things on my list need to be done NOW or should've been done weeks ago.

Just an update to let you all know that I haven't forgotten about the blog, I've just been super busy lately. More regular posting will come when things settle down a bit.

2nd Verse, Same as the First

Well, not quite the same. Nobody else died--though I would like a strangle a few of them. My family was working on funeral arrangements. They called all of the grandkids, close family members, and other people who wanted to be at the funeral to see when people were available--or at least what days worked best for everybody. The idea was to go with the day that the majority of people could come.

Then the next call I got was to let me know when the funeral was. It's Tuesday morning. So I make a few phone calls to my co-workers and the boss to see if I can have Tuesday off, or switch with whomever has Tuesday off and then they can have my Wednesday off. Nope, can't make it work. Person won't switch with me, boss can't make her. Okay, fine. So I call the family back to let them know I can't be there.

This is where it got ugly. I am now the ONLY family member on that side who isn't going. I'm being called every name in the book. I have turned off my cell phone so I don't have to listen to this crap anymore.

Hopefully after this blows over-(because logically I know it will, eventually)-it will get better.

It.Has.To.Get.Better

Right? After the sudden and unexpected death of my friend, more crap at work, and being physically sick, things started to head towards the better. Wednesday was awesome. I worked 10 hours and while it was a long day, I was actually complimented-(for the first time there)-on how well I ran the classroom that day. The lead teacher was out 'sick.' I was on cloud nine. Got to the end of the day, got in my car, got home, and listened to my phone messages. Cloud nine was no longer. I was now free falling. 3 messages.

Message 1: Grandma had a stroke.

Message 2: Grandma is brain dead.

Message 3: Grandma has died.

More tears, more lack of sleep, more emotional pain.

Message 4 came this evening. The toxicology report came back-(as is standard fare at the hospital she was at).

Message 4: She overdosed--big time.

So I'm now at the point of "It has to get better." Not because it can't get worse, it can. It can get much much worse. But because I don't know how much more I can take without a reprieve from tears, sleep deprivation, and pain.

Underwear Freedom

So here's the not so highly anticipated follow up post to my previous potty training post. Something happens to kids when they begin wearing underwear. After 2, 3, or sometimes 4 years in diapers/pull ups they are no longer wearing those bulky things under their clothes. Nope, they are wearing thin underwear. A few things happen at this point:

1. They tend to touch themselves more often. Whether to itch, reposition, or just explore, this is a continuing issue in my class with the kids who have recently graduated to underwear.

2. They rub their private areas on objects. Cots, chairs, tables, and shelves are usual items they rub.

Now here's my disclaimer, least people get the wrong idea or get sent here from a google search. Kids don't do this as a way of masturbation. While scientists and child psychologists do believe that some pleasure is derived from these activities, it is not in the same way that an adolecent would. It's simply a way of exploring for the kids.

Not every child does this though. Some kids do these activities often, some kids never do them, the others are somewhere in between. Some kids do these activities for weeks on end, some do it once and never do it again, again the others fall in between.