Discipline

Had a bit of an issue today with my charge. I realized today that every morning when I give her a chewable vitamin, she pops it in her mouth and then goes to the bathroom. This has been going on for the past month, however she was gone for 2 1/2 weeks so in reality, I've only witnessed this 6 times. I've been thinking that something was up, but never acted upon those thoughts...until today. She walked by me in the kitchen after her bathroom break while I was washing dishes and I said "Did you take your vitamin?" and she said yes, while not looking me in the eye. I found this odd, so I finished the dishes and went to go find her in her play room. Here's how it went from there:

Me: "Open up your mouth please"

She opened her mouth and I didn't see any remnants of the vitamin in her teeth, which, if you know anything about chewable vitamins, you know that little pieces of them stay in the crevises of the teeth after the vitamin has been chewed up and swallowed.

Me: "Did you chew and swallow your vitamin?"

Charge: "Yeah."

Me: "It doesn't look like you took your vitamin."

Charge: "I took it!!!"

Me: "I don't believe you ate the vitamin. Did you throw it away?"

Charge: " I DID take my vitamin. I didn't throw it in the garbage!"

Me: "Did you flush it down the toilet?"

Charge: "NO! I chewed it up and swallowed it!"

Me: "I don't believe you are being honest with me. Are you lying to me about taking your vitamin?"

At this point tears start to well in her eyes. I asked her AGAIN if she flushed it down the toilet. She slowely nodded yes, without looking at me. I then took her back to the kitchen, gave her another vitamin and made her chew AND swallow it in front of me. I told her that she would be taking her vitamin before she left the table from now on, while I am present. I then put her in a time out...I gave her 5 minutes for flushing her vitamin down the toilet and 5 minutes for lying to me.

Now that I'm home and away from the situation, I'm turning to the parents who read this blog. Was I too harsh in giving a 6 yr. old a 10 minute time out? Am I out of line by making her take her vitamin in front of me every day? Also, was my line of questioning wrong? I mean, she repeatedly lied to me--is this normal for a 6 yr old? or should I have just gotten straight to the point...or would that have backfired on me? I was nearly positive that she didn't take her vitamin, but what if I was wrong? Somebody help me on this one, please!

Took a Little Trip...

Seeing as how I was told, at the last minute of course, that I had another week off I decided to take a little trip. I went to my mom's house for a few days. Despite being $400 short from not working for 2 weeks, I justified it by telling myself I HAD to get out of this house and relax at my mom's lake front house for a few days. So I went.

It was enjoyable, busy, hot, and far from relaxing. The first thing she did when I arrived was hand me a list of 'jobs' she needed done. *sigh* The first job on the list was mow the lawn. Not a big deal, right? Well, she has 4 acres of land...that's roughly 3 1/2 football fields. It took me a few hours, but I did it. That was only the beginning. Other things on her list included: fetch the canoe from the middle of the lake, put in the living room ceiling, clean out the AC unit, catch the ginormous wood chuck that's been eating her plants, and remove a fallen tree branch from the old garage roof.

That last one was a little tricky. I climbed up on the garage roof to assess the situation, climbed down, got the truck, tied the rope around the tree and then hooked it onto the truck, got in the truck, and floored it. The tree came off the garage....but so did part of the garage roof. Oops. I guess my next job is going to be fixing the garage roof. And I'm not allowed to drive her truck anymore. I've decided not to go visit her again until it snows, that way I won't have to fix the roof :) Whoever said blonde's aren't smart????

Paperwork

So I'm once again filling out paperwork for FIA-(Family Independence Agency). It's required to work in any licensed daycare/childcare center/school/after-school program/etc. It seems like every year they add a page. I understand the need to know who is taking care of children, but it's borderline insane with the kind of information they need. I.E. not information that is committed to memory, meaning I have had to dig through paper files in order to find it all. In this year's version of "FIA Paperwork Hell" they want the following:

Please list all aliases.
I guess putting "Julia Goolia" on that column wouldn't be a good idea. Nor would "Tater Salad." Though with how tight asses these people are, they probably wouldn't get either joke.

They want my mother's maiden name, her mother's maiden name, and my father's mother's maiden name. They also want to know who my siblings are, who they are married to, and how many siblings the in-laws have + who their parents are.

I'm being finger printed, drug tested, blood tested, tb tested, and have a required physical that literally takes over an hour in the Dr's office for the Dr. to go over everything on their list.

SSN, VIN, License plate number, car make and model, driver's license number. They also want this information for those "aliases" they asked about before.

They run a full background check. This includes EVERYTHING. I took a look at one of my background checks once, they even put parking tickets on there now. This background check looks at involvement with known pedophiles, terrorists, abuse charges, car accidents-no matter how minor, run in's with the police, credit reports, etc. etc. etc.--the list goes on.

All addresses in the past 10 years. Not only do they want addresses, they want phone numbers to go with these addresses.

Places of employment for the last 10 years. Again, they want addresses, dates worked, and phone numbers to go with these places.

Birth certificate...not a copy...a CERTIFIED copy--because I'm sure it's changed since I sent them one LAST year.

Schools attended including, but not limited to, all elementary, middle, jr. high, high school, community colleges, university, technical colleges, etc. etc. etc. They also want dates of attendance, phone numbers, and addresses for all of these.

That's about it. There's a few other really stupid questions. I have a question though, when did I go from preschool teacher to CIA Agent?

Full Moon

I just found this photo of a full moon that I took during the last lunar cycle. Enjoy!

10 Reasons...

Why it's pretty darn obvious that I'm a preschool teacher/nanny.

1. I own more children's movies than people who actually HAVE children.

2. Children's books take up more space on my bookshelves than my regular books.

3. All of my low cupboards are baby-proofed.

4. Every fragile thing I own is on a high shelf.

5. I have a Finding Nemo blanket.

6. I have plastic dishes in my cupboard.

7. I almost always have at least 1 carseat in my car.

8. In a given week I can be seen around town with anywhere from 1-6 kids. None of which are mine.

9. I rarely dress up.

10. I keep a container of baby wipes in my car for sticky fingers.

There you have it. Now you know how to pick me out if you're ever in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan :)

Nine, Ten, Begin Again

*sigh* I smoked 6 cigarettes in the last 2 hours. Long story...I have officially cut off all contact with my ex. Don't get me wrong, it was my choice to smoke. I'm not going to get into details on here because I know he reads this. After those 6 cigarettes I feel like crap, which is probably a good thing. I got rid of the rest of the pack. Drowned them then tore them up. Have a good night ya'll.

Jen

Thank you

Thank you so much Judy and Bone. I appreciate the kind and supportive words :)

Today has been a rough day. I feel miserable, I know it is the process of my body ridding itself of nicotine and my brain craving the nicotine. Knowledge is power, but it still feels the same.

I will do this and I can do this. Though I do intend on buying myself something with the money saved--the money thing isn't really motivating me much. I have money socked away in the stock market, CD's, money market account, and a roth IRA--so there's money if I need it. I can't just get it whenever I feel like it, it is purposely set up so that it is a 3 months process to remove any money from those account.

More than anything it's my health that is the motivating factor. I watched a video on YouTube, you can find it here. Even if you're not a smoker, watch it. It is powerful and heart breaking. I never want to put my child through that---ever. I watch that video whenever I have a craving. I've watched it about 10 times since I quit. Every time it brings me to tears, but it's worth it if I don't smoke.

Thank you again, I will post again soon. My foot is doing better BTW. It aches, but it's not too bad.

Jen
---
2 days 14 hours and 15 minutes smoke-free,
25 cigarettes not smoked,
$6.31 saved,
2 hours and 5 minutes of my life, saved.

One Smokey Story

I began smoking when I got to college. I wanted to try it, just once. Don't ask me why, but I did. Nobody pressured me into it, nobody begged me to come smoke with them, my parents weren't smokers, only 1 of my 3 siblings is a smoker. Chalk it up to my own stupidity, but I wanted to try it. In the dorms, one of my hall mates bought a full pack of smokes--and only smoked 2 of them. I asked her for 1, she gave me the whole pack. I kept them, only smoked a few, and then threw them in a drawer.

Fast forward a month. I was stalked by a man who didn't understand the word 'no.' He had anger problems, he blocked me from leaving my room, he grabbed me in various places, he was big and he could hurt me. I was afraid. I couldn't sleep, barely ate anything, cried all the time. To ease my nerves, I dug out that pack of smokes. When I finished those, I bought another pack...and another...and another. Thus the addiction took root. I was addicted to nicotine.

At first a pack would last me a week or so. I slowly increased the amount I smoked...a pack would last a week, then 4 days, then 3 days, eventually leading to a pack a day habit. This summer was especially bad. I would smoke 4 or 5 a day during the week. 1 or 2 before I went to work and then 3 or 4 between the time I got home and when I went to bed. Weekends were a free for all. I could easily go through 3 or 4 packs between Friday night and Monday morning.

I was a smoker for 3 years and 10 months. I refuse to be a smoker for 4 years. I am no longer living with my ex--who is a smoker. He had no part in my decision to smoke, or to quit...but it was always easy to get a cigarette when I ran out since he usually had a pack. But I am living alone now, no smoker's around to enable me, no cigarettes in the house to temp me.

I will be successfull. I will not allow myself to fail. This is my life and I began shortening it 3 years and 10 months ago with that first cigarette. I will STOP shortening my life by puffing on cancer sticks. I will be healthy for my family, my future children, and myself. I am here for a reason, and I can guarantee it is NOT to throw my life away by ruining my lungs and dying prematurely.

I am a quitter. A quitter of smoking.

Jen

Smoke free for 1 day 13 hours & 4 minutes,
I have NOT smoked 14 cigarettes,
I have saved $3.54,
I have saved 1 hour and 10 minutes of my life

I Am A Quitter

In a good way though! I quit smoking 12 1/2 hours ago. I will post more later today on this new development, but I just thought I would let you all know 2 things:

1. I am quitting smoking

&

2. I made it to my first goal, 12 hours without a puff

Stay tuned for the next goal, 24 hours without a puff.

The Broken Foot Chronicles-Part I

So my days have pretty much been as follows:

Wake up at some ridiculous hour due to pain killers wearing off-(today it was 4:30 am).

Hobble to kitchen to get something to eat so I can take pain killers.

Take pain killers.

Attempt to shower-(I haven't been able to shave for 3 days...no bathtub in this apt. just a standing shower).

Plop on couch w/ice pack.

Play video games-(Paper Mario, Animal Crossing, Crash Bandicoot, & Luigi's Mansion)

Take more pain killers.

Sleep.

Pain killers.

Video games.

Pain killers.

Video games.

Pain killers.

Bed.

Repeat from beginning.

*****************************************

I ventured outside of the house yesterday in order to get some much needed groceries. I just have to say, walking with a cane when you're 22 just isn't sexy...at all. No flirting for me right now. Trust me, I tried. Where is the sympathy guys?

And seriously people, when a lady with a cane and a hand basket is coming down the isle, don't just stand there and stare while your kids are running back and forth through the isle like some kinda ping pong ball....GET THEM OUTTA THE DAMN WAY. After I left the store I felt like making a bumper sticker to put on my ass that reads "Free range children will be poked repeatedly with cane."

I went back to work today. That was erm...interesting. The kid was great, very helpful and very willing to play on her own for most of the day. The dog was the problem, she thought my cane was a chew toy. Stupid, stupid dog.

As a side note, the Dr. in the ER decided not to cast my foot because the bone wasn't completely broken. I cracked the 5th metatarsel. They gave me an ace wrap...and then made me walk to my car after instructing me to "stay off of it as much as possible." Go figure.

That's about it. I'm finally to the point where I can put heat on my foot. So I'm typing this with my foot up on the desk and a heating pad laying on top of my foot. Yes, tis a glorious Wednesday night for me.

The Broken Foot Story-In Bullets

Putting kids in car
-what I was doing when I broke my foot

Stepped in a crack, foot went one way, couldn't balance, fell on top of foot
-how I broke my foot

2 hours
-time it took for me to get ahold of a backup sitter for the kids-(parents of said kids were an hour away on a boat trip but could not come back because they were drunk)

Pop, crack, "FUCK"
-what it sounded like

3
-phone calls I made to parents of kids before I finally got a call back

2.5 Hours
-time I spent in the ER before I was looked at

4
-number of x-rays done on my foot

$74.00
-cost of my pain killers, that insurance DID NOT cover

0
-number of crutches I was given

1
-number of canes I was told to BUY myself because I am not allowed to put full weight on the foot

3
-days off of work I was given by my boss

Way too many
-hours I have spent playing video games in the past 2 days

15
-number of stairs I have to navigate to get from my apartment-(on the 2nd floor)-to my car.

Announcement

I broke my foot today. That is all.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

"Your butt jiggles like my jello!"

Heard from my charge during snack time. Jello will not be a snack option from now on.

Craziness

Will someone please explain to me how it's possible for the temperature in a town to drop to -40F in February but shoot up to 100F in August? I mean, that's only 6 months! This weather SUCKS big time. I want my rainy summer back...the nice 75F.

In other news, my charge and I worked on JUST stearing today..she's getting pretty good at it. And to Judy, everytime I get her going fast enough to let her go...she slams on her breaks and I end up slamming into the bike handle with my stomach. I just keep telling myself that it will click one day and she'll just take off. No crashes today, mostly because I held onto the underside of the bike seat to balance her while she practiced stearing, but hey...it's a start.

Have a good Thursday everyone!