Friday, February 2, 2007

The good, the bad, and the ugly...

The good news is that I'm not as sore as I thought I would be this morning. Plenty stiff, but not completely miserable.

The bad news is that Knight and I were so tired last night that we just took Jet to bed with us at 10:00 after he showed no signs of ever going to sleep in his own bed. Ever.

The other good news is that, due to the happy meds my doctor gave me, Jet didn't bother me at all in the bed last night. :)

I'm wondering if I can scrape together enough spare change to treat myself to Starbucks this morning.

The ugly news: I owe, I owe, so it's off to work I go. I love my students and all, but I wish I could stay home today. Sometimes being an adult is stinky.

Have a great Friday, ya'll.

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Thursday, February 1, 2007

Don'cha know you're supposed to READ 'em???

So, after my crazy day and doctor's visit today, I went to pick up Jet. Normally, this is absolutely the highlight of my day. I like to try to hide and watch him for a few minutes without him knowing I'm there. One of the amazing things to me is that his two- and three-year-old classmates all know which parents go with which kids. It's never long before one of them spots me (if he doesn't) and shouts, "Jet! Your mommy's here!!"

His head snaps up and he looks for me. Then -- and this is the very, very, very best part -- we lock eyes and his whole face lights up. He shouts, "MOMMY!!!" and comes running. I scoop him up as he jabbers about what he was just doing and wraps his arms around my neck and gives me the world's sweetest hug. He smells of sweaty two-year-old boy, disinfectant wipes, and whatever else they've been into, and it's positively the sweetest thing I've smelled all day.

Today, though, when I got there, he was in time out. Actually, he was supposed to be in time out, but he kept getting up and walking around. His teacher was changing a diaper on another kid while telling Jet to go back to time out. He saw me pretty quickly and started to come to me, but I told him to go back to time out. He told me (now, I know this may surprise some of you, so brace yourselves), "NO!". I gave him the look and he stopped short, but didn't go back to time out. So, I picked him up, put him in time out, and left the room as his teacher was telling him, "Two minutes in time out..."

The director of the playschool (who is a really good friend of my mom's) and I started talking while I was waiting. She told me that Jet had a rough day -- he had torn up two books and gone to time out for it. She had talked with him about it, and told him that he wasn't going to get a happy treat at the end of the day (the kids get a small candy if they've been good). Normally, this is one of the first things he says to me ("I get candy now!"). Today, though, when he said it, I had to tell him that, no, he couldn't have a happy treat because he had torn up two books.

You would have thought that I told him the world was ending. His little face crumpled, and big tears filled his eyes. I had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing out loud. I know that it sounds mean somehow, but it was cute in a way. It's not that I love that he gets so upset about it, but I do love that his little world is so innocent that his happy treat is a huge, huge deal.

I made him hug and apologize to the playschool director and his teacher. He asked again for his happy treat, and I told him he couldn't have it. He cried again at that, but didn't argue.

On the way home, we talked about it. (This is usually another favorite part of the day for me. He chatters all the way home about what he did that day. It's amazing to me that he can remember so much of what he did and tell me about it so clearly!) I told him that we would pick out three books at home to take to school tomorrow to replace the ones he ruined. We've talked about it a couple of times since then, and I really think he understands.

At the beginning of all of this at the playschool, I thought, Not today, of all days; I don't have the energy to deal with this today. Now, three hours later, dinner eaten, kitchen cleaned, and Shrek 2 on the TV, all is well. In a minute, after I post this, Jet will clamber into my lap and snuggle under the blanket with me until it's bath time. Then, after bath, he'll snuggle under the blanket with me again to read Cat in the Hat or One Fish, Two Fish. The world has been set to rights again, and I thank God for health and my family.

Happy Love Thursday, everyone.

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Ouch

I got rear-ended on the way to school today. It wasn't very bad -- there's no visible damage to my car. I'm pretty stiff and sore, though, and I'm sure I'll be worse tomorrow.

We called the police and waited only about 25 minutes for an officer, which wasn't bad, considering that the roads were wet and I'm sure there were far worse accidents on the road. The woman that hit me was pretty nice, but I think she was peeved that I wanted to wait on the police when there wasn't any visible damage to the car.

I ended up leaving school about an hour early to see my doctor. He had x-rays taken and did the little neurological tests on me. He said it's just whiplash and sent me home with some anti-inflammatory samples.

One of my students rides to school with me. I've known his family about 12 years. (Jet calls him "Gran-din".) He wasn't feeling too hot, so his dad picked him up from school about noon and took him to the emergency room. He just called to update me and said that they found an abnormality on his x-ray, so they're going to give him a CT scan.

I feel awful. I know it wasn't my fault that we got rear-ended, but I feel responsible for Gran-din when he's with me. His dad's an understanding guy, so I'm not worried that he's going to get all weird. I just really hope he's okay!

Update: Gran-din is okay. The CT scan was clear, and he was sent home with some medication to help him sleep. Yay for sleepy drugs!

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Monday, January 29, 2007

Car seats

This video sucker-punched me. Please go leave a comment, because Jody is donating three dollars per comment.

I can't imagine Jet suddenly being taken from us because the seat belt failed. He'll be in his five-point harness a lot longer than I originally planned.

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