This past week was crazy, with Jet and me both being sick. Plus, we had a "showcase night" at school on Thursday evening -- it's for prospective families to come see what our school is about. Therefore, we all have to put our best foot (feet?) forward and glad-hand and make the school look its best. That's all well and good, except that I was trying to catch up from missing a day and a half and I was sick. So, I didn't get home until 9:30 on Thursday.
Last night, we went to Blockbuster and rented a few movies. We watched One Night with the King, and I thought it was great. I studied the book of Esther a couple of years ago with the women's Bible study at our church, and I thought the movie stuck to the story pretty well.
Knight went for a walk first thing this morning, and I was proud of him. So proud, in fact, that I went back to bed about 10:30. I never do that, but I was falling asleep sitting up in the chair in the living room. I think I was still recovering from this week. I slept until noon, then showered, but didn't bother with hair or make-up, and that was wonderful!
Jet and I watched some TV and ate lunch.
Then Knight went to bed and slept for three and a half hours. Jet and I played football, colored pictures, played play-doh, ate popsicles, and cuddled while we watched Monsters, Inc.
Loads of laundry haven't been done, floors haven't been vacummed, (dishes were washed, though, thanks to Knight), and bathrooms haven't been cleaned. Today, however, was wonderful.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Lazy Saturday
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Mmmm... NyQuil.
On the list for the store:
DayQuil
NyQuil
Milk
Diet Dr. Pepper
In the bags when I came home:
DayQuil
NyQuil
Milk
Diet Dr. Pepper
Diet Coke
Bananas
Grapes
Canned pears
Pint of Blue Bell Ice Cream: Moo-lennium Crunch
Pint of Blue Bell Ice Cream: Pecan Pralines and Cream
Elmo Valentines for Jet for next week's party
Next up: Slug of NyQuil and an in-depth meeting with my pillow to discuss sleep.
Okay, so I sorta meant it...
I guess I'd better be more careful what I wish for. Fortunately, the doctor said it was "one of any of a million viruses", and not the flu or strep or anything else serious. Hopefully that means that I can fight it without a fever.
I really wouldn't have minded being sick instead of Jet, but I don't much care for being sick with Jet. I think he may be over it, though. When he crawled into bed with us sometime last night, he wasn't feverish at all. In fact, he was cool and clammy, as if it had just broken.
However, I was kept awake after 4:00 by the sounds of both of my wonderful men snoring -- Knight in his way that I've learned to sleep through and that can be comforting, and Jet with his congestion that made me wonder if he had stopped breathing every two minutes. I very seriously considered recording them with our camera -- even if it was too dark to see it, the audio would have been great.
Anyway, it's off to work for me. I got about three hundred loads of laundry done and put away yesterday, which means there's only two loads left. Knight and I are splitting the day today, so I'll come home at noon. Part of me says "Yay! More time with Jet!" and part of me says "Oh, man, how am I ever going to catch up at work?". Oh, well. It'll work out.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
I wish I could be sick instead...
My poor sweet son has had a fever and major sinus congestion since Saturday morning. I hate it when he's sick, even though he's not really acting sick. He's still playing hard, and only slightly more cranky than usual. He's still eating, as long as I keep his Tylenol on schedule to control the fever a little. Tonight he was asleep in his daddy's lap at 7:10, which is a minor miracle. He needs the sleep almost as much as I do.
He may have an ear infection. When he was 6 months old, he went through four ear infections in three months. His pediatrician (whom I love, love, LOVE) put tubes in his ears, and it was like magic. He hasn't had an ear infection since then. However, when we went in a couple of months ago, his doctor noted that the tubes had fallen out. I know that some kiddos have to have more put in, and I'd be okay with that. I'll be calling in the morning for an appointment. The doctor's office is wonderful about squeezing us in.
He's just so clingy and needy when he's sick. On one hand, there's a part of me that gets frustrated because I'm trying to get other stuff done, like laundry and dinner. On the other hand, most of me loved being able to drop everything to cuddle and mommy him all day yesterday. I love taking care of him. I suppose it's true that we all need to feel needed, but the need I have to take care of him is overwhelming. I think I'm going to wither up and die when he gets old enough to not need me as much. Hopefully God will grow my heart along as he ages so I'll be prepared.
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.
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.
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!
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.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Commitment schmamitment
I can't believe I haven't posted since Tuesday! So much for my "commitment" to myself to post everyday. Apparently it bit the dust shortly after the "eat better" commitment collided with the Girl Scouts.
I think it's because our schedule was so wacky. I've been extra-exhausted this week after only going to work on Friday last week due to the ice storms. Then, when we all got to school Monday morning, they told us that there was a water main that had broken. We had to send all the kids home! I did get several hours of work done that day, though. It's amazing what I can accomplish when I don't have to actually teach. :-)
So, this wasn't even a full week -- only FOUR days -- and I'm still ridiculously tired.
On the upside, my students did some fun labs this week. I'm in a brand-new lab that I get to stock and set up throughout this year! It's been a blast.
My biology I class is covering fungi, so we looked at various fungi, both live and preserved specimens. They'll finish the lab with preserved slides on Monday. I love subjects that make my students go, "Eeeewww!!! Moldy food!!!". I actually gave extra credit to students for bringing in specimens of moldy bread or fruit, because, the ONE time I actually NEEDED moldy bread, there was none to be found in our house. Sheesh. Of course, it was the night before I needed it... can't make it mold overnight very well (I had several students who tried to do that, too!).
My IPC (physical science) class is beginning a unit on acids and bases. We'll be doing a lab next week, and I wanted to impress on them the importance of lab safety. So, I cracked an egg into a petri dish on the overhead. The light shines through the transparent portion of the white. I explain that the white of the egg is protein, much like their eye is protein. Then I drop hydrochloric acid onto it, which fries the egg just as if it were in a pan on the stove. It turns opaque, and has a pretty big "wow" factor.
My chemistry class used the fume hood for the first time all year. I've been waiting for some ventilation errors to be fixed. They did a neat limiting reactants lab with magnesium and hydrochloric acid. The reaction fizzes and fumes and generates a lot of heat (I think I know some people who could be described that way). They love being in the lab. I'm getting ready to order materials for us to tie-dye t-shirts. I remember doing that in my high school chemistry class. I wore that shirt until it actually fell apart.
As I read back over the list of labs I wrote, taught, prepared, supervised, and cleaned up after, I'm beginning to think that I have a reason to be tired this Friday evening. Especially considering that I also gave and graded several tests and quizzes, oh, and that pesky job of managing a classroom, and did it all in FOUR days.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Not the bed! Anything but that!!
What IS it in a two-year-old kid that propels him from his bed as if it were on fire, precisely three seconds after his parent lays him down on it? Repeatedly? For an hour, usually between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m.?
What is it in him that draws him out of his bed in a sleepy state at three a.m. to stumble to our room, only to stand next to our bed and breathe on me until I realize that something is standing next to my bed, breathing on me?
What part of his little body finds it sooooooooo difficult to just stay in bed? There are days that I can't wait to get into my bed in the evening. Does he ever feel that way? If he does, what is it that triggers that desire? I'd really like to know so I can plan to do it every single day.
I love my son. I really, really, really do. As far as real troubles go, this isn't a huge issue. But it happens every evening, when I'm the most tired.
I've tried the Supernanny trick -- putting him back in bed without saying anything. I've spent hours doing that. He just gets out of bed again. He doesn't cry or holler or argue. I've taken to just standing outside his door after I put him down. He's just as stubborn as I am. More stubborn, in fact, because I give in and rock him to sleep.
It wouldn't be that big of a deal, except that we worked so hard to get him to put himself to sleep, and he was doing so well for over a year. Then, suddenly, wham!, he's not into that anymore. He even did really well for a month or so after we switched him to his toddler bed. I guess we just got spoiled.
I'm trying to come up with a positive way to end this post -- I don't like for it to be completely negative... but seeing as how I actually wrote it (except for this last paragraph) two days ago, and my feelings on the subject haven't changed much since then, I think I'll just let it be. Suggestions for creating attractive chemistry between a toddler and his OWN bed are appreciated.