Leaves

Today I took my toddlers to another teacher's house on a bus trip. It was a great way to spend the day. Though it was slightly chilly, the was came out and really warmed us up. My kids love the city bus. They actually cheer for it when we see it. So bus trips are always exciting for them. This bus trip especially because we got to play in leaves. They love to just throw leaves in the air. It really is pretty when they do it over and over again. They just throw leaves and laugh and do it again and again. Days like today are good days that make me think "why would I ever want to leave these cute toddlers?"

National blog what?

I guess it is national blog month. Therefore I am going to do my best to update my blog more then once this month. We'll see how that goes. The most exciting thing that has happened is that my cousin Laura had he baby! Evelyn Lee was born October 30, 2009 weighting 6lbs 8oz. She is so tiny and precious. I got to spend all Sunday afternoon with her and it was the best. I can not wait to hold that beautiful babe again.


Baby Evelyn and I <3


There she is being a precious baby


My Aunt Debbie had to see her through the door because she was sick.


My cousin Laura, the new mom. She is really proud and just can't get enough of her baby. Makes me excited to be a mom someday (let me put that emphasis on someday).

Rewind

There is something to be said about being a freshman or sophomore in college. It is such an odd mix of self-confidence and insecurity (or at least it was for me). I would dress up and be loud and obnoxious and not really care what people think, but at the same time I was trying to figure out who I was and I really did care what everyone thought of me.

I started thinking about this because I was visiting my little brother at SAU and he had these friends over who were sophomores. They were talking about Lowell Lobby (a place I spent many days/nights during my two years on Alpha 2) and how they didn't know anyone, and they just needed to hang out in the lobby more to get to know people. And I know I am supposed to grow up and live in the real world, but at that moment I just wanted it to be sophomore year again. My only worry was if I was going to have to stay up to 2 or 3 in the morning, and if Cory and Yoder were dating, and what we were going to do that weekend. Life was all about my friends, and fun. Rarely about school work.

Now I just try and make it through each day so I can get to the weekend and lay around and do nothing to prepare myself for the next week. I dread Sunday afternoon. If I could rewind my life 5 years and go back I would. I would honestly not change very much of it (just a few things here and there). I would love to feel the freedom of being 19 years old again. I think I would appreciate it more the second time around.

This had to be written so I will not forget

Today I went to an infant/toddler conference for work. The keynote shared the following story and I don't want to forget it. I also want to share it.

Romania was (is?) a very poor country and no one was having babies because they could not afford to take care of them. There was a Czar in power that noticed the population was dwindling. He wanted to do something about it so he offered a stipend to young women who had children. So everything was going well people were having big families and there was enough money to support the famililes.

Then, the Czar got overthrow and a new Czar came to power. This Czar saw how much money was going out and he didn't like it so he ended the whole stipend thing (this is a summary of a more in depth story). Suddenly no one had money to care for their children, but the orphanages only took children birth to 2 so everyone gave up their babies. These orphanages were over crowded and it was like 40 children to 1 caregiver. The general rule was don't hold the babies, don't look at them, give them as little as possible because if you held them or rocked them they would continue to want/expect that and the caretakers would have too many crying babies and not enough people to nurture them.

As time went on these orphans got adopted and came to America, but didn’t fair very well. They were getting in trouble and going to juvenile detention places, and later in life going to jail. They were basically becoming low functioning members of society, however once in a while there was a Romanian orphan who did well and became a normal functioning member of society.

So there’s this guy that was really interested in brain development and he got this huge grant to do brain scans on these Romanian orphans. He figured that the ones who were doing well were more attractive as infants and toddlers and despite the no contact rule where held and rocked. He goes to Romania and starts doing his tests and scans and stuff and as it turns out all the orphans who had the higher amount of activity in the brain, i.e. are doing well in life came from one orphanage, in one wing, on one floor.

Come to find out there was a janitor who everyday after she was done doing all her work would rock each baby. She would pick them up and tell them they were beautiful, then rock them and put them back and tell them she loved them. When this researcher guy figured this out he found that janitor and told her what a difference she had made for these children. Her response was that she never felt like she was doing enough.

What's Up?

So it's been awhile. Lets get right down to it. I am a toddler room lead teacher. Is this the job I thought I would have even a month ago? NO. Am I happy with it? Let's weigh the options:

Pros
I have worked here for three years
I know the staff well
I have a good handle on the curriculum
It's MY class
I feel trusted by the director/other staff
The kids keep me laughing and on my toes all the time

Cons
Everyone seems to have an opinion on what the toddlers should be doing/not doing ect.
A certain teacher assistant... who is going to be my assistant this fall (ugh)
At this point I do not have benefits, and am not considered full time staff (though I do work 40 hours a week)
Two words: POTTY TRAINING
Two years are a handful... esp 8 at a time
Is this really what I went to school for?


Also, One Tree Hill seasons were on sale at Best Buy, so of course I had to get some. I got seasons 1 and 2. My mom got seasons 3 and 4 for me for my birthday or Christmas.

At least I have good TV to watch.

Good News?

I never have good news. I have applied and applied and applied for jobs... NOTHING... not even a stinking interview. What am I doing wrong?

I can not be a toddler teacher for the rest of my life, not even the rest of the year, I don't even want to do it the rest of the week!

And if I hear one more time about how God has the perfect job for me I may beat someone... Ok if he really has a job for me could he please let this come together soon.

fml

The job search

Job searching has it's highs and lows...

like applying and applying and applying and hearing nothing

finally getting a call for a phone interview

getting an e-mail saying they had a "variety of applicants"... aka they didn't want me

finding a new website

applying some more

hearing nothing

applying some more.




I would just like the world to know I would be a good teacher, but if you wont let me teach I may have to explore other options... not sure what those are, but I hope I am not reduced to street corners.