I Don't Know About That

The things that made me laugh this week.  Gib and Mariah are a riot together. They totally crack me up. Hearing them arriving home from school, Gib teasing his sister, them laughing - it's simply the best thing ever to hear your kids having a good time together.  Preschool is also a constant source of amusement. I just hate it when I remember really laughing about something but can't quite put my finger on what/why!  Oh, the memory is going..... that's why I like to share tidbits so I can go back and think - Oh Yeah!!

Yesterday two of us got the dreaded phone call from the school. We called for playground back up so I could take the call.  It was easy to field and I was glad I didn't have to rush off to get a sicko. The health care team needed to verify the medications and instructions for Gib's migraines. I have to go back in and sign something even though I was the one who gave them the instructions and signed the form in the first place. I was however thanked for typing out the form :)

The other teacher - not so lucky.We had just come in from the playground and I get called urgently to her room. I was so relieved when I heard the words "I have a barfer" that it wasn't one of our preschool kids that I was HAPPY to take over her class for what little remained of the day.  Because she left in a hurry, after a quick explanation to her class, and this is the first time I took over her class, some of the kids were a little concerned. One munchkin jumped for joy and clapped her hands, so there you go... she's onto what it means when I'm in the room: FUN TIME!  I put on my teacher hat though and we did our afternoon work. I had to laugh when a cutie who spent weeks with me as an interim teacher last year needed to clear a few things up:

 "Are you the boss of us right now?"

"Yes. Your teacher had to leave so I'm helping out - I'm a teacher here too"

"But are you always the boss of us or just when our teacher isn't here?"

"When your teacher is here she is in charge of the class. I'm always her helper."

"So when she gets back she will be the boss of us again?"

"Yep"

"Whew! That's good"  

Are they not the most precious ever?!  I still felt that way when reading Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? and the kids were to think about similarities between that and Do You Want to be My Friend? They are big into finding similarities/differences and rhyme/connections. Each one has a sign you make with your hand - nodding yes fist for similarity, shaking no fist for difference, tug your ear for hearing a rhyme, and touching your temple for making a connection. We look like little baseball coaches when we talk! So I'm reading away and we stop to discuss when a student makes the similarity sign.  It's all going beautifully when I turn a page and before I even glance down at it one kiddo is madly making the sign for a similarity.  So I ask him and he replies "It's like you! It's like you!!!!!"  I look down at the book and I see a WALRUS.   I raise my eyebrow and go "A walrus?!" LOL - I mean how hysterical is this?!  Everyone laughs like crazy and he points out that the pink walrus is the EXACT shade of my shirt. I had a smile a mile wide and say, "aha, I always wanted to be like a walrus!" and that little sweetie from the Boss Of Me conversation goes "me too!".

The BEST way to end a preschool day.  Unless of course you're going to HOT-LANTA like one of the kiddos. He says that every single time he means Atlanta.  Love it! I gotta tell him about Mariah and AUNT-LANTA: I don't know her....

Being Prepared

BE PREPARED - two words everyone should live by.  Some key phrases come to mind: Be prepared for the worst; be prepared for the unexpected; be prepared to hang on tight, and be prepared to be amazed.....

The benefits of abiding by that motto was especially apparent when yesterday at 3:30 pm our director found out that out preschool assessment was bumped up to today. We've worked hard the past few years to be very in sync with the program to the point where we really don't need to do more than keep current on changes and walk through each other's rooms every now & then to spot things we love and see what could be improved or placed differently. It's such a normal part of our operation that to have a sudden assessment day sprung on us was no big deal. And blessings abounded because the teacher who really wanted to be in the spotlight was chosen, (her children are so angelic it's almost freaky), AND we got the assessor who gave us our highest marks ever a couple years ago.  Yay!  We are all secretly hoping to beat all the other preschools in our county again.

And now for our Be Prepared to Be Amazed portion of today's Preschool report:  did you know this trike, operated by a professional, can spin a kid 180-360 degrees?! If only it had a seat belt because every now and then even a professional loses a kid right out of the seat! Of course that happens most often when the degree of difficulty matches the degree of daredevil , with the feet off the pedals and resting on the bar, white knuckled grip, and as someone runs to reach maximum speed, flung into the spin zone! To begin this play, my favorite thing to do is walk all casual near someone riding it, and when they pass me, I grab the handle, and run them backwards or spin them around. I gotta watch the spin on that maneuver because they never see it coming and they fall off.  Today I was playing with some kids and there is this one sweetie who seemed quite fearless. I whispered to her to get on... GET ON! Hurry!  And off we went for about 20 minutes of running, being chased by kids on Harley Big Wheels, making some awesome spins, and even wheelies!  Usually the wheelies have to be real tame but she took all I could dish out and kept screaming for more; we even managed to go do a high enough wheelie to manhandle someone on the Harley Big Wheel;  our trike tire was on top of hers and we pushed her backwards and it made the coolest sound like cards in a bike tire. We OWNED that Big Wheel! (poor other kid) I'm thinking Fisher Price totally had all this in mind when they named that little red and purple trike The (MONSTER) ROCK ROLL & RIDE.  That one qualifies for be prepared for the unexpected.

Might As Well

Might as well blog. It's a yucky, yucky Monday. Forecasted to have upwards of 5" rain and the worst hasn't hit yet. And besides that there's only so much speculating a gal can do before she goes crazy about ALL of the following:

Online college applications and essay in progress for Gib.  I like to get a headstart and do all the scholarship searching, fill in names, addresses, emails, birthdays, siblings, class schedule, gpa, test scores, etc., etc., etc., and then let the applicant insert his personal statement (aka essay) and voila! As painless as possible (for the student).  I was about to just set up the account at one university today but there was a pop up box that said if you are a parent...stop now! Well, this parent will revisit that portal another time when Gib is at least in the house. Kinda obvious when it's a school day that the student didn't type in his address and stuff. I got the distinct feeling time and date stamping was in place. Sheesh.  Gib has some work to do with his grades if all that work is going to pay off, so he will be enjoying a break from his Xbox for awhile.

Indie has her big GRE exam this weekend. Good luck Indie! She is also in the thick of graduate school search process. She too will be starting the grad school application process. Too bad she doesn't have people to fill in names, addresses, emails, birthdays, siblings, class schedule, gpa, test scores, etc., etc., etc. Last I know of , the following schools are in the hunt: Baylor, SDSU (for Mike); Kansas, Wisconsin-Madison, St.Louis, Mercer (maybe), New York, and Boston. I probably forgot one or two. Indie can grace us with a comment, or even update her blog!  We did talk about how she may switch her masters degree focus and go for a Social Work masters, which will have more of a classroom environment over do your own research method, and there are many career options for counseling with it, especially if she goes for the social work + business masters available at some of those universities.

Mariah wrote a 7 page short story for English. Yes you should laugh. I did. It was about her emergency appendectomy. I thought for sure I was going to be thrown under the Bad Mom Bus - had a flashback to the 15 page fictional horror assignment where I was stuffed in the volvo's trunk by the killer. I groaned when she handed it to me but she assured me I was portrayed as a good mom. Sure enough, I exhibited concern, heated a hotpad for her tummy, and had a heartwarming smile. And while she shared how I made her laugh, which really hurt, over the "Breathe In...Hold...Breathe Out" MRI imitation, she did neglect to mention how I performed my own at-home appendicitis examination which had to have hurt a whole lot more than some giggles. All in all, I guess I owe her one... or maybe we're just even, because that volvo-trunk episode in the first paragraph still bothers me.

If you follow facebook, you know about as much as I do about Taryn's life and current events. Go Taryn! Call home! You can do it!!!

And finally, but not least importantly, some weird stuff has been going on. The bbq cover was removed by who-knows-who, folded up and placed down on the sidewalk by the creek. I KNOW it wasn't Mike (refer to the folded up part) and it wasn't me because I would have put it back ON the bbq. Grammy claims innocence. We decided to blame the yard guy who might have just been helping if it had been blown off, but everyone remembers being on after the bbq a couple days previously, so do-do-do-do-do-do-do-doooo.

And then the blue one-inch deep ceramic saucer that sits under the peony by the stairs is GONE! It goes under the matching pot to catch water but we used it in the garden for the cats to sip water from and for turtle-dipping. I know it wasn't Mike because when I asked him he said very cluelessly "what ceramic dish thingy?" And he could've care less but humored me and pretended to care when he went outside to look at the empty spot. And, I know it wasn't ME, the only person who notices weird stuff around here. Again, Grammy claims innocence, despite the fact she admits to moving the turtle's terra cotta hidey hole pot right next to the now missing feline/amphibian watering hole. I'm actually a little fearful that maybe a yard guy kidnapped my turtle, ceramic dish and all.  I just hope and pray he is still in my yard. I like that little Son of a Gun!

Temple of Doom

Playground time is everyone's favorite part of the day.  The Jello Jiggler game is already in full swing with the tots this year picking up on a new trick of telling me some kind of yucky food they are so the Jello Jiggler Monster won't be tempted to try to catch them for a snack. Lemon has been a favorite, but we went green yesterday and many chose to be treetops and bark. I love watching the suspense build on their faces as I go, "lemon?! peew! peew! I don't LIKE lemons! Wait a minute..... I smell (sniff sniff) PEANUT BUTTER!!!!" and they all take off squealing.  

Eventually, I get put in what used to be called JAIL.  We have a few new kiddos to our school this year and they have a new place to send me - THE TEMPLE OF DOOM!!!  

 Here's Indiana Jones fighting off the natives....

yep, that DOES look familiar.  Only my little natives have sandy hands and try to pull my legs out from under me, and I have my walkie talkie in my hand, holding it over my head, so it doesn't get ripped off...

It got me to thinking, we are always looking for some way to improve our playground... why not build a replica of the TEMPLE OF DOOM?!  Of course I found one one the internet. Wonder what my boss would think of it? Wonder how many child safety standards it abuses?!

Here's the staff photo from last winter taken near the temple of doom. This is usually the spaceship, which is a whole 'nother game.  Maybe I will be an alien invader today just to mix things up.

Choices

Last week was Homecoming Week and Mariah made sure I was super busy for it. I hear their float was awesome - the theme was Rock The Ravens and there was a Raven smashing a guitar. Gib's class float was censored for something really stretching it for innuendo so interest waned, and whoever was left (not Gib) made their float a Raven riding in a train for Railroad the Ravens or something like that. I was perked for a minute when I heard there would be a train because then you could do the classic damsel in distress tied down on the tracks and a Raven rescues her - or The Raven the evil, mad train engineer - Hmmm, guess I would have been censored too.  Luckily, the powers above weren't upset with my diabolical thinking because I survived making a couple trips running through an intense lightning and thunder storm that dropped 2 inches in under an hour just to bring emergency supplies to the freshmen float build.

Gib has been diligent in his duties as VP of Ultimate Frisbee.  And of course the big news - he had his Board of Review and made Eagle!  Gib also had the ACT test along with most of the county's seniors. I've never seen a line that long.  We got there early, even after the nifty idea of getting a 5 hr energy drink at the gas station on our way, but it was cold and starting to rain so Gib decided to wait in the car. We had a nice chat and next thing you know the line was crazy long. At 15 minutes prior to reporting time they opened the doors and Gib headed for the herd of miserable students.  Gib says he thinks he did good and we are hoping for a 3 pt bumped to access a higher scholarship level at most universities. In a couple of sections I think it is very possible for him to get a 30, and maybe that will be enough if the overall Comp is still under 30. Some universities only take math & english scores and in that case he'll be golden.  He liked his tutor and after her help, he only missed 1 math question on the practice test. He said her practical tips for test day (like wearing flip flops so your feet can touch the floor, comfortable but nice outfit, and power of positive thinking) worked really well.  He's got the SAT next month and testing is done except for AP exams at the end of the year.

Keeping firmly in college planning mode, I am working on a great fit top 5, with another 3-5 of potentials. Gib needs to also spend some time on their websites to see if I'm on track. I think I am but hey, I'm not the one going!!  Applications are underway with goal of completion by Oct 1. Gib is working on his essay - trying to nail down his thesis statement and get a good rough draft.  He will need to get his letters of recommendation and we'll be good to go!

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Waco, Texas

Lots of Pro's, especially in the scholarship dept, lots of Business Major programs; Con: Waco.

BIRMINGHAM-SOUTHERN COLLEGE

Birmingham, Alabama

Pro's: Small Size appeals to Gib, very much a hands on, personal approach, service oriented;; University Pres works w/o salary to improve school and lead in new direction;  Con's: business program not as big as others

DAYTON UNIVERSITY

Dayton, Ohio

New on my list! Pro's: Supposedly a fantastic community on campus, advertises good scholarships, big business program, GE (Fortune 100) building a $51 mil R&D facility on campus focusing on alternative power, and there's another company on campus more medical, plus dayton area also has potential for really good internships. Motto: Learn, Lead, Serve - "exactly!" Hits a lot of Top Lists nationally;  Con's: Price Tag even with scholarship

MERCER UNIVERSITY

Macon, Georgia

(this is the building where Indie interviewed for her scholarship!)

Pro's: Familiarity, Great school, potential for scholarship very good, service scholars; Con's: Macon (ugh) and business program not as varied 

SAMFORD UNIVERSITY

Birmingham, Alabama

Pro's: Gib's first choice, meets all criteria, in very nice neighborhood of birmingham, lowest tuition and R&B of all out of state choices so far; Con's: Very strict in a Baptisty way

How To

WHAT I LEARNED YESTERDAY:

• How to get out of cleaning a preschool classroom:  Grab a toy cell phone and walk around looking very involved in your conversation. When the teacher calls your name and tells you to please put it away and help clean up, hold up your index finger and go "just a minute" and pace like mad while talking and ignoring the clean up in progress (or not).

• How to get out of anything science-y related to spiders (I'mma gonna 'member this one): A tarantula was on the playground (aka Daddy Longlegs) and my "Seriously?!" munchkin just had to show it to me. We crawled under a slide, looked at it, agreed it was creepy, and she promptly broke into a fit of achoo-ing. I looked at her like What?! and she says, "I'm allergic to spiders" and proceeded to sneeze her way across the playground.  I love that kid.

• How to sweet talk your teacher into not giving out so much work: It was a big scissor cutting art project in Pre-K yesterday (making Eric Carlesque kitty cats) and one of my favorite guys I was working with commented on "so much scissoring!" and the teacher, sitting across from us working with another student, agreed but started to tell him he was quite good at it... he interrupts and says, "it's okay, I still love you, ya know".  It worked on me - I cut his kitty cat tail for him.

• How to get Volun-told to risk your life in a huge thunderstorm and wade through a flash flood to save the day: Volun-teer to chaperone and then when they say they don't need you at the float building party tell them you're available for whatever they need.  Nothing like timing the lightning and thunder and running through ankle deep (no lie) water with 4 20x30 foam boards, zip ties, and white paint. Then I got to sit around for an hour watching lightning from the "safety" of the car while they worked. 

• How to survive being mom of the hour, after your son uses 95% of your cell battery: keep the engine running so you can charge your phone while playing WWF and Bejeweled and watching 100 kids and moms make similar mad dashes through the monsoon to their cars. Occasionally move your vehicle to jockey for better pick up when your freshman student finally emerges. Multitasking: It's a way of life.

MADE IT!

• Yesterday Gib officially made Eagle Scout!  I am so proud of him!  This is one parent who does not deserve the pin at the ceremony because the extent of my involvement was a gentle nudge (aka nag) here & there, and basically bringing pizza to the work site. Mike did more both on site, in the garage, and alot more nudging than I. In the end, it was a nice family team effort of support, and alot of work, learning and growing for Gib.  He is one worthy scout to attain that rank.
• It's homecoming week at high school. Floats are being built by each class. From 4-9 each day (Tues-Thurs) the classes are putting them together. Flower parties were held before Labor Day and are being applied to the floats now. I signed up to help each day. I already made dinner this morning!!!!  Yesterday: mom dumped 6 lbs canned taco meat (of 36 lbs of taco meat) into the crockpot for me and had it warmed when I got home at 3:30. I also signed up to bring 2 bags of chocolate, 3 bags of mint, a staple gun and lots of staples.  Today: A very large pan of Rotini & Sausage with alot of cheese, and chaperoning.  Tomorrow: 2 of 32 pizzas.  Then I'm done for the year. No more hospitality from this chick. At least not for the freshman class.... I did sign up to help with prom.
• Yesterday was also my first subbing day of the preschool year.  Glad to say I MADE IT! I love the regular teacher even though sometimes she is so adamant about following her set routines, this fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants (haha that was a funny typo) girl sometimes starts twitching. However, I have to admit, those kids have not been trained properly yet, and she was right about nap time - don't skip that. I helped finish out a day last week for her and said NAH! We don't need no nap!  Wow - that was a mistake. I will not even pretend that I had an ounce of control from 1:50-2:30. Matter of fact at 2:05 I said, Yah, do whatever people! So napping was way back in yesterday afternoon for 25 minutes of calmness and almost quiet. I kept my position as Person In Charge Here People and we had a good day. And my happy go lucky self loved making up the art project as we went along. We painted paper plates - one each - in beautiful ROY G BV + BB( brown & black) colors. Since I used plates, I decided we should all talk about what kind of food we like that was the same color as their plate. Then I scribed their answers. I THINK plates might be dry today, and we will glue our answers, coincidentally enough, written out on the same color of paper onto our plates.  My favorite was the kiddo who got black: ugh, right?! Poor girls they got brown, black, and yellow. The boys got blue and purple. What is the world coming to. The chickie who had black answered the prompt: What Kind of Food do you like that is BLACK? with "it's something I don't like... it's black, black, black strawberries!" Uh, yeah, 100% with ya!!

Got to go - gotta pick up the milk (again) since yesterday they gave us skim milk cartons instead of 2%. and I didn't vacuum the rugs in the classroom as I had to rush home to do homecoming stuff.  

What Did You Say?

Preschool is off to a great start. Unless you are the teacher in the 1 yr old room, and then I have to say it's off to a screaming start. I give it 2 more weeks and they will be like bonded ducklings to the teacher. Poor thing. It is soooo loud. Whoooweee - just helping for 20 minutes at a time both days deafened me. Those babies are not happy with their mommies right now.

In Pre-K we are happy to be at school! Each year, the teachers ask the kiddos to help identify the most important rules at school and why we have them. I love to read some of the doozies they come up with! There are 3 basics we categorize everything in: 1) Take care of yourself; 2) Take care of your friends; 3) Take care of the classroom. The ones on my chuckle list: Don't color on yourself with markers; No hitting or socking your friends; and NO TEXTING WHILE DRIVING! Good to know there won't be any distracted cozy coupe drivers at preschool!  The amazing thing is that all of those rules fall into the 3 main categories and that is what we get the kiddos to see, and when they forget and run in the classroom, we can point to THEIR RULES and ask "oops - did you forget..."  

One little munchkin learned an important "choose a better way" to communicate, which falls under the take care of your friends heading: When I was working with another teacher to take out all the stacked trikes, toys, scooters, and balls out of the closet, she poked her head out the classroom door and putting a hand on the hips goes, "SERIOUSLY?"  I didn't get to see it, sadly, but when I heard about it, I knew this had to be nipped in the bud, having seen her work the system the previous two years. Yeah, I've been watching and am braced for impact :))  I put on a nicely confused face and sat down with her at the table and asked her if she saw how hard we were working to bring out so many toys for her and the other kids to play with... and by the way, did she mean to sound so rude? Then I asked her if she could think of some ideas of how to handle that situation better so her ears wouldn't hurt and she wouldn't hurt our feelings. Hah! We decided she could have shut the door to her classroom or moved to another play area where she couldn't hear balls bouncing across the gym.  We hugged and I went back to work struggling not to giggle over her Teen Drama Queen Moment in a 4 yr old body.  She's a sweet little handful who will find that there's not just one, or two, but at least FIVE teachers who are fully in loving control at Pre-K. She will appreciate the boundaries once she identifies them all!  Next week we will probably be discussing word choice at music time which she pronounced as BOR-ING on the first day of school.  Oh girl - we gonna have us some fun times! One of the things I've learned over the years, the ones who may be a challenge at first end up being the ones you miss the most when they graduate.

I've also reflected that the things that make me laugh the most in life are kids - from the little ones to my young adults! I love that so much.  And, so I simply have to share this story, taken from the status update of my coworker:

• In a father son discipline talk, he expressed how he wished he was an only child, then remarked, "I bet you feel the same way, huh dad, with two out of control kids and a grumpy wife".

So between the texting, the SERIOUSLY?, and that quote of the year, I have to say, God Bless the Little Children.... and keep 'em coming please! This woman needs to smile.