Early Birthday

My birthday is in a couple of days but we celebrated this weekend since our week is packed full of everyday life. My brother and I are 2 years and 3 days apart so we have always shared our birthdays and this one is no exception. Check out the great cake that Cole helped make and decorated all on his own! After Cole's baseball game we went for some great Tex-Mex tonight and then opened our gifts. Cole got me a watch that he picked out on his own...that kid has great taste. My mom said that he had wanted to buy me a diamond ring too, but she had to nix that purchase :-) My parent's gift was a personal trainer at the gym that my mom and I are sharing. We had our first session with him on Saturday and I'm sore today. My gift to myself is a three month group fitness class at the gym that is 3 nights a week. Plus my mom and Leah are going to be with me, so it should be lots of fun! I've been working out daily for the past few months and have lost about 20 lbs, but I've still got a lot of work to do.

Cole cracked me up this weekend. He was talking about me getting married again and then he stops and looks at me and with a serious tone he asks, "Wait, you do still have your baby parts right?" Yup, but those are another year older too!

Flying Solo-ish

Today my mentor teacher had to leave at 11:00 for training. In the district that I am in they are still required to get a sub, but since I will be teaching the sub just sits in the room. Our "sub" was (no exaggeration) a seventyish year old man. He was very sweet and sat and read the entire day.

I have already taken over Social Studies and Science and some of the Language Arts, but always with the fail safe of the teacher in the room. Today I taught those in addition to Math without a fail safe. At this school there is regular Math and Advanced Math. My mentor teacher teaches the advanced math class. Anyone who knows me knows that Math is my nemesis. We have never gotten along. The idea that I would be teaching Advanced Math is a laugh. But teach it I did...and had fun! I got the kids up and moving and involved in the lesson. The kids were happy and relaxed since they already knew me there were no behavior problems. She will be out tomorrow too, so I get to fly solo (sort of) again.

Is my happiness getting old? It is amazing how being truly happy with what you do affects your whole life. I just feel better in general. I feel like the mealworms going through metamorphosis myself. Does that mean that I'll turn into a beetle too?

Mealworms and random pics

Here are some random pics that I've been meaning to post: Cole at his last baseball game, Jupiter's Halloween costume, and Cole ready for school this morning.

I taught 3 subjects today even though I'm only required to be assisting with one. I did my first science lesson today. The kids are studying metamorphosis and I asked the teacher if I could do my own thing instead of doing the worksheets and she said go for it. I brought in mealworms that the kids observed and will monitor as they change into beetles. They were so thrilled and hands-on. I didn't tell them what the mealworms would change into and had them make predictions and most predicted butterflies or moths and one student guessed a beetle. After the lesson my teacher said, "Now this is what science should be!". The funny thing was that Cole wanted to do it too, so I brought the leftover mealworms homes, but because we had errands to run and the car was hot, the worms got a trip to the gym and HEB! They are now safely in Cole's room burrowed under their bed of oatmeal.

Audition

My mentor teacher told the Principal on Friday that she is pregnant and not planning on returning to teach. He asked if I would be interested in taking over for her and when she said yes, he was happy and said to consider this my 4-month audition.

The week was great and while I'm not surprised how quickly I bonded to the kids, I am surprised how quickly that I became comfortable with the other teachers. Typically I'm shy when meeting new people and find it difficult to make connection, I either click with someone or I don't. Luckily I made connections with everyone right away. On Friday, I was involved with my first team planning session and I told them about the idea I had for a unit that I'm required to teach. They were excited and want me to create the unit for the entire grade level. Yikes! I've been working on expanding my idea and gathering materials this weekend.

It's been my experience that most elementary teachers don't enjoy teaching science and since I love science, I have already volunteered to take over science in my classroom. On my nightly neighborhood walks I've been looking for butterflies since this is the next unit we are studying. I hope to find more creepy crawlies!

The only downside is catching my first sore throat...no doubt from all the hugs! It's worth it though!

First Days

Well the first two days are done and I have LOVED every minute of it! The school, my mentor teacher, and class are all amazing! It is going to be a wonderful experience.

In the weeks leading up to the first day I was so nervous. On Monday morning I woke up jitter free. I felt confident and ready for my first day. I have been pitching in where I can and have chosen a day for my first solo lesson. The days go by amazingly fast and the school already feels like home. While the kids come from a different class of life than I have known, they are still young enough to not realize the difference. Some of their experiences are truly remarkable. This is a generalization, but in my experience most teacher's favorite students are the girls because they are sweet and eager to please. That's true, but I guess because I'm used to Cole, I love the little boys. Their imagination and unbridled enthusiasm brings a smile to my face.

My mentor teacher is pregnant and may not be coming back and another 3rd grade teacher is pregnant so there is a slim chance there might be an opening in the spring, if I make a good impression.

I can't wait to go back tomorrow!

Wish me luck

Tomorrow is the first day of my new career! I'm so excited, although I must admit about halfway through ironing my stack of clothes, I started to miss scrubs. It's been years since I've had to iron. Urgghhh!

We will also start our new morning routine. Cole will have to get on the bus 20 minutes early. I will have to drive him to the first bus stop in our neighborhood, in order to get to work on time. Plus I will have two lunches to make in the morning and Cole has baseball practice tomorrow night, so I have a lot of stuff to pack.

I've enjoyed my time off, but I'm ready to get started!

Can you hear my heart breaking?

The last time Cole's dad called him was on his 5th birthday, he is 6 1/2 now. Lately Cole has said several times to me that maybe his dad will call him on his 7th birthday. I always have to look away so he can't see the tears in my eyes. Tonight at baseball practice he said out loud to another parent, "My dad lives in New York. He never calls me. Maybe he'll call for my 7th birthday."

I can get over the devastation of someone not loving me anymore, what I can't recover from is the devastation of someone not loving my son.