alright.
so it's not harder or easier....just different.
although I do miss the days of doing whatever whenever....although it didn't feel like it at the time. but there's no putting 23 kids into cribs and running to the bathroom in an emergency. you just have to sit it out and wait.
no work today, though! gotta love those "sick" days....
(I have a feeling that all the days I take off will be more for the son than for me....I guess that's pretty normal...)

busy busy busy
harder than being a stay-at-home mom? a working mom.
hands down.
I don't know what people do when they have many kids and two parents working.
Fortunately I have a handsome partner in crime.... wakes up with Sullivan, they have breakfast together, and he takes him to school every day. I get to pick him up and hang out in the afternoon - we make dinner together and eat as a little family in the new house. As we figure out the routine of it all it gets easier.
Kindergarten is fun and kind of crazy. 23 five year olds. And me. Learning how to read and write and play with our friends. And how to flush the toilet and wash our hands. They can be pretty cute.
I voted today...that felt good. So excited to see how things go.... I loved driving to work this morning... so many people lined up outside of schools and libraries... people that had never cared about voting before. Anyway, it's in the air.... I love it.
(And I'll try really hard to not say I told you so.)
Although I think I just did.

Sullivan met Miss Vicky today - she's his new teacher!
He got to do finger painting and had a snack with the kids... there are a whopping 5 kids in the class! So much for being lost in a crowd of crying one year olds.
He seemed to do fine....I, on the other hand, was a little upset, but it's fine.
He's going to love it and I think he'll actually learn a lot from the kids - so that's all good.

I would also like to say that since we bought our Hybrid nearly three weeks ago, I have had to put gas in it ONCE. I feel pretty good about that. I feel especially good when I park next to moms in big SUVs and mini-vans and know that our gas costs about 1/8th of theirs per month.
(Sorry if you have either of the above....nothing personal.)

Oh and kindergarten. Do your teacher a favor and teach your kids how to sit on a chair, how to walk up stairs, how to use scissors, and if you have time, how to read and write.

Happy Columbus Day...(even though he was kind of a creep....)

Thoughts for the evening.

1. Being a full-time working mom is hard and tiring. But it's so nice to come home to a sweet little family! I think we'll all get through this. Sullivan starts his preschool class next week...I'll have to pack him lunches and send in a blanket for him to sleep with!
2. This election is old news. McCain/Palin are just sad - reaching for the Ayers stuff. It makes me wretch a tiny bit. It's especially sad that so many people just believe whatever they hear and don't go find out information for themselves. It's also funny to me that the same people who loathe the NY Times are the same people who Tivo Hannity Colmes. You tell me whose side you would rather be on. Blech.
3. Thank God for SNL. At least someone has their ear to the tracks. There's something to be said for political satire - I think it's a necessary part of the process, and they are able to be honest and thoughtful in an intelligent way. (and funny)
4. I'm sick and it STINKS. How can you be absent from your brand new kindergarten class?? You can't...silly. I have no voice, and I can't yell at the stinkers, but we'll see... at least in third grade, when I didn't have a voice, I could write directions on the board and they could read them. No such luck in K.

And now I'm getting into bed. Sullivan is down for the night and David is at the new house scraping and meeting with the plumber to figure out how to retrofit our cast iron tub with a shower.

Finished my second day back at teaching and looking forward to my first official weekend as a working mom. (Although I just had two days off for the Jewish New Year.)
So I was expecting to have the classroom teacher in the room with me for the whole week. Her lesson plans might as well have been in Sanskrit and her classroom routines...well...I'd been in there for one day. And these kids are young. 5 year olds. So I was wondering at around 9:45 this morning (when art was wrapping up) where the teacher was! What happens next? What's the schedule? And it dawns on me that she's not coming back. That was fine - we had 45 minutes before lunch - just enough time for a short little circle time to introduce each other and read and talk about what we do to get ready for school. But lunch ended at 11:15 and I had no plan, no copy paper, no whiteboard markers....she took everything. Fortunately she left her nonsensical lesson plans which were of NO help at all. So it's me and the 5 year olds. For 4 hours. I was smart enough and have worked with enough kids to know that's a long time. That's a long time for me to be sitting there.
I have much more to say. But since I'm officially an employee of the Philadelphia School District, I guess I should take one for the team or whatever.
But in all my life, I've never seen such a system - one that seems to not care for students, teachers, or learning....that overprograms in the hopes of looking like they have it all together.
There is a closet in the room that is, no joke, halfway filled up of Philadelphia's failed "curricula" - meaning that they started using something and then switched and switched, and then switched again.
I'm off. No more Internet fun for me. I have to go figure out what to do tomorrow!

Hey Anonymous. This one's for you!

This comment was in reference to my post about my predictive text not allowing me to swear in text messages.
Just thought the people should know.

Anonymous said...
I wouldn't care for that kind of freedom of expression. Is that what you plan on feeding your sweet Sullivan when he gets a bit older and can copy cat your every word or deed? Seriously, is there something more meaty to blog about or do you persist on keeping up with your image? Like your Obama post that spiked up 80 something comments?

(first of all? the post wasn't about Obama...but whatever - and the post just inspired another post which garnered a whopping 85 or something comments. last time I checked, my high was 11.)

And you wouldn't care for that freedom of expression? Really? Interesting...I wonder if they'll try to pass a law about that as well. Protect the sanctity of our ears and all...

So friends, apparently not everybody shares our sense of humor about foul language on text messaging.

For further reference? anonymous comments are completely pointless. All that means is that you're willing to say things like that, but not brave enough to just admit who you are.
and leave my child out of it. sweet sullivan? sounds like something you could get put in jail for - that's totally creepy.
although I'd rather he know what the words meant than go using them behind my back because he thought I didn't approve.

Ready? Shit! AHH! Go running for the hills. I'll have you know that the word, "shit," for example, in other countries is considered no different than saying, "darn" or "excuse me?" In the Netherlands, I heard "shit" used from the pulpit. Whatever your perspective.

Whether or not he chooses to use them is going to be up to him. Although, I'm not exactly sure how privy my son is to text messaging, and mine in particular. Our kids live in the world, I hate to break it you, and unless I keep him locked up in the basement with myself and the rest of our family (actually, he'd probably have to be locked up with you to avoid all the evils, apparently), he's going to be exposed to anything that someone will share with him. I'd rather be the one he learns from, actually. Not some creepy little kid named Billy who pins him down in gym class and elaborates on the finer points of life.

And, for your information, every other word out of my mouth isn't a swear word, but I happened to be one of the kids who came home from school one day and asked my mom what f**k meant. And when she told me? Lord knows that it's not one I frequent.

I would be offended that you don't find my blog "meaty" enough for your taste except that I don't really care. Aren't I free to write about whatever suits my fancy? I don't remember checking any boxes on Blogger.com agreeing to specific content allowances...

I appreciate the fact that this is a public place. You're free to write whatever you want. But if you don't like it? Don't read it.

And keeping up with my image? Well, that has been a challenge for sure. Maybe you could send me a few pointers. What else would help?
Let's think....
I could pontificate about the value of a public school education. (slanderous!)
I have thoughts about the faiths of our founding fathers. (Oh stop!)

any other ideas? I just love to stir up the pot.

hmm...and it's a good idea I have one of those traffic meters...let's go see who stopped by this morning.

So if I weren't already a raging liberal based on my thoughts on abortion, government, and Harry Potter, we went and bought a hybrid this week!
It's a gently used hybrid, but earth-friendly nonetheless.
That along with our 85 year old new home (we settled this morning and were in there right away trying to figure out where to begin our journey of renovations...) has really launched us into a whole other realm of life.
What to do next?
Buy a boat perhaps?
Go on a Disney cruise?
The possiblities are endless. (well, as endless as our bank account which has taken a pretty big hit as of late.)