A Chicken with Her Head Cut Off

The last two weeks have been a complete whirlwind. The last time I had to go to school for a week prior to my students' arrival was several years ago, when I was teaching in Las Vegas. At that point in time, I was teaching in a year-round school, so I really only had a couple of weeks off, and I was returning to the same classroom. So all I really had to do was put my new students' names on desks and supplies, and I was pretty much ready to go. This year has been very different! I've moved to a new classroom, and although I'm in the same type of position, my caseload has changed dramatically. That just means that I get to know a bunch of new kids, so I am looking forward to that. But I'm pretty sure I've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Seriously.

Monday, the whole staff got together at the school for some training. We had a new teacher join the resource room team on Monday, which was very exciting. It's a huge relief, too, because my co-worker and I just about had heart attacks last week when we looked at how many students we would be working with! Anyway, Monday kicked off a week full of training, setting up my classroom, meeting with co-workers, writing (and re-writing...and re-writing again) schedules, planning for students, open house, and lots of paperwork. I've been so busy, that when I woke up this morning, I honestly couldn't remember what day of the week it was. With that said, it's really been a great week, and I've been to some interesting seminars.

One training stood out from the rest. During training week, teachers generally learn all kinds of things about school performance in previous years, how to motivate students, behavior strategies, and all of the other important teacher-information necessary to get organized for the year and plan for students. Yesterday, though, my co-workers and I went to a totally different type of training. A psychologist for the FBI gave a presentation about active shooters, and what to look for in students that might be at risk of becoming active shooters. The presentation started with a video that was incredibly disturbing. When the video started, I think everyone watching assumed it was live footage from the Columbine High School shootings. It was really upsetting. I literally got sick to my stomach,  watching these kids terrorize a school. It wasn't until after the video was shown, that the presenter informed us that it wasn't live footage...it was a video based on Columbine, and it can be viewed online by anybody, at any time. What does that mean to me? Kids can watch it. Over and over again, if they want to. That's frightening. I found myself asking two questions:
1. What kind of person would make this video?
2. What can be done to stop kids from viewing this type of material.

Unfortunately, we as teachers cannot prevent children from viewing inappropriate, or violent content. That's their parents' job. In any case, it was an eye-opening training, and its content was so unfamiliar to me, that it probably made a greater impact than most trainings I've gone to in my career.

It's been busy...But we made it to the State
Fair!

Anyway, with the week being as crazy as it has, I haven't gotten to spend as much time with Charley as I'd like. I've been working 10-12 hour days, so by the time I get home, all I can bring myself to do is make dinner and flop on the couch. I'm so glad I have Charley to keep me entertained. People ask me about her all the time. "How's Charley?" they ask. "She's a piece of work," is my usual response. She really is. She's such a unique kid. The other day, her teacher, Cindy, came up to me and said, "Charley told me yesterday that we could be friends because our names start with the same letter." Who says that? I mean, what 3 year old says that? She's pretty awesome.

On another Charley-related note, she's become quite the little entertainer. I took these two videos within the last week. Like I said...she's a piece of work.

Alright, it's time for me to get to bed. I've got a big week ahead! With all of my last minute work tomorrow, students starting on Tuesday, and my birthday on Wednesday (31...I can't believe I'm going to be 31)...it's going to be a little crazy! I'm thinking life will return to (somewhat) normal in a week or two. Have a great Labor Day weekend!

New School Excitement, and Unexpected Realizations

I'm going to be honest. I've gotten a little bit spoiled this summer. I mean, don't get me wrong, Charley has had me up by 6:30 every morning, but we didn't have to BE anywhere until much later. That, of course, meant that we have become accustomed to lazy, slow moving mornings. Well, not anymore! I'm back at work, she's back at school, and life has returned to its normal wild and crazy state. And I like it!

Charley has been doing very well at her new school. I was a little bit nervous, because she's been out of school all summer, but it's only been a couple of days and she seems to be adjusting just fine. That's a huge relief for me! I started back at the school yesterday for new teacher training (I was hired late, so I missed the workshop last year), and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. It was actually a great training. All of the new teachers had a chance to really get to know one another. There are four new teachers (other than me) and they're all great. We did some unique getting-to-know you tasks, such as speaking to a partner, uninterrupted, for 3 minutes. It was actually hard! I talk a lot, but I'm used to having someone else participating in the conversation. I'm not a big fan of monologues! Anyway, it was fun, and definitely built camaraderie amongst the group. I was pretty worn out by the end of the day, and was happy to get into bed fairly early last night!

This morning, I was a little bit groggy, getting out of bed. Once I got up and moving, though, I found I was able to take my time getting ready, which was kind of nice. I left my house at 7:20, dropped Charley off at school, and was still at school by 7:40. That's a VERY different commute than the one I made last year! I think I'm going to like living closer to work... Anyway, we had a morning full of meetings, and then a luncheon sponsored by local businesses. We walked around, spoke to the local business owners, and got to know some members of the community. One of the businesses present was a local gymnastics facility. Of course, I couldn't just keep my mouth shut and move along like everybody else. I had to mention that I coach gymnastics! Which, in turn, lead to quite a discussion...

The gymnastics world is small. Very small. Everybody who has worked in the competitive gymnastics industry seems to know each other, or at the very least, two coaches will usually find that they share a mutual connection. Well, in speaking with this man, I learned that he knew many of the coaches that I'd trained with, and I'd likely trained with HIM at a gymnastics camp during the summer. When he asked where I'd competed, I explained that I'd been at a couple of gyms, because I followed a particular coach, Fred. Not surprisingly, this man knew Fred, and had coached with him many years ago. "Fred passed away a few years ago," he said. I tried to handle that statement casually, because I'd suspected that Fred wasn't alive anymore, but I found that as the day went on, it really got to me. Now, Fred was not the kind of coach that everybody loved. He was a tall, skinny, African-American man, who was loud, opinionated, and strict. But I adored him. As a child, I spent more time in the gym, with him, than I did at home. He became like an uncle to me, as well as the other girls on my team. Anyway, Fred was my coach for 12 years, and I attribute so many of the positive qualities I developed early on, to him. He taught me discipline, persistence, and he showed me that you don't have to be the most talented gymnast to be the most successful...You just have to work your butt off EVERY time you're in the gym. I was a good gymnast, but never the best competitor. I tended to crack under pressure. But Fred still kept me around, because he saw the potential in me, and I appreciate him for that. He'd just laugh when I fell off the beam 5 times as a 7 year old, and say, "It's okay, she'll do well on floor." He was right. I was always good on floor, mostly because I was well-trained. The news that he is no longer alive was not a huge surprise to me. I'd kind of suspected it. I mean, given the small size of the industry, and that fact that I've coached for over a decade, I should've come across him at some point. I always hoped that I would run into him at a meet, and be able to say, "I choreographed that floor routine!" and show him what I'd learned from him. I hoped I'd have a chance to thank him for impacting my life, the way he did. Unfortunately, I won't have that opportunity, but I'm confident he knew how greatly he impacted his gymnasts' lives.

Phew, so that was kind of heavy, but I felt the need to pay tribute a little bit. After the luncheon, I got to go back to the school and get some work done. I got to the school at 1:15. I had a lot of moving to do, because my classroom got switched, so I'm pretty sure I went back and forth between rooms at least 50 times. "Oh well, I don't need to go to the gym today," I thought to myself. By the time I felt like I'd done all I could do in a day, I glanced up at the clock and it was nearly 5:00! I decided I was done for the day, and went to pick up Charley. Again, Charley had a great day, and she was asked to be the Star Student of the Month for September in her new classroom! She had to answer several questions, including, the ever-exciting, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" What was Charley's answer? "A rhinoceros." I turned the TV off (she'd been watching a show about animals) and asked the question again. "A cookie-maker," she stated. A cookie-maker is better than a rhinoceros, so I went with it. Now, we're relaxing, and based on how exhausted I am at the moment, I'm thinking we'll be in bed by 9. Have a great week!

Back to School, Back to Work!

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I am SO excited to go back to work this week. I won't lie...I'll miss the days of sleeping in (who am I kidding, I never sleep in...) and lounging by the pool while Charley plays with her friends. But I am excited to get back into a routine! Charley needs the routine, too. I'm at my best when I'm busy, so I'm looking forward to getting moving again. And if I'm totally honest...this was one hell of a summer! It definitely had its highs and lows, and while I would say the positives absolutely outweighed the negatives, I'm kind of glad that it's over and my life can return to normal.

Charley starts school on Monday. I absolutely loved the preschool she was at toward the end of the year last year, but honestly, it was the Mercedes-Benz of daycares, and wasn't really in my budget. So, I found her a great little preschool close to our house. It's literally 2 miles away, the teachers are great, it's more affordable, and...here's the exciting part...I can go to the GYM before picking her up every day! I know that probably seems like a silly thing to be worked up about, but I really am. I like going to the gym, but haven't really been able to do it with a clear conscience for the last few months. I guess I just couldn't justify sending Charley to school all day, and then taking her to a different childcare at the gym. Now, the problem seems to be solved, and I'm so excited!

With school starting soon, I asked my mom to take Charley tonight, so I find myself with a night off. My dad took Oscar for the night, so I'm really only responsible for ME! And what did I do with my free time? Well, I did actually have some fun. I went shopping with a friend of mine, and although I intended to get clothes for school, I ended up with a couple of cute dresses and absolutely nothing that I'd intended on purchasing. Whoops! When I got home, though, I got to work cleaning. I steam-cleaned the carpets, which I seem to be doing compulsively lately (mostly because Oscar keeps feeling the need to mark his territory). It's actually gotten to be so bad, that when Charley and I were at the open house at her new school, she picked up the toy vacuum and announced, "I'm steam cleaning the carpets." I'm so glad she let her new teachers in on my obsessive carpet cleaning. That's definitely the first impression I wanted to leave. Ha! Anyway, it's my night off, and I'm cleaning the house. I'm not going to lie, the peace and quiet is kind of nice!

This post is kind of scattered. Sorry about that...I just have a bunch of little blurbs I wanted to include, and they seem to be coming to me in no particular order. Yesterday,  I texted one of my closest friends, while I was at the park. She's a full-time single mom, too, so we have a lot in common. We've spent many hours talking about how our lives are different from most parents...even single parents...because we have our kids full-time. Which means our lives are totally kid-centered. It's interesting... I really don't know many full-time single moms. I actually know more full-time single dads, which is kind of odd. Anyway, I mentioned how I was at the park with Charley, and all of the other adults there were men. Dads, playing with their kids. Totally engaged, following their kids around, playing ball, sliding down the slides, pushing their kids on the swings. They were good dads. They weren't putting on a show. They were simply having fun with their kids. They were playing with my kid, too! Charley's a total social butterfly, and is generally drawn to men about my age. To me, it was beautiful. When I told her about it, she agreed. It was beautiful.

The same friend texted me today,  and told me about an ex-boyfriend of hers, who keeps texting her about the bonding he's doing with his kids. It seems that every time he's with his kids, he feels the need to let her know about it. Naturally, it annoys her. It's one of the reasons things didn't work out between them. Although he always said that family came first to him, his actions spoke differently, and when he WAS spending time with his kids, he always seemed to need a pat on the back. My response via text was something along the lines of, "If a man constantly feels the need to tell you what a great dad he is, he's probably not that great." All of this talk brought me back to the days when I first re-entered the dating world. I was talking to a guy, and he made mention of how he was going to lunch at his daughter's school the next day. "That's so great!" I responded. "Why?" he asked. "Well...it's just a really nice thing for you to do," I replied. His response to me was perfect. "I'm her dad," he said. That was it. Simple, and to the point. He was doing what a dad who had the day off SHOULD do, and didn't expect any recognition for it. That statement showed me quite a lot about him, and his values. Fast forward about a year, and I was dating a different guy for a short time. We had a conversation that started out almost exactly the same way. "I'm bringing lunch to my daughter's school tomorrow," he said. "That's really great," I said. This is where it went south...Over the next three days, I received at least 6 messages about how he'd gone to lunch with his daughter. It was like he found something he knew I liked, and had to keep reminding me what a great dad he was. The thing is, the more he did that, the more I began to question his motivation. Was he going to lunch to spend time with his daughter? Or to be able to tell the world that he brought his daughter lunch? Now, I'm hoping that he really was going for his daughter's benefit, but the fact that he had to keep reiterating what a great dad he was...well... that was really irritating. I'm a big believer in the idea that actions speak louder than words. Show me you're a good parent, don't tell me about it. Show me you're a good person. The dads I saw at the park? They were SHOWING that they were good parents, making the most of their time with their children. Again, beautiful.

So, there really was no specific theme to this post. The product of a long summer, I suppose. On that note, have a great week!

It's AUGUST Already?!

It's been so long since I've blogged, I don't even know where to start! Well, first of all, I guess I could start with the fact that it's AUGUST! Where did the summer go? I'll be 31, and teaching for my second year in Forest Lake...in LESS THAN A MONTH! Seriously...Time needs to slow down. Anyway, I've had a lot going on lately, so I'll try to be concise. No promises of that, however. Ha!

I suppose I should start off this blog with a little update about my car situation. As I posted on FB a couple of weeks ago, the driver who hit my car did not have insurance. Fortunately for me, her son, who owned the car, did. Phew. It was a huge relief. However, a few days after getting the news that he had insurance, I also learned that my car was totaled. That simply meant, that I was left with no money (all of the money from the insurance company went to pay off the lease), and no car. Awesome. So the next day, I decided to go into work, to earn a little bit of extra cash. They say bad luck comes in threes, right? I figured mine had been taken care of with the whole car incident. Ha! No such luck. As I was getting the car loaded up to head to work, I turned around, and saw Oscar standing in the driveway. "Where did he come from?!" I thought to myself. It turns out Charley had opened the front door, while I was loading up the car. Nice. Oscar was just standing there, and I called to him, but of course he didn't come to me on command. So, I walked toward him, and he decided to take off running. I also took off running. And after about 3 steps, I tripped over my flip flop and totally wiped out on my driveway. It's almost unfortunate my neighbors weren't out, because I certainly would've given them a laugh to start off the day. It was pretty comical to watch, I'm sure...unfortunately, however, in my tripping incident, I also managed to take a large chunk of skin off of my toe. So there I was, bleeding everywhere, limp-running in my flip-flops (damn flip-flops), chasing after my geriatric dog who'd successfully outrun me. It's a good thing he stopped to pee, because it gave me a chance to grab his collar. "I'm going to kill you," I mumbled under my breath. Of course, Charley heard that empty threat, and wailed, "Don't kill my BROTHER!!!" Which lead to an explanation on my part that I was not actually going to kill Oscar, I was just mad at him. When Charley retold the story at the gym, she made sure to say, "My brother ran away this morning!" Of course that got everybody's ears perked up until I explained that Oscar was, in fact, my dog, NOT Charley's brother. Ha! So, I think I finally had my 3rd bad thing, and I'm due for some good karma right about how.

When I learned that my car was totaled,  I filled my calendar with private lessons, in an attempt to come up with a down payment, and set off in search of my new car. Car shopping with a toddler is an experience. Not a good one. But an experience, for sure! Charley was pretty well-behaved (until our last stop at the Mazda dealership...she was NOT amused to be there). The most difficult and frustrating part of the day was trying to test drive cars. I was moving her carseat from one car to the next, at 4 different dealerships. Needless to say, it was a long day. After coming to the conclusion that the most affordable car for me would be a new Mazda 3, and resigning myself to the fact that I wouldn't be able to get a small SUV, I got a text from my mom. It said, "How about this. I'll go get a new car, and you can buy my car." Ummm....okay! It basically meant that I wouldn't be responsible for a down payment, and honestly...it made my life a lot easier. So after a very long day, things turned out for the best, and the car situation was remedied fairly quickly.

Once my car dilemma was taken care of, I was able to focus a little bit more on work. My original plan for the summer was to work two days at the gym, and spend the rest of my time getting acclimated to my new community. Well...things haven't exactly worked that way. Last week, for example, I was in St. Louis Park five out of seven days. When I got home from work last night, I was just exhausted. The thing is, I absolutely adore my coaching job, and I'm happy to do it, in spite of the long drive. Anyway, this week I'm determined to stick to two days in St. Louis Park.

In terms of getting acclimated to my new home, I think I've been doing a pretty good job. Charley and I have made some friends in our neighborhood, and started to explore surrounding communities, in search of things to do. We found a free nature center a few miles away, which is great. Charley loves it, it's outdoors, so she gets a little bit of nature exposure, and it's a nice place to go to socialize with other parents of young kids. It's great. We've been spending time at the pool and park, which is really convenient. In fact, we had friends up to the pool on Friday and Saturday! There's nothing better than having friends with children Charley's age, who can join us at the pool. The parents can sit in chairs, get some sun, and chat, while the kids entertain each other for hours. I really don't know how that scenario could get any better! Another perk to all of the outdoor time, is that Charley generally sleeps like a rock at night.

Speaking of sleep, it seems that Charley has become a really solid sleeper. There was a time when I first moved back to MN, when I could count on her waking up multiple times in the night, and generally sleeping in my bed before morning rolled around. Now that we're in our new house and settled in, that really hasn't been an issue. Except, of course, when I WANT her to be asleep. Last Saturday was a long day. We were busy from beginning to end (surprise, surprise), and when she went to bed at 7, I was certain I'd have a whole night to just relax on the couch, without the company of my toddler. Ha! Who was I kidding? Around 10:00, she woke up from a bad dream, and it took her forever to get back to sleep. It's like she knew I wanted her to be asleep...and she was refusing to sleep just to spite me! Typical. She's such a piece of work...good thing she's cute!

Speaking of this week, my Aunt Naomi is coming in town tomorrow. She is just the most wonderful person. She's coming in town simply to give me a break. She knows that I work hard, and I've always got Charley around, so she just wanted to take care of some of the Charley load for a few days. It's so appreciated, and Charley is really looking forward to her visit. It gives me a free couple of evenings, too! Anybody up for dinner or drinks Wednesday or Friday? Let me know!

On that note, I should get back to my day. I'm trying to take advantage of the last few weeks of summer. Have a great week!