Spooktacular Preschool Fun

8:35: Arrive to classroom to set up for party day.

8:37: Remember we have to add decorating pumpkins with business people to our schedule.

8:38: Remember we have to fit in bouncy house to our party day schedule.

8:39: Realize we still are missing two paper bag costumes for kids to parade down the hall (the kids will feel left out if they don't have a paper bag costume to march down the hall in....maybe.).

8:40: My fabulous assistant lets me know that we are signed up for bouncy house at 10:20 a.m.

8:41-9:00: Continue setting up the classroom for party day.

9:00: Run to the bus to get the kids off the bus.

9:03: Go back to class with no kids...no one rode busses today.

9:04: Arrive to class, turn around and go to office to ask if we can change our decorating pumpkins with business people because I forgot about fitting in bouncy house.

9:05-9:15: Children arrive.

9:15: Lights out...."Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere...."

9:20: Circle time.

9:30: Activity Time....pumpkin bowling, practice putting on our "Paper Bag" costumes....all children gravitate toward anything but pumpkin bowling and costumes...

9:45: Pumpkin Decorating with realtors. I don't know where they came from, but they brought pumpkins & stuff to decorate pumpkins.

10:10: shoes & socks off for bouncy house!

10:18: parade 9 three-year-olds down a quarter mile hallway to the bouncy house.

10:23: arrive to bouncy house.

10:23:30: insanity begins.

10:36: Bouncy house is d.o.n.e. "Line up, line up, 411 line up at the door!"

10:40: Children are finally all lined up...we walk back to class, of course touching everything our hands can reach along the way.

10:45: Back in class, shoes & socks on, time for paper bag costumes.

10:47: I promptly make two children cry about putting on paper bag costumes.

10:49: I give up making them put their costumes on. They will march down the hall dressed up like themselves.

10:50: Parade down the hall....bells, shakers, cymbals (who on earth thought CYMBALS were a good idea???!). Everyone loved the creativity the parents showed in making paper bag costumes.

11:00: Back to class for party...wash hands for snack.

11:05: Snack begins.

11:07: Snack ends.

11:07-11:45: Insanity (a.k.a Halloween Party)

11:45: Kids perform three of our Halloween songs for parents.

12:02: Kids go home...teachers breathe.

Supply & Demand & Tears

Today I took my almost 7 month old baby boy to child care. When I dropped him off, his teacher informed me they had received the extra formula I had requested.

I have been having a hard time keeping up with supply and demand lately as I have forgotten parts to my pump when I leave the house for work (the world would be a much nicer place if I had a pump for home and a pump for work!). I requested they give Max a bottle with formula if he seemed hungry after all of his EBM (expressed breast milk) was gone.

Max's teacher asked me if I wanted her to try to give him formula today. She told me that I had done a great job keeping him nourished up until now and I shouldn't feel bad if we supplemented with formula. I felt a little like I was being told that I didn't need to nurse him anymore, which pushed a little panic button on my heart strings. I know she would never tell me to stop nursing him (because nursing your baby is such a personal choice), and I know she is not telling me to stop nursing him, but I just felt as if my baby was being pulled a little farther away from my apron strings! I felt as if he was getting more and more independent of me...and he isn't even one year old yet! I did finally tell her that it was fine for her to give him the formula for his morning bottle and to monitor him closely to see how he reacted to it.

I left his classroom. I cried in the hall. I felt as if I was failing as a working mommy. I saw one of my friends in the hall and she asked if I was ok. I told her I missed my baby...which I did...but I didn't want to get into the whole nursing topic on our way to teach our preschoolers. I went to my mailbox, got my mail and headed to class.

When I got to class I tried to get my act together. I couldn't help but think about how he was about to get his first bottle of formula and I wasn't going to be there to give it to him. "At least he would be getting some fluids," I thought. I then started thinking about how breast milk has all these great antibodies for fighting off germs and bacteria...and got worried.

When I went to pick him up for our lunch "date" I asked how the formula bottle went. His teacher informed me that he took 3 ounces from the 4 ounces she had prepared for him. Not bad, I thought. I told her that I would still prefer he only receive one bottle with formula per day because I still want him to receive the antibodies in the breast milk being that it IS cold and flu season.

Max and I had a great lunch date. He flirted with the other teachers in the lunch room, tried to eat my plastic bag (which I quickly took away from him), he flashed his huge gummy smile to everyone he met. He really is a happy, well-adjusted boy. I must be doing something right....even if I feel I am failing at providing for his most primal need. :(

Wordless Wednesday

Jenny Seiler of Shutterbug Photography took these photos at my mom's house, in her living room, when we were visiting for the weekend. She has a traveling studio and will go to your home to photograph your family, children, etc. She is a very talented lady! Here is her website. Go there and contact her to schedule a session for your little ones today! :)

http://www.shutterbugkeepsakes.com/index.html

glue, goldfish, & take-out

Only in Early Childhood Education would a teacher experience the following things at the same time on a Monday morning:

1. Three different children running through the classroom in a diaper and t-shirt.

2. One child eating glue

3. One child eating paper and coloring their face with a sharpie pen

4. Two children fighting over plastic vegetables saying "You're not my best friend"

5. One child eating goldfish crackers out of the trash can

What a day! I guess this week's theme is not so popular with these kiddos! At least when I came home all I had to do was:

1. Buy take-out for me & my hubby

2. Play with the most beautiful baby boy in the world.

3. Give the most beautiful baby boy in the world a bath (and have him soak me with his super splashy kicks!)

4. Veg out for an hour and a half in front of the TV

4. Go to bed early!

Goodnight. :)

Mommy's Lil' Pumpkin

I just HAD to take a picture of Max before school on Friday. We missed school the first day of October, so I made sure to save one of his "October" outfits for October 2nd. Here he is with his "Papaw" smile. :)

It has been quite a while since Max & mommy had a picture taken, so I asked his teacher, Ms. Lainey, to take our picture when I picked him up for our daily lunch date. :) (Mommy also got an "October" outfit out to wear that day!)

Pump it up!

Thursday was a sick day for me & my baby boy. We had to get his 6 months shots and he had a owie-looking diaper rash, so I took the entire day off to take my baby boy to the pediatrician. Being at home in the middle of the week is a rarity for me as a teacher, so I relished every moment at home! I made a delicious baby-food-carrot cake to share with my co-workers. Max & I enjoyed loads of tummy time & he showed me how he can now roll from his back to his tummy and back to his back again. It's time to get the ball rolling with baby-proofing!

Being a full time teacher and a full time mommy is a little stressful. While at work, I have to focus on 36 little hands & feet, 2 team members, 2-4 supervisors, various substitutes who come in and out our door, IEP goals, lesson plans, news notes, NAEYC standards, positive behavior support strategies, professional development plans, teacher assistant observations and evaluations....etc, etc, etc. All of this responsibility coupled with the responsibility of ensuring I give myself enough time on my lunch break to pick my little guy up from the child care room (which is located in my building...I know....I am SO lucky!), take him to a private room in the back of our building to nurse him and pump the next bottle he'll receive in the afternoon. All of this responsibility can really wear a mommy down.

Some people have asked me "How long do you plan to nurse?" "Why don't you leave your baby in the child care room and just pump so you can be done faster?" "He takes bottles well for them in child care now, right? Why don't you leave him there for them to feed him?" "He certainly doesn't look like he misses a meal!" My answer is this: Because I want to. I want to be with my baby. I want to nurse him because I know that's the absolute best thing I can do for him. I want to be the one who feeds him. I pay to have him at work with me so I can see him! He doesn't miss a meal because I'm not a neglectful parent! (it isn't like I'm feeding him cheeseburgers! It's breast milk!!!) If I don't have time to catch up on the most recent happenings in a co-workers life during our lunch break because I have to nurse my baby boy, I am certainly not going to be upset about it.

I am a teacher and a mommy. My job is to educate children. My passion is to love my own.