Today

I called and talked to the principal at Em's school and she said she would talk to her teacher. Her teacher called me this afternoon and was smug and arrogant. I was not impressed. He said he was human and makes mistakes and that he did apologize to Emily. I had already talked to Emily though and she said she would give up her after school clubs and move to my school. After talking to her teacher, I would have insisted she be moved tomorrow anyway, so I told him I was moving her to my school and he was even ruder. Whatever. Let's hope it works out. I stress about these situations so much. I always have self-doubt. I just worry that she will miss out on something important with her clubs, something that might change who she is or make her excel at something. There aren't any clubs at my school. I try to balance it out with how she will have a much better environment at my school, but the doubt still wins over. I have to give two weeks notice for SAS, so I lose money there, but we have a lady at our school that takes care of teacher's kids for an hour after school each day for $10 a week. Talk about a steal. I'll still have to pay the big bucks for Abs and Junior though.

I'm so tired today. How long till I retire?

Teachers

I picked Em up from school today and she was upset.

Apparently she got in trouble for talking so her teacher made her copy 4 pages of a book as a punishment. So right off the bat I am upset that they used writing as a form of punishment.

Emily did the assignment along with another friend, and it amounted to 7 pages handwritten. They take it up to the teacher....he looks at it.....crumples it up.....uncrumples it.....then rips it to shreds and throws it away.

Are you kidding me????

Phone call to the school tomorrow. I tried to talk to someone when I picked them up, but she was about as bright as a turnip. Ugh....

Routine

While Gunner was home, I was cuddling Junior after a temper tantrum, and I just whispered into his ear that soon we would be back to normal. I felt horribly guilty after I said it. We love having Gunner home. (Although after battling "the list" every day, I wonder if he is actually getting more R&R in Iraq) The 18 days he was here were wonderful, but it wasn't permanent, and so it kind of through a loop into our routine. A good loop, but a loop nonetheless. I wouldn't have traded it for anything, but....does this make sense?

So we are back in our routine. Junior is back in daycare and so far we are entering the second week of no antibiotics. He has been on them since the beginning of the year, nonstop, and so this my friend is AMAZING! I did buy an ear band/it recommended by my friend Abbey and he now loves to wear it, and calls it his "band". His speech has taken off and improved dramatically too. Very reassuring. Tonight at dinner he was eating and then coloring his "homework" as he called it (since I was on Abs to do something in her homework packet). I went over to take him to the tub and he had pulled off his diaper because he pooped and it fell out everywhere. Of course he peed too. Little stinker. He acted surprised, like he didn't know what he had done.

Abs had a rough two weeks at school, but seems to be settling in. They had a homework assignment one night that had her researching like a crazy person. The problem read: "Dinosaur claws are twelve inches long. Lupe says they are 14 inches long. Is Lupe right?" So the point was to see if twelve and 14 were the same number (word vs number), which of course they aren't in this problem. Abs read the problem, cried research, and took off. I went into her room when she didn't come out and she was trying to determine if Lupe had a leg to stand on, because we don't know if the claws weren't 14 inches long, and Lupe was right. I tried to explain to her that we weren't questioning scientific facts, but trying to determine if she knew that twelve was different than 14 and if twelve and 12 were the same. She reluctantly agreed to answer the questions being asked for face value.

Em is doing well in school I guess. Now that she's in 5th grade she is secretive about what she does. I'll have to email her teacher, although I am still considering moving her to my school--more on that later. She is joining the robotics club and wants to be on the competition team as well. She is growing up way too fast, and she thinks she is already a teenager. I keep finding my nail polish in her room and such. I'm not ready for this!

Gunner is back in Iraq, and I have a story about his trek back for another post.

When I was hired, I was told that I was the "extra" teacher. Basically they have so many students that they thought they could get away with an extra teacher this year. That being said, I knew that if we didn't have the numbers that I would be moved to another school or grade. Well someone in the school district decided that we didn't have the numbers and we needed to move a teacher to another school for 3rd grade. Not a bad deal (although I would prefer to stay where I am). I could have done that, although not ideal. The principal fought and got to keep the teacher, and move her to....KINDERGARTEN. God help me! I am not cut out for Kindergarten. Thankfully another teacher volunteered to move, so I get to remain in 2nd grade, but I am getting 5 more students, even after having transferred out 2 in the last two days and getting a new one.

So I am up to my ears in paperwork, dirty diapers, washing everything to alleviate the worms spreading (no one told me how long to keep this up, but I have the feeling I am quitting soon), barney videos, and keeping my tween from becoming a teen. School started last Saturday so in my spare time I have a presentation to plan, several papers to write, a project to do, and tons more. You would think that I would be skinny as a rail from stress. Go figure.