Teach Me How to Mommy

About to "plug-out" for a few days.  I'll still be taking lots of pics of my adventures and chronicling things for the blog, but I am going to try to stay off social media for a bit.  Notice I've let a bit  lot of my free-time go to facebook, insta and email perusing.  Must detach!! Don't we all need just a tiny break sometimes? Wishing you all a restful (or fun) few days. For now trying to enjoy these "perfect" days.  By perfect I mean there were laughs (and tears), smiles (and whines), skipping (and boo-boos), sun, fun and crappy naps. More please.   For the record her bathing suit is a size too big and he is not even wearing one.

Just this week we have had lot of visitors.  Some visitors were scheduled (Nana and Uncle Justin) and others were surprises - neighbors and friends. In general I am not the biggest fan of surprise visits.  I am a planner (teacher much?) and so when I am caught off guard I am not at my best.  I got worse when I had kids.  If a visitor came when they were napping I nearly had steam coming out of my ears.  Yet, having kids also forces you to become flexible, so I often sometimes go with the flow. The visitors this week have brought such joy to my home.  A visit by Uncle Justin made John into a temporary cuddle monster.  He doesn't readily go to other people that aren't, well, me.  Yet when Justin drove up in his BIG diesel truck he was a puddle of hugs.  Justin's visit is another story altogether - I'll share when I am ready to embarrass myself (which also may be NEVER) . Unfortunately, every time someone came over my house this week my ho...

Lucy and John are at the stage where they are starting to fight.  It's kind of cute at the beginning, and then turns immediately un-cute.  Since they are of different sexes I don't have anything to compare it to.  When my sisters and I fought we used really hurtful words until one surrendered.  Sure maybe there was some hitting when we were young, but we knew exactly what to do to get the other one to stop (insult them) . Sidenote - Once you tell your sister that she is adopted and that's why she looks different then there is really nowhere else to go from there (that "she" was me and I am still a little shaky on my heritage).   These two are different.  John is very VERY physical.  I have seen him hit, pinch, slap, push and kick his sister.  It's a cross between not being able to communicate how he wants and being instigated by his sister.  We've had lots of chats and time outs and overall he is doing so much better.  Lucy's no...

Vacation has started off with a bang.  We have done so much in only a few days.  In fact, one day after nap I had sketched in time to just "chill".  Lucy asked, "but why aren't we going anywhere?" Time to relax a bit I guess, which was what was on tap today after a weekend of touching trucks, running around at the beach and visiting with BOTH sides of fantastic grandparents.  Good sleep and naps were the number one priority and also the start of "Mommy's School" (will give more details later). So today involved a short park trip, but mostly just being with each other.  When I was ready for pre-nap activities, they were ready for naked sprinkler.  Go, go, go. As we were snuggling and getting ready for what is currently a 2-hour nap John said, "I love trucks."  To which I said "Well, I love you."  To which he replied, "I love poop." Which gets me to my main point.  One thing I have realized recently is ju...

We've seen some recent lists about summers in CT and we wanted to echo and add our two cents. .  These are things we want to do, but never have OR want to do again. Can't wait to do it again: Roger Williams Zoo   - I took the kids to the RW Zoo a few days before the end of summer.  It was literally the best day trip.  They have a water park for toddlers.  YES, a water park for toddlers.  It's a bad-ass splash pad.  We went there first, got cool and then walked the whole zoo.  It is spacious, clean and had lots of great animals.  It was the best day. Mini-Golf Farmington - We always take the kids mini-golfing and this is my favorite place.  If you go early it's dead and it's lovely.  The kids don't really golf every hole (or any hole) so it's nice to have space.  They have ice cream and the Farmington River.  Out of the way and worth it. Beach Days, RI  - Self-explanatory.  Days are better with Amy a...

Today, I cried. That's not new.  Anyone who knows me, knows this about me.  If I'm too happy, I'm crying.  If I'm too sad, I'm crying. It was why I cried that threw me for a loop.  I've had a few very happy phone calls over the last month.  With each phone call, I was crying.. Tears of pure joy.  I was crying with my head in the refrigerator (making Colin's lunch), I was crying giving Colin a bath, I was crying at Stop & Shop (in the cheese section).   My people -- the ones I care about the most -- are thriving! So then, when I heard there were new babies on the way, I was ecstatic! I want to impart ALL my wisdom upon these new Momma's.  I want to tell them to start wearing maternity clothes immediately (because boy will they miss them).  I want to tell them to eat ice cream, and carry tums everywhere, and drink coffee if they want to, go to the beach (even if they DON'T want to).  I want to tell them to go to every singl...

This has been my first full school year in awhile.  Back to back babies got me used to maternity leaves (I'm starting to get the itch again, haha).  Well school is just about over and eight years later, I am still learning. It hasn't been an easy year, but I know in the scheme of things that I have it pretty good. This I learned: 1.  Tardies, sudden absences, leaving early... I used to look down on other people who seemed they couldn't get it together.  Like, just get to work on time...get dependable childcare.   GET IT TOGETHER ! Well, I am organized, prepared and have dependable childcare and I was still late this year.  I also had to call out last minute (twice).  I also arrived at school just to immediately turnaround and go back home.  I've had to leave early and I've had to get creative.  Even with great help it has been a trying year. Everyone's got their own circumstances and this mama is never judging again. 2.  Found t...

Today at daycare drop-off my kids were dawdling, procrastinating and being silly.  Even though it takes 2 minutes to get from home to daycare, it often takes us 10 minutes to get from the parking lot to their rooms.  It's a silly little habit we all have.  We look at the baby chicks in the lobby (yes real chicks) we look at the "library" for the book we want to take home and we say hi to all the teachers in our path.  Yes, I often have two thousand steps before I even walk into my building (7:30 am). Well, this morning a mommy kind of blew passed us.  It wasn't in a rude way, but an urgent one.  I've been there, I know.  We quickly discovered that her daughter was sick and she was swooping in to save the day.  She did the typical Mom thing - picked her up high in her arms and brushed her hair with her fingers.  The girl was mumbling something, but I couldn't hear.  The mom had no time for more pleasantries, she rushed out to take her b...

It's 9:30 and I am just sitting down after a long, busy Monday.  It was a good day, no major school issues, my kids are happy and healthy and I got a run in at the 6 o'clock hour.  Even the kids went down a bit easily and early.  I have learned to be thankful of this and revel in these "easy" days. Yet, it's 9:30 and I realized that one of my best accomplishments is that all the sippy cups are clean and drying.  This was the second round of the day and usually I find one in the playroom or outside (this weekend I found a milk up under John's crib - curdled, clumpy, cottage cheese - YIKES). Tonight, after many loops around the house I am declaring all cups found and washed.  This may be the pinnacle of my week and it may seem minor to some, but I am going to bed happy tonight.  It's the small things.

How your son looks at you when you have no make-up on.  Scary. Amy has been a roll this week - she must not have any grading to do.  If she's doing all this writing and grading and being a mommy, well, you can just find me sitting in fetal position in the corner. June is great for a lot of reasons.  Looking at my calendar I have birthday parties, father's day festivities, graduations, the first day of summer, a wedding and the ever so amazing LAST DAY OF SCHOOL.  I look forward to it all and hope my kids are well enough to enjoy every minute. Yet, there is a creeping anxiety coming with it too.  As I shift from a working mom to a temporary stay-at-home mom the doubts are surfacing.  I haven't done 24/7 mommying in months - when I work I get the worry and concern without the constant wiping of butts and tears.  I know in my heart we will get in a groove, but how long will that take?  How do I fill the days?  How do I keep them on a sc...

At the end of the year I let my student's play Banagrams or Apples to Apples.  It helps with Final Exam prep burn out, and it challenges them.  Apples to Apples give them the part of speech AND great synonyms. Bananagrams helps with spelling, and with challenging them to create words in general! I jump in an play with random groups every time. "4" I have a group of tough boys in one class who I keep winning against.  They have kept me on my toes all year long... but the second we sit down to play they have been more respectful, hilarious, and down right amazing!  We've been keeping tally, they just can't beat me..  I call it pay back.. they think I'm cheating.    :)   "7" I also have this sweet, beautiful, and amazing girl in my last period class.  She has been working so hard this entire year and I have seen her grow so much. She asks questions, she does her homework, she reads, and she just wants to do wel...

I've been trying, since the inception of this blog to incorporate more "teaching" stuff into my posts. It's hard... for many reasons... but honestly I just don't know how much I'm willing to share about my classroom just yet... especially from this year.  I'm very protective of my students.  Especially the tough ones. My students generally come first.  They take all of my energy.. Every.Single.Day. I laugh with them, I cry with them, I tell them stories, and they tell me theirs.  In all cases, their stories are gut enchantingly honest. I think about my students 100% of the time I am not with them.  This year alone I have given them my lunch on more occasions than ever before, given bags of clothes, and shoes, baby clothes, maternity clothes, bought notebooks for an entire class, done laundry for them, called aunties and grandmothers, and probation officers, written letters to court houses, called DCF, and worked my ass off to make sure these same student...