Another mommy proud moment

Well, E is talking even more! I know all of you who told me not to worry, were right! LOL  But, hey that's what moms do right?  He's talking in sentences, even though most of the time he uses sounds in there with his words.  

His new thing is to call himself "baby".  Hmm...I should probably stop calling him that, huh? He knows his name is Ethan, but he can't say that yet, so baby he became.  It's so cute.  I was laying on his pillow and he told me "not the mama's, the baby's".  He wanted me to get off.  

Another cute phrase is that he now says poopy.  Uncle Evan is so proud.  I had to call him right away.  Uncle Evan really wanted that to be E's first word, it wasn't but he now says it.  Although it comes out "NO Peepoo!!" 

We enjoyed our 4 day weekend, thanks to all the sickies out there in the school system.  Hopefully, we wont' get it.  But, it was a nice break for mom and baby.

So update on why the teacher walked out....

Well, turns out that the kids had planned this.  They decided that if they were bad enough, and mean enough she would leave.  They wanted their old teacher back.  Well it worked.  They were mean enough.  Backfired on them, b/c they got a retired teacher that laid down the law!  Oh, it was great! The first time I've seen those kids under control.  

Life can be so sad...

A couple of weeks ago, one of my students (we'll call her S) told me that she was hungry.  Well, it was a day that school was late b/c of weather, so no breakfast was served.  Not a good thing when your school has 92% of it's population on free lunch.  I asked S if she had breakfast and she said no.   I asked her why not, and she told me that they barely had any food in the house.  

I was concerned and immediately talked to personnel in the school that help with this kind of thing.  

The next day S's mother called.  She was upset b/c  her daughter had been talking about their home situation.  She informed me that they did have some food, that it wasn't much, but that it was enough to get by.  She said that she didn't want the school to help out in any way.  So I dropped it.  

Well, today the same personnel that I turned this issue into called me.  She said that DCS had been called on them, b/c of neglect.  They did investigate the matter further and found out that the mother often doesn't feed these children.  That they were only allowed to take a shower/bath once every two weeks.  She said that we were going to be sending home a backpack of food every weekend.  Poor thing.  I talked to S about her home situation, the poor girl never talks.  She did say that her mother had left for a week or two and that Dad had said they could bring home food.  (S is learning disabled but is still the smartest one in her family)  

I hope that S is safe tonight.  I hope that she is getting fed and isn't afraid.  I hate that my students live this kind of life.   All I can do is try my best to talk to them, and help them out.  But, my heart goes out for them.  Life can be so sad, and so hard.  

Poverty Training

You know I really complained about this training.  I mean I whined and I pouted.  Yes I do pout and whine.  Dan can tell you that much, heck my whole family could.  ( I have gotten better about it though)  Anyway, I didn't want to go, and it didn't matter that I was going to be paid $50 an hour.  It was 7 classes, after school! I'm wiped after school and don't want to go!  

Well, that said.  I love it.  I am learning so much from this training.  I'm really starting to understand the way my student's minds work.  I understand why the parents don't "seem" to care about what goes on at school.  I am really truthfully learning a lot.  Today was sad though.  I won't go into the details, but I was almost in tears.  I hate that some of my students are living this kind of life, and I really just want to take them home with me.  Think that would go over well with Dan?  I mean, there are only 22 of them.  Actually, truth be told, I wouldn't take them all home with me.  But, most of them I would!  Anyway, life in an inner city school is tough.  Life in that life must be a whole lot harder.  I am so thankful for my upbringing, and my home.  I'll try not to take it for granted.

The past couple of months.

We had a wonderful Christmas this year.  The season was really fun and exciting.  Gosh it sure is fun playing Santa!  We loved it!  Ethan was so excited and loved all his presents.  

Ethan started out the New Year right, by turning 2!  Happy Birthday Baby Boy!!  It's fun having a New Year baby.  Every year we are able to have his party on his actual birthday.  He loved his party.  I think the favorite parts were his balloons and the cake.  Although, the toys were fun also.  All these presents though, sure did make me overwhelmed!  I'm not sure that I like having Christmas and then a week later a birthday.  But, hey you work with what you got.  

We can walk out? What?

So did you know that teachers can just walk out?  I didn't.  Until today.  A teacher walked out and quit her job, right in the middle of the day.  Okay, so not the middle, at 7:30am.  

So why do you think she did it?  She's new, this is her first year teaching.  I know we work at a stressful school.  It is inner city, and the kids can be rough.  They aren't that rough, but that may just be because I'm used to it.  I just can't wrap my mind around it.  Maybe it's because I need my job?  I can't imagine just walking out.  Why oh why did she do it?  That's the gossip today, and if anyone knows why, they aren't saying.  Strange huh?  I feel for her poor students, because if there is one thing these kids need, it's stability.  Hmmm.  I'll let you know if I learn any more.  

Not Talking at Daycare?

So since E is talking so much and often won't be quiet.  I find it amusing that he won't talk at daycare.  His teachers haven't heard him say a word!  Weird.  Huh? But, I'm thinking that it's because he just moved up to the two year old room.  All the other kids are practically three years old, and really talk.  E probably just can't get a word in otherwise.  Right?  Well, that's what I'm going to think.  He'll start talking to them when he trusts them.  Then they won't be able to get him to be quiet!  

Life with a two year old

So life gets more interesting and more fun everyday!  E is growing by leaps and bounds and everyday surprises us with something new.  I admit I'm concerned about his speech.  He has started everything else very early.  Siting up at 5 months, crawling at 7 months, walking at 9 months, and running at 1 year.  So this slow speech thing, is all new to me.  I know he's behind b/c of his ear infections.  When we finally put tubes in at 14 months, he was completely silent.  Now we are playing catch up.  

That being said he learns new words everyday and is quite the chatter box!  He started with two new words last week, yuck and gross.  Everything is yuck or gross.  A spider in his sandbox, yuck!  Toe lint that he's picking out of his toes, gross! It's adorable!  He talks a mile a minute and I confess that I'm one of the only ones that can understand him.  But, he is talking!