Made it the full day today, but will definitely have to go back in this weekend to have everything ready for Tuesday. There is a lot of stuff I need to sort through and my room definitely needs a face lift. I found piles of papers all over my room, and because they may be student work I don't want to throw them away. I may just make a huge pile and go through it as I have time. My tables need to be cleaned/wiped down with a very good spray and my white boards need a good cleaning.
I do however, know where my kids are in each subject and where I need to start Tuesday. For the most part, they are just a bit behind where I wanted. Whenever there is a substitute there is always a margin of error that increases the longer you are gone. I don't think they're knowledge level decreased which is good My boss also has allowed my kids to take their recess between math and reading with our instructional assistant, instead of right before lunch, so I have a break in the middle of the morning to pump. There is definitely more support here for my desire to feed Micah naturally, than I had in Douglas - BY FAR. It's a nice change.
I've added three plastic containers, a filing cabinet and a mini-fridge to my room. I'm also revamping my behavior management system (think clothes pins and colors) and my literature circles per my master's theses. I can't wait to explain the great mechanics of master's courses to my kids (haha) and I am most excited for the mini-fridge in my room. I am also happy to see my kids again too...
Thomas, Merrie and Micah made it through the day great. Micah is taking bottles really slow, but he's taking them and still nursing great. We are giving him 4 oz. bottles, which he's taking about every 3 hours. They're on a slow drip (which contributes to his taking longer to drink them) and he likes to fall asleep while eating too. Today, Thomas said he barely slept. I got home, nursed him for about five minutes around 6 and he's been asleep ever since...figures :) Hopefully we'll still get some sleep tonight!
Merrie has been AMAZING helping Thomas out. When he needs to go outside Thomas sets the bouncer up by the door and Merrie watches Micah. She puts his blanket back up if it falls down and she's become a master at giving him his pacifier. Thankfully, she knows if he's sleeping and pushes it out not to give it back to him. She also hasn't been giving Thomas as much trouble pushing his buttons as normal, which helps my stress level too.
Micah seems to be treating the pacifier like Merrie did. He'll take it, but he tends to spit it out and is still okay. It just calms him down. Hopefully in about a month we'll be done with it. We failed Merrie with her thumb, so we're glad that, so far, Micah hasn't found his yet either - that might contribute to a bit longer time with the pacifier though...we'll see.
We've also found that Micah is much more dependent on us than Merrie was at this age. He DOES NOT like to be put down. Merrie was good chilling in the bouncer forever. I think this is just a personality difference. Hopefully, he'll grow to be more independent as he gets older.
Another funny thing we've noticed is that Micah is also not fond of ANY poop in his diaper. Today, Thomas said he was screaming and he didn't want to bottle and didn't want to rock. So Thomas took his diaper off, with what he said was just a "speck" of poop, and then put the same diaper right back on...and he quieted down right away.
In all, today was very busy and I'm very tired - but it was educational and looks like the kids at least are ready for me to go back to work. I however, really am not ready to leave my babies. But it is what it is!
For the record, a full day is from 7:30 to 4:30...
No comments:
Post a Comment