bronchitis

So my first three weeks (has it already been that long) at work have been great. I love teaching. I know it isn't that much "teaching" because they are only 1 1/2-2 yrs old but it is fun. We read (A lot), we sing (A lot), we go to the playground, we paint and do other arts and overall there is not much to complain about. I am less exhausted than I was.

Daniel has been the difficult adjustment. He has not been enjoying his new class (no offense to his new teachers). He wants to be with his old teachers or with me. We are working on it and sadly by the time he gets used to it, school will be out.

Now the negative to working with little kids. I am sick. I have been sick for 1 1/2 weeks and now it is bronchitis. It feels horrible. I can't breathe. It feels like an elephant is sitting on my chest and now that my asthma is kicking in it feels like I am being choked as well. That is why I am up at 5:30 a.m. writing in this blog. I can't sleep when I can't breathe. I am hoping to rest some this weekend but it is unlikely with two birthday parties, a harlem globetrotters boyscouts event, sunday school, and errands. Argghhh. No sick time in this household.

News on the family.

Daniel had a dream the other night. I always wonder how their little minds work but when he woke up yelling "The fish are out" I knew he was dreaming. He was completely distraught that the fish were out. When I asked where are they out of he said "their crates" (Can you tell we have dogs). I had to physically go show him they were in their tank safe and sound.

Ian is 3 weeks into his broken foot. I am so ready for this cast to be off. He just pretends like it isn't there but IT IS. I am sick of saying things like "Don't climb that tree, your foot is broken". The other day I did let him get on the trampoline. Bad I idea. When he fell over his foot with the cast hit Alex in the head. He began soccer this week. Yes we let him go. He was a bit slower but no worse for the wear.

Ian's school is going well. His teacher is out with pneumonia (no this isn't why it is going well). He just finished up a pond project. Create a 5 animal food chain from the pond. That is harder than it sounds. 5 animals that each eat the other. What would you come up with? Create a pond. Now this was where it was really hard for me to but out. (I am proud to say I did though). I wanted to take him to Hobby Lobby and invest in all the supplies necessary to create a pond. We could buy foam and carve out of it, we could build it up using balsa wood. Go to the modeling section and buy little fake grass, use hot glue to create fake water. What does he want? A shoe box, painted with animals he models into what look like giant clumps of clay. But I just looked at him and said "great idea" while I was thinking "nooooooooooooo" So one big star for mom this month.

Alex is doing great. Not to brag (okay to brag a little) he scored off the charts on his Naglieri test. This was the spacial reasoning, non-verbal test given to all kindergartners in HISD. It wasn't a surprise since this is his strength but you never know. Well he was literally off the charts.

Alex is still loving school. This week was "P" week at school. It involved writing as many words starting with the letter P you can think of. Alex sat down and came up with 108 (with a little help from the dictionary). He was very disappointed to not be in the top 3 number of words. Alex is an interesting child. He is extremely bright and could strive to be top at everything but he doesn't want the attention (or honestly the pressure probably) so he always strives to be second.

Darren, well he was in the dog house last night but seems to be out of it now. He is enjoying work. A bit overwhelming but rewarding. I think he enjoys participating in cub scouts with Ian, although being the den leader doesn't seem to suit him (guess I shouldn't have forced that on him).

So all is well in our world and keep your eyes open for Trent and Audrey's birthday pictures.