Well, it's happened. I got a call that I could take and off I went. At 11pm on Thursday night, I got a call for a full day at a school in town. I listened, and then bravely pushed the accept button. I went online and reread the instructions, wrote them down, put the job # in my planner for the school just in case and went to bed going "OH MY GOD/DESS!"
Woke up at 6am to make sure I wasn't going to be late. Got the kids out the door for 7:30, dropped Monkey off happy, and dropped Kanga off. She didn't want to eat her breakfast before we left, so I left it for her teachers to do. She was a happy gal too though!
Got to the school at about 8:15, checked in, they had my name printed off and ready so there were no worries! I was concerned that I only had instructions up to 12:15, but soon found out that the teacher had only planned to be away half the day! The school found me something to do in the afternoon and I worked the full day.
It was a challenge being my first day, and I do still need to work on controlling the volume of the class, but these tings will come with time. For my 1st day back, it went pretty well, and I look forward to getting called again on Sunday night for Monday!
Well, Samhain (Hallowe'en) has come and gone for another year. We've paid tribute to our passed ancestors and celebrated the arrival of our new roots. Another year has come and gone. For some reason I didn't get all festive like I usually do this year. Don't get me wrong, I decorated my home, even got the foresight to put my pumpkin light lanterns on my icicle lights so all I have to do sometime this week is pop off the pumpkins and I'm ready for Yule! I carved the Jack-o-Lanterns, I put up the stickers, and happily hunted for costumes. I just didn't feel like giving out candy and dressing up. Maybe I'm getting jaded, but when I was a kid, you went trick-or-treating at friends, relatives, acquaintances, but not complete strangers (unless you wanted to meet the new neighbour) and I hardly knew any of the kids who appeared out of the wood work. I can count 5 of the 50. What's the fun in seeing a bunch of kids you don't know dressed up. It's way more fun to guess who's under the mask when you stand a chance.
On the other hand, Monkey aka Darth Vadar and Matt went trick-or-treating and met a nice blind lady who lives on the street behind us. She asked who was there, what the costumes were, and how many people. Then she told the two of them to reach in her candy bag and pick what they'd like. Monkey grabbed some for Matt, who felt a little bad for taking her candy, but how can you put it back at that point! She would never know who's at her door except those really close to her for whom she can recognize the voices. I'll have to remember her next year. Those 20 year olds were pretty funny too. "Last year we swear!" I don't really care, they had great costumes! The 12 year old with the mask and street clothes on the other hand, I'm pretty sure he just stole his little brother's mask! Which reminds me, poor Monkey forgot his mask at daycare so he was all dressed up with no mask to wear! At least he had the rest though. Hopefully the mask is intact on Monday. Samhain photos are on Wednesday and I'd hate to try and find a new mask after the date!
Kanga had a little skeleton costume. I have a pic of her but not one of Monkey. I'll get one up when we get his mask back! (It seems I haven't downloaded it yet. I'll have to post it later!)
Monday was Kanga's 1st day at daycare. I dropped her off (well took her and hung out for an hour!) at 8:20 and went to get her at 12. The gals got a little catch, and dunked a onsie (which I have now hemmed up). She ate her milk, and had a 40 min nap, so I guess she is going to be just fine and had a good day! She was mad at me when I got there though. She didn't want to stop playing, and then decided she wanted more milk and a nap. I missed my baby, but a success I think!
Well, Ms. Kanga had her first taste of cereal today. She's been getting a bit of pear or peach here and there with those scrumpsous fruits in season (strawberries are a definate wait till next year). I got her some cereal today though and she had some breakfast. My God/dess! She couldn't get enough! I mixed it more like soup than cereal because I didn't know how she'd do with the food, should've known with the pears I guess, but she devoured it! I expected a couple of bites and then she'd get bored, but nope. She ate all of the bit I mixed for her and then had momma milk! She was a hungey gal! Now we watch for reactions I guess!
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
I'm traumatized. Day went smoothly for Monkey though. I dropped him off, he had a great day at school and Matt picked him up right after class. Problem was he wasn't supposed to. He signed him out at the office like a good daddy, and said bye to Monkey's teacher.
I on the other hand, called the after school program at 3:45 to make sure that Monkey got to the program okay, and the worker told me he wasn't there and that he hadn't been Tuesday either. I'd left a message saying he started JK on Wednesday, so they should have known to go find him. I freaked out completely. I told the worker that she had better find my son. He's 4 years old. Where is he! Fighting tears and trying to figure out the next rational thing to do and keep on working with the kids and not freak them out, I decided to call his school and see if the secretary could page his teacher or if she knew anything.
I called the school, and said "It's Amanda Coughlin calling and my son Monkey was to start with the after school program today. He just started JK today and they don't know where he is. Do you have any idea where my son is." I said this as calmly as motherly possibly under the circumstances and frankly my voice sent chills down my spine. The secretary told me it's not her responsibility to know where my child is, and that I need to make arrangements for him. WELL POO HER! She then told me that Matt had picked him up. Why couldn't she tell me that in the first place! Granted I could have called Matt before the school, but I wasn't thinking about him being with his dad, I was thinking the school had my son, likely in his classroom, and the secretary could page the room to check! She also gave me heck for freaking out the workers. Well excuse me, but if my son is lost, they had better be freaking out. He's 4 and it's his first day of school!
Well, I'm angry again right now, and everything worked out fine. Yesterday, I told work I'd be late so I could make sure he got to program okay. I NEEDED that for my peace of mind. I've had 2 nightmares about him being lost since, and with it having been real to me so recently, it's not just the scary dreams, I wake up and run to his room to make sure he is really there. Traumatized! I'm telling you!
1st smile: 4 weeks
1st laugh: 13 weeks
1st sleep over: 5 weeks (@ grandma's w/ mum and Monkey)
1st shoes: Robeez pink guitars (you'll see them in many photos!)
1st mosquito bite: August 23rd/08
1st camping trip: August 22-24th/08
1st Snuggli ride: 2 days old (May 8th)
1st car ride: 4 hours old (May 6th @10:30)
1st shopping trip: Cheeky Monkey - 6 days old
2nd shopping trip: Masonville Mall for Aunti Melk's brides'maid shoes - 10 days old (flattened mum for a few days)
1st time trying a bottle: 6 weeks, 1st time with any real success - 15 weeks
Rolled ove back to front: May 8/08 (Likely before, but I wasn't 100% sure till she was on the floor by herself. It looked pretty easy for her, so I'm sure the bed rolls were real too!)
...I'll have to add to this later
