You know you are tired when...

you say to your students...

"I need you to STOP... saying WORDS... outLOUD...!!!"

That's my end-of-the-year, exhausted and exasperated attempts at classroom management...

My kids laughed and laughed at me when I said it--they really are good kids.

They are over it too! AP Exams are over. Gateway testing is over. All that's left is grading research essays and honors' portfolios. Hallelujah!

4.5 more days...

you say to your students...

"I need you to STOP... saying WORDS... outLOUD...!!!"

That's my end-of-the-year, exhausted and exasperated attempts at classroom management...

My kids laughed and laughed at me when I said it--they really are good kids.

They are over it too! AP Exams are over. Gateway testing is over. All that's left is grading research essays and honors' portfolios. Hallelujah!

4.5 more days...

things students say

A student, while revising a paper and focusing her thoughts on using precision in her word choice, approached me for help and said,

"Mrs. Crawford, I was thinking that you looked like an oracle of vocabulary..."

HA! I love my job.

A student, while revising a paper and focusing her thoughts on using precision in her word choice, approached me for help and said,

"Mrs. Crawford, I was thinking that you looked like an oracle of vocabulary..."

HA! I love my job.

texting, rumor mills, high school drama...

All in a day's work...

Disclaimer: Despite the story I am about to share, I have been overall very satisfied with my working mommy status and daycare situation. This story is an exception to that satisfaction...

Yesterday, I arrived at work to drop Addison off, and I found out that her 2 full-time teachers were out sick. The co-op student who works in there consistently with the babies was going to be in there all day. I felt ok about that.

When I went to check on her at 11:30--as I do each day--the student was not there, and a floater was feeding one of the younger babies a bottle. I noticed that there were only 3 babies instead of 4, and I inquired about the 4th. I learned that they had checked her temperature, found that it was extremely high, and the student worker had driven her with her mother (also a student) to the doctor--leaving the rest of the babies with the floater. I was NOT happy about that.

When I saw Addison, she'd been placed in a swing with a blanket that wasn't her own. Then, as I was sitting there with her, I looked at her chart and noticed that there was no record of her having been fed her mid-morning bottle OR her having had her diaper changed. At this point, I was trying to keep my composure, but I was increasingly upset. I inquired about the bottle; the lady said that she hadn't had one since she'd been in there, but she had made her one. I looked at it and it looked small, so I asked if she'd just had a little of it. She said, "No, I made her 4 ounces... isn't that what she takes?" I said, "Ummm, NO! She takes 6-7 ounces 4 times a day, and she should have had this an hour and a half ago..." So, I fed her myself. She ravenously sucked it down. Then I changed her myself. Then I walked out of the daycare and had a "mommy meltdown." I mean I was crying so hard. I found one of my mommy friends and asked her how I should handle it--wanting to wait until the emotions had subsided so that I would be heard rather than written off because I was irrational.

Two periods later, I spoke with the director, expressed my concerns, got things taken care of; however, a student happened to be in the hallway. Before I knew it, through texting, a rumor had been started that a baby in the daycare had the swine flu. THE SWINE FLU. The next day, my kids were coming in my room asking if I was ok--they'd heard that Addison had gotten the swine flu.

I was so annoyed, but I got over it. Gotta love teenagers...

All in a day's work...

Disclaimer: Despite the story I am about to share, I have been overall very satisfied with my working mommy status and daycare situation. This story is an exception to that satisfaction...

Yesterday, I arrived at work to drop Addison off, and I found out that her 2 full-time teachers were out sick. The co-op student who works in there consistently with the babies was going to be in there all day. I felt ok about that.

When I went to check on her at 11:30--as I do each day--the student was not there, and a floater was feeding one of the younger babies a bottle. I noticed that there were only 3 babies instead of 4, and I inquired about the 4th. I learned that they had checked her temperature, found that it was extremely high, and the student worker had driven her with her mother (also a student) to the doctor--leaving the rest of the babies with the floater. I was NOT happy about that.

When I saw Addison, she'd been placed in a swing with a blanket that wasn't her own. Then, as I was sitting there with her, I looked at her chart and noticed that there was no record of her having been fed her mid-morning bottle OR her having had her diaper changed. At this point, I was trying to keep my composure, but I was increasingly upset. I inquired about the bottle; the lady said that she hadn't had one since she'd been in there, but she had made her one. I looked at it and it looked small, so I asked if she'd just had a little of it. She said, "No, I made her 4 ounces... isn't that what she takes?" I said, "Ummm, NO! She takes 6-7 ounces 4 times a day, and she should have had this an hour and a half ago..." So, I fed her myself. She ravenously sucked it down. Then I changed her myself. Then I walked out of the daycare and had a "mommy meltdown." I mean I was crying so hard. I found one of my mommy friends and asked her how I should handle it--wanting to wait until the emotions had subsided so that I would be heard rather than written off because I was irrational.

Two periods later, I spoke with the director, expressed my concerns, got things taken care of; however, a student happened to be in the hallway. Before I knew it, through texting, a rumor had been started that a baby in the daycare had the swine flu. THE SWINE FLU. The next day, my kids were coming in my room asking if I was ok--they'd heard that Addison had gotten the swine flu.

I was so annoyed, but I got over it. Gotta love teenagers...

Shades...

Funny story for my Chi-O "sister mommies" out there...

True story.

On our Spring Break trek to Destin, Lindsay and I along with our daughters--one, a 6 month old, who was recovering from a viscious fever virus, the other, a 16 month old, who had gotten tubes 2 days prior--made the 7 hour haul in our mountaineer. What usually takes the aforementioned 7 hours took us 9.5 due to longer meal stops, diaper changes, medicine administrations, and time for our little girls to get some physical freedom from their confining car seats. Both kiddos did great travel-wise... until hour 8. At that point, we were seriously all OVER IT. I had spent 2 sleepless nights before this trip with Addison in tepid baths to manage her fever; Lindsay and I had both completed stressful work weeks; and Lindsay had gone through the physical and emotional stress of "tubes."

When the little girls began their simultaneous meltdown, Lindsay and I began our Mommy Reportoire of "sing-songs." We'd already exhausted both girls' personalized cds from Jaydee, so we began singing 37 verses of "Wheels on the Bus," "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Baa Baa Black Sheep," "Jesus Loves the Little Children"--just to name a few. Nothing was working; there was no appeasing these little girls. We were delirious. We were moving from one song to the next without a thought, just one following the other's lead.

All of the sudden, I began belting out our Chi-O alma mater of "Shades" and Lindsay mindlessly followed. We didn't even realize what we were singing. Almost immediately, both girls fell silent--mesmerized by our song. We looked at each other, realized WHAT we were singing, and began laughing hysterically, and at our pause, the girlies started up their crying again. Shrugging our shoulders, we picked up where we left off and began singing again--trying not to laugh too much. Again, silence. So we followed with "The Owl, the carnation, the cardinal and straw..." and then "Hair of gold..." The girls made it the rest of the trip in peaceful bliss. Lindsay and I laughed until we cried when we finally made it to our destination.

Think we have 2 future Chi Omegas???

Funny story for my Chi-O "sister mommies" out there...

True story.

On our Spring Break trek to Destin, Lindsay and I along with our daughters--one, a 6 month old, who was recovering from a viscious fever virus, the other, a 16 month old, who had gotten tubes 2 days prior--made the 7 hour haul in our mountaineer. What usually takes the aforementioned 7 hours took us 9.5 due to longer meal stops, diaper changes, medicine administrations, and time for our little girls to get some physical freedom from their confining car seats. Both kiddos did great travel-wise... until hour 8. At that point, we were seriously all OVER IT. I had spent 2 sleepless nights before this trip with Addison in tepid baths to manage her fever; Lindsay and I had both completed stressful work weeks; and Lindsay had gone through the physical and emotional stress of "tubes."

When the little girls began their simultaneous meltdown, Lindsay and I began our Mommy Reportoire of "sing-songs." We'd already exhausted both girls' personalized cds from Jaydee, so we began singing 37 verses of "Wheels on the Bus," "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Baa Baa Black Sheep," "Jesus Loves the Little Children"--just to name a few. Nothing was working; there was no appeasing these little girls. We were delirious. We were moving from one song to the next without a thought, just one following the other's lead.

All of the sudden, I began belting out our Chi-O alma mater of "Shades" and Lindsay mindlessly followed. We didn't even realize what we were singing. Almost immediately, both girls fell silent--mesmerized by our song. We looked at each other, realized WHAT we were singing, and began laughing hysterically, and at our pause, the girlies started up their crying again. Shrugging our shoulders, we picked up where we left off and began singing again--trying not to laugh too much. Again, silence. So we followed with "The Owl, the carnation, the cardinal and straw..." and then "Hair of gold..." The girls made it the rest of the trip in peaceful bliss. Lindsay and I laughed until we cried when we finally made it to our destination.

Think we have 2 future Chi Omegas???