School Changes - Working Mom Guilt

This year has been a struggle for me personally with J's school. 

Let me be clear...

I LOVE his school.  I LOVE how he has grown & developed both maturity & academically.

That said...

I have not been overwhelming thrilled with his teacher.  Jacob has grown and developed, which is what has kept Mr. M & I from voicing our unhappiness.  I've tried really hard to just keep following up with her in hopes of building a relationship that would open the lines of communication that I grew to expect during J's time with Young Scholars. 

This week we learned, she is resigning effective Friday.

A new teacher, a teacher J knows through before and after school care.  A teacher who knows how to help redirect Jacob when needed.  One who has 5 years prior teaching joining FRA.  One who is energetic and excited about being with these kiddos.

We are wishing Mrs. K well.  We will pray that she gets the support she needs that played such a huge part in her decision to leave mid-year.

And with a huge hug, lots of hope, and excitement - we welcome Mrs. M to J's classroom.  I'm excited to see what the remainder of the year will be.  :-)

This all said, this situation created the opportunity for me to learn what I didn't know.  To learn what I, as a working mom, have missed.  Miss Cheryl has been, to an extent, whispering in my ear.  But not having an education background, I have not fully understood.  My strength is math, analysis, trends.  Writing, reading, etc?  Yeah, not so much a strength.  I love to read.  I love to write, or I wouldn't have a blog.  But being good at it - not really.

Miss Cheryl has brought to my attention, how J, while being asked to learn how to spell words with ch, oo, ending in e, he was not been taught the basic rules.  The silence of the "e" creating the long "i" in *fine*. 

On my way into work today, I spoke with another mom.  There are only 10 kiddos in class.  I only know a few moms, as I do my drop off at 7 (okay 720) - school starts at 830.  Miss Cheryl generally does pick up at 3.  Daddy has met a few moms, but he is less likely to chat with them as he is to duck in grab J & run out the door.  :) 

And if I do pickup, it is 545'ish (closes at 6). 

It's my fault, by I have not cultivated the relationships to have the door opened and understand when there is a potential for issues in his class that I should otherwise know.

Today, I learned how that is impacting J.  I didn't know.  I didn't have those doors open.  But now they are.  My concerns I've been expressing to family that have been dismissed as my being an overbearing mom, were in fact valid.  AND other mom's have felt the same way.  Mom's who have had older children go through JK at FRA, who knew what to expect AND have realized - the expectations where NOT being met.  Granted, Mrs. K has had issues, and for that reason alone - I'm glad I did not add to it by complaining.  But I feel so much better knowing that my gut was right. 

As a working mom, it is so hard to balance motherhood, my job, childcare, marriage.  I have to delegate.  I have to rely on those who are assigned tasks to be following through at the level of excellence I would give to the tasks I have in front of me. 

I'm in by no means perfect.  And I ABSOLUTELY have my moments of Mommy Fail.  I'm human.  I understand. 

And that's why I have working mom guilt right now.  I know I failed my kiddo by not being on top of it earlier. 

That said... Stepping back.  Recognizing he is only in 4 year old preschool.  If I was going to need to learn this - now is the best time.  This was a growing moment for me.  He may not have learned those basics, but he is learning more new words every day.  He is getting so much closer to reading books with me, as opposed to me reading at him. 

From now on, I am going to make a bigger effort to interact with Mom's in his classes.  I'm going to make the time to know what I need to know.  I'm not going to just phone in the minimal requirements.  No one person (besides Mr. M) is as or more concerned about J's development than me. 

We are blessed in the support we have.  We are so blessed by Miss Cheryl's background giving us supplemental support to the wonderful basis of FRA.  We are blessed by family who gifts Jacob books, learning exercises and games.  He absorbs all of this. 

We are so blessed.  Mommy just needs to step up her balancing skills... This way we can better maximize our blessings.

Valentine's Day 2013

Probably should share these before the month is over...

Mr. M sent me the most beautiful, looks and smell, flowers this year.  He also included a box of chocolate that contributed 5lbs to my waist.  After engorging myself, I realized I was in severe hip pain again, and have quite radically moved back to avoiding sugar and flour based foods.  It's crazy, being on Metformin, I don't lose weight radically like I did before trying to conceive J, but my body just *feels* better.  I don't wake up in pain in my hips.  I don't want to cry in the middle of the night.

Good things when all you want to do is sleep, thanks to a head cold.

Back to the beautiful flowers.  They truly smelled spectacular.

And they held up for over 10 days. 

bestvalentinesdayflowersever...lovehim

Trampolines are...

not just for summer...

Or...

not just for kids...

Or...

simply...

boatloads of fun...

Even in snow.

While the puppy, who will be 13 this year, runs around barking at the air. 

Oh... And they create awesome nap times...

Soaking in these stolen moments of snuggles & sleep that will tragically end entirely too soon.

A birthday boy's party...

Since J got over being sick, he has counted down the days until his party yesterday.  We chose to do a family only party this year, and while it put more on us personally - it was so much nicer. 

We slowed down.

Except for J, who could not wait until everyone arrived.  He even put Monkey on guard duty to let him know when people arrived.

After spending 5 minutes (at 9AM, arrival time was 1PM), and deciding it was boring...

We enjoyed family.

We enjoyed laughter.

All goals for this year.

J picked steak with corn on the cob.  Mommy added roasted asparagus and butternut squash to round out the meal. 

After the meal we did cake, then presents.  J was so delighted with him gifts, even the *oh clothes*.  :)

Jacob was beyond delighted with his Power Ranger cake.  It did not disappoint! 

And mommy was delighted that she has yet to fail in herself, and enjoyed a Coconut Cream cheese Bar (Ideal & Maltitol sweeteners with coconut flour - gluten and sugar free - totally low carb).  J is starting to understand that sugar makes mommy not feel so hot, so he's asking questions to understand what he's eating.  It hasn't made that big of impact on how he eats yet, but I'm starting to see changes being made.  Starting to watch him consider the nutrition in what he eats.  Small bites here and there.  I honestly think it will only improve as he grows.  He's already starting to expand his horizons, so I'm confident this will expand as well.

Anyway - back to the cake...

HE LOVED IT!!!  You can see his excitement about getting to dig in at this point.  :)

Jacob was generously blessed by his Aunts, Uncle & Grandparents.  I'm very much excited to dig into one of the books J was given.  I love our snuggle reading time, and I love how this time is fostering his love for reading.  He was excited to get these books for his birthday.

Aunt Joan snapped (at the end of the party) a family picture for us.  I was so drained, between getting the food on the table and fighting this head cold - I dreaded this picture, but seeing it - I'm happy we took it.  We need to take more family photos.  Most pictures are just of J or of one of us with J.  Rarely do we have the opportunity to do pictures as our family of 3.  And this one even caught the annoyed (and generally camera opposed) puppy to complete our family.

This was one tired little boy last night.  Unfortunately, this equaled a time-out before bed, but with an early bed time, he was asleep by 6:30!!!  He woke with smiles to greet the sunshine this morning.  Back to school for him, so what better way to start?

Little Man Gifts for Grandparents

This year for Christmas, we decided to have J do keepsakes for his grandparents.  I was so excited about this idea.  I enlisted the help of Pinterest and our wonderful Miss Cheryl helped as well.

For my parents, we did picture mugs from Shutterfly.  I was able to take pictures over the past almost 5 years, and put together to compilations that were meant for each one, yet totally individualized. 

They LOVED them.  I'm excited to see them when they come home this summer.

For my in-laws, however, we went more in line with their interests.  My MIL is a HUGE baker - all from scratch. 

This was the end result & I could not have been happier. 

Nor could my in-laws.  My MIL truly loved this cookie / dessert plate. 
Thanks again to Miss Cheryl for her artistic writing around the sides of the plate.

Questionaire

With J turning 5 this year, I wanted to start a fun tradition I've seen on other blogs.  I think this is such a great idea, especially since this might actually be something J will come back & enjoy reading in his teen years. 

How old will you be turning?
5


How excited are you?
1 trillion excited

How did you celebrate your birthday?

got birthday cake, but I couldn't eat it until after dinner, because I was sick.  I was puking sick.

Have you received any presents yet? What?
Yes.  Swordfishzord, Beetlezord, and tigerzord. 
Are you excited about these things?
Yes - I love being Jaden and getting the bad guys

Have you enjoyed your birthday so far?
Yes

Do you like being our only child?
Yes

What don’t you like about it?
That's there is lots of rules everydaySweetie, you will learn - there will always be lots of rules... It's life.

What do you like about it?
that I have a family & that there is No Rules Friday'sI love that giving you a little of my diet pop Friday mornings as a reward for learning your spelling words and having 4 other great mornings before school = highlight list for you... Since in reality, no other rules are bent or adjusted on No Rules Friday's

What Nicknames do we call you?
J, J bird, Monkey & Skunky Monkey, Stinky & Stinkypants

Which is your favorite?
Monkey

What’s your favorite season?
Spring

Why?
Cause then we get to play with helicopters, and it takes a long time for flowers to grow

What’s your favorite thing about school?
My teacher is very nice

What’s your favorite fruit to eat?
Strawberries

What’s your favorite vegetable?
Corn on the Cob

What’s your favorite food?
Panda - Orange Chicken, Chow Mein, and a cookie

We’ve taken a lot of vacations – what ones did we take this year?
Marco Island - by plane in May
Lake Geneva - by car for Uncle Jon's wedding
Marco Island - by car at Thanksgiving (you made it 19 hours straight thru driving - we were so proud!!)Key Lime Cove - by car with Daddy

What’s your favorite vacation ever?
Paradise Island, or maybe Key Lime Cove - they both had great water slides.  Key Lime had these really big ones that I got to go on, but I couldn't in the Bahamas, I was too little.

Plus, daddy gave me lots of treats at Key Lime Cove

What’s your favorite state?
IL

Why?
cause I get to see my grandma & grandpa M there.  And I get sleepovers, but you need to sleep there with me

Have you been there?
Yes.  Going again tomorrow for 1 sleepover

What do you love most about your Mommy? Daddy?
Mommy - very kind. 
Daddy - kind

What’s your favorite color?
Navy Blue - like the Bears

Final question. What do you want to be when you get older?
A guy who works at my dad's work...

WAIT - I want to be him.


Okay, Mommy had to ask one additional question... If you had the day off from school, and could do anything you wanted - who would you want to spend the time with...   Mommy, Daddy, Grandma M, Grandma P, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins...

Daddy - he let's me have lots of treats.

Yes, yes kiddo - he does... love you!!!

Current Measurements

A bonus, the only bonus, to your getting the virus of death for your birthday...

Mommy got exact measurements for where you are at on your 5th birthday.


BMI Calculator for Child and Teen

Information Entered

Age: 5 years 0 months

Sex: Boy

Birth Date: February 09, 2008

Height: 3 feet 9 inch(es)  (aka 45 inches)

Date of Measurement: February 12, 2013

Weight: 47–1/2 pounds

Results

Based on the height and weight entered, the BMI is 16.5 , placing the BMI-for-age at the 79th percentile for boys aged 5 years 0 months. This child has a healthy weight.