When last we met, things were interesting in the home of My Favorite Alien, The MOM, The Dolly, The Caveman, and the Monkey. The MOM had recently gone back to work, and things were finding their way to a new "normal". Fast forward 5 months (yes, I feel guilty).
The daycare I have been working for laid me off for the summer (bummer) and we had a very nice vacation to see Grandma and Poppa B. in Idaho. We took the long way out and saw Mount Rushmore, which was new for all of us. The highlights of the trip, aside from the beautiful scenery and wonderful "grandparent time" were visiting with cousins and going fishing with the kids' very own brand-new poles. The lowlights were not catching anything but ourselves on our hooks, and thieves breaking into our van in Omaha on the way home, stealing our DVD player and Monkey's backpack. He is still very angry about that, and I don't blame him. I was too caught up in trying to get the broken window fixed (it was Sunday morning, so we were on our own) and get home without any children getting sucked out the window, so we didn't even realize his backpack was missing until we were almost home. He lost some great books, his cash in his brand-new wallet, and a few toys. I think he's maddest about the motorcycle-handlebar-type learning toy he had just bought at a thrift store and never gotten to use. Poor Monkey.
Our ward boundaries were changed right after we got back, our ward became the "leaven in the loaves" and parts of "us" got redistributed into SIX other wards. We now drive farther, to a nicer building. Dolly and Monkey are adapting very well, Caveman and I not so much. He is one of only 2 kids in his primary class, and it's awkward being outnumbered by adults-sets off his anxiety. And don't get me started on Webelos. If you let them run wild for 15 minutes before starting, you'll never get my Aspie back under control, you've removed all rules. And if I've told you that, don't expect me to let you do that to him again.
So Dolly is doing swimmingly in 7th grade, and took 8th place in the district for 7th grade girls in Cross Country! Caveman is enjoying having a best friend in 5th grade and had a smashing time at a birthday party. Monkey is with the best teacher in the universe and doing very well academically, but may end up with social problems similar to Dolly and Caveman. I will write a thoughtful post on Asperger's Syndrome before too long, but not tonight.
I am back at work at the daycare, teaching a language I do not speak and driving a bus, as well as supervising school-agers until they get on their bus. I had asked for more hours and not gotten them, now that Monkey is in school full day. So when the school district called for an interview on the application I put in over the summer (while laid off), I didn't hesitate to go in. And I'm hired!! I am the new Teaching Assistant at the high school multi-needs special education class! I won't start till around the first of November, so still transitions to go through. I have qualms about leaving where I have been working in the middle of a year, but I am leaving all my lesson plans and materials, and since I walked in to an empty plastic tub and no guidance or materials at all, I am working on not feeling bad.
I am also taking classes to get the Learning Behavior Specialist I endorsement added to my teaching certificate, which will enable me to teach special education. I must confess that 4 1/2 hours of class, 1/1/2 hours of drive time and several chapters of reading per week, plus , 25 hours of observation for the 8 week class have been extremely difficult. It is with great delight that I report that I finished my final exam tonight in under an hour and came home to my family. Two more classes and the state exam and I will be done, probably in April.
My Favorite Alien is now working on getting me to ride motorcycles with him. I have a helmet (from my birthday) and a very nice armored jacket (early Christmas) and we are planning on my getting into the training class in the spring through the local junior college. We need something to do together, and this is his pick. I used to ride all the time in high school, but it has been.....a long time.....
More updates coming soon, I hope, but here were the highlights!
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