Left Behind

I feel blah today. Not physically, just emotionally. This is the second Saturday this football season that I've been left behind while Shad went to the Vols game in Knoxville. He took Jeff with him and met Richard in Lebanon. Last I spoke to them, they'd just finished eating at Moe's and were about to head to the stadium.

I don't like the late games at all. If there are anymore, I'm just going to suck it up and let Christopher spend the night at my mom's. He'll just have to miss church the next day and my mom and Cheryl will have to promise not to smoke around him. He'll be okay, though. Christopher needs that time with my mom, Cheryl and Mindy. He gets so much time with Richard and it's not fair to my mom that she doesn't get that opportunity.

In 2 weeks, we play Georgia in Knoxville. Of course, we don't know the time yet. I can't stand that they wait until the WEEK OF to announce the time! That totally goes against The Planner in me!

I put Christopher down for a nap around 1:30 and he'll probably sleep until about 4:30. We were supposed to meet a friend at the park after the guys left this morning, but that fell through. I do need to make a trip to Wal-Mart and will probably do that after Christopher wakes up. My friend, Sebrina, is working tonight at Arby's so I told her that we'd probably swing by there for dinner. She's a manager and told me to let her know I'm there before I place my order so she can give me a discount. That's so nice of her! Every little bit helps!

School's going well. Christopher's doing GREAT and is the "old pro" in his class. Out of 6 of them total, he's the only one who's a member of our church. There is another little boy a couple months younger than Christopher who comes occasionally, but his parents aren't members. He's the one who's having the most difficulty. In fact, his mother even comes to get him before naptime since "that would just be too traumatic for him." Before I'd had the little boy in the nursery a few months ago (when I still worked down there on Sunday mornings), the mother had NEVER left him with anyone else. Yes, he's the couple's first child.

He's a perfect example of why I started leaving Christopher in the church nursery from an early age. Christopher got his first taste at 8 weeks old. In the beginning, it was only for 2 hours on Sunday mornings and he's always been left with people that I completely trust, so that made it easier on me. A few months ago, I went ahead and moved him into the 2-3 year old class on Wednesday and Sunday nights since he was getting into too much trouble in the baby room (0-2 year olds are in one room with the 2-3 year olds in another). Therefore, that had him being left with someone else for about 5 hours a week, but he transitioned very well. He now spends those 5 hours in the church nursery, plus 10 hours a week at preschool and 6 hours a month in the MOPS nursery...a total of about 16.5 hours a week. However, I can now see how much good it's done him to be left on occasion. He's so much more independedent than his peers who aren't left with anyone other tham Mama, Daddy or a relative. When I drop him off in the nursery, he typically waltzes right in like he owns the place, starts playing and doesn't even notice when I leave. That makes things SO much easier on me than having to pry him off of me while he's screaming like it's the end of the world!

I finally finished Christopher's "About Me" photo album and turned it into his teacher on Tuesday. I think I did a pretty good job. I even included a picture of Shad's mom, Sandy, and one of Brinkley. I put them on the "Memorial" page. His teacher, Ms. Brenda, started doing a "Star of the Week" this past week. Each week, they'll focus on the "star's" photo album. I wish I could be a fly on the wall in that class on more than one occasion.

The assistant teacher, Ms. Tracey, is leaving after Tuesday. She's pregnant and due in December and is taking an early maternity leave. It's mainly a result of the hardship she's dealing with after finding out that her baby probably doesn't have a left ventricle to the heart. She did say, though, that even if everything was perfect with the baby, she'd still probably leave early as it's getting so much more difficult for her to work with the children.

My class is doing well. We only have a couple of criers and one of those has missed 3 days already. It's only going to be that much more difficult on her when she returns (if she returns) this week. We have Fall Break the following week (Oct. 1-5). Naptime is primarily her most difficult time. If she'd just come regularly, she'd more than likely get used to things within a month. At least, that's the experience of Teresa, the teacher I work with.

Well, Christopher should be waking up soon, so I'd better go make sure that I'm ready to run our errands so I just have to worry about him.

Preparing For the Start of Preschool

Over the last few weeks, I've been busy preparing for preschool to start. Back on Saturday, August 4, the whole staff participated in a conference for church-based preschool teachers. Thankfully, it was held at a church here in town, so didn't require traveling anywhere.

However, that just happened to be the day that Shad decided to go camping with the guys, so I asked my mom to come stay Friday night and babysit Christopher on Saturday for me. Christopher did great and they ended up having a really good time together.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I actually enjoyed the conference and wasn't totally bored out of my mind! We all started off in a class with other teachers of the age-group we'll be teaching. I'm going to be working with 2-year olds, so was with my co-worker, Teresa, in the 2-year old teacher's class. In the afternoon, we split up into the elective classes. I chose to take one about biting and another about art.

We then had a break until this week when we decorated our classrooms. Teresa and I met on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from 8:30-1:00. I brought Christopher along, but found that it was quite difficult when there weren't other kids around for him to play with! I got a few things accomplished, but Christopher kept demanding my attention (getting hurt, wanting me to play with him, etc.), so Teresa ended up doing a lot of the work. Next time I have to do something like that, I'm going to find someone to watch Christopher for me. Thankfully, we finished everything on Wednesday, so don't have to go back until tonight.

We have Open House tonight and tomorrow night from 6:30-8:00. I'll get to meet all the parents (and hopefully kids) and they'll get to pick up information from us.

I already know Christopher's teacher, Mrs. Brenda, since we go to church with her and she's watched Christopher before. Since I'll be busy in the 2-year old class during Open House, I went ahead and picked up my folder of information yesterday. I've found that there are a few more things I need, so will have to get those tonight afterall. One thing I'll have to do before we start on September 4 is to pick up a copy of Christopher's shot record. I wish that I'd known that earlier since we were just there on Monday. They can probably mail it to me, though.

After we're finished with Open House, I think we're done until school starts on Tuesday, September 4. I just realized yesterday that it's less than 2 weeks away! I'm excited and am looking forward to starting. It'll be sort of a new experience for me, so I'll have a lot to learn. Christopher will have a rough first few weeks during naptime since he's not used to sleeping on a mat, but in a crib instead. Plus, he's also not used to sleeping in a room with other people, so that'll probably be hard for him. I just hope that I won't be able to hear him while I'm in my classroom! I've got a feeling that he may have to come home and finish his nap for the first few times. We'll just play it by ear, though.