First Haircut

Sorry for the hiatus. Life's been busy, and I didn't want to write an entry until I had photos to include.

Jack got his very first haircut a couple weeks ago. Thanks, Granny! He was such a good boy! He and his daddy had a big time talking and laughing. It only took a few minutes. Mainly, he just needed some shaping around his ears. It was more like a trim. We got the whole thing on video, but here are some cute photos.

Back to School

It occurred to me this afternoon that tomorrow is the first day I haven't gone "back to school" since I started kindergarten in 1979. Wow! I wonder how I'll feel. I think I'll miss all the kids with their hugs and high fives and summer stories. I won't miss the 25 mothers outside my door waiting one by one to tell me about their children's "special needs" as if I'll remember each of them. I hope I don't do this to Jack's teachers. I promise to try not to do this when he begins school.

I'm enjoying my job with WGU. I'm still in education. I make more mulah than I did with National Boards stipends in the classroom. I get to have lunch with girlfriends, work from any city with internet access and telephones, talk to students all over the country, and roll out of bed and stumble into my office without brushing my hair. I don't have to defrost my windows in the winter or do bus duty. How cool is that? I also don't collect hugs from ten-year-olds. I miss that the most. Leaving the classroom made me realize that I truly am a teacher at heart. I hope to return someday, but if I were teaching right now, I'd miss my precious Jack even more than someone else's ten-year-old. What a blessing. With WGU I'll be able to walk Jack to his own classroom and grit my teeth when I want to share his "special needs" with his very capable teacher.

***As a side note for all you teachers out there...I actually received an email from a student's mother the other day trying to excuse her daughter's unprofessional disposition. Yes, the student is already married and has a child. I wonder if she also explained her child's "special needs" in 4th grade. Probably...I'm sure that's why she finds it necessary to do it today. In case you're wondering...NO, I didn't reply. GET A LIFE!

Jack Hits the Road

Jack spent his first night away from home last night. All of my family had dinner at Mom and Dad's house for my brother's birthday. Jack spent the night while Kevin and I went to the movies afterward. It was really strange waking up this morning. There wasn't near as much to do. Kevin didn't know what to do with his hands while I was getting dressed. When we entered the church for mass, everyone looked at us funny. They were trying to figure out where he was. Some even worried that he had been "taken back." No, he's still ours. We just decided that 4 months was old enough for him to spend the night with grandparents.

How old were your children when they first spent the night without both parents in another house?

Unnoticed Decorating

Kevin brings Jack and me small teddy bears from every state he travels through. We've collected quite a few. When KJ was out of town for a few days last week, I finally found the time to put many o f them in a corner net above the chest of drawers in Jack's room. The following is a conversation Kevin and I had a couple days after he returned:

Me: (standing in the nursery) Kevin, you didn't even notice Jack's room.

Kevin: (alone in the office) Sure I did, baby.

Me: No, you didn't. You would have said something.

Kevin: (sneaking down the hall to peek in the nursery, unaware that I'm already in there) Well, there are lot's of interesting things in Jack's room.

When he entered the room we both were laughing so hard at Kevin's incognito attempt to discover what I'd done to the nursery. He was so caught! It's feels good to have a big belly laugh like that sometimes. Life can become so busy that we don't take time to enjoy the simple things.