You Put Your Children Where?

Yes, I work.  And yes, I put my children in daycare.  It is not the evil place a lot of people think it is.  It's not like I leave my children with trolls who plop them in front of a tv all day long and feed them hot dogs and french fries.  My children don't come home with mysterious bruises and scratches or knowing dirty words.  (Those they learn from me...oops!) 

I worked in a daycare when we lived in Colorado for a little over a year in the 13-24 month toddler room so I had some experience of what to look for and what questions to ask in my research.  And boy I did a lot of research in daycares when I was pregnant with Kaitlyn.  I knew staying home wasn't an option so I wanted to leave her with someone I trusted.  I mean, I was leaving them with the most precious and special being on the planet.  I was not going to leave her with just any old daycare.  Someone gave me the website for Childcare Coordinating Council (CCC) and I used this as my only online tool.  The center that are affiliated with this group have to meet VERY strict standards to be recommended by CCC.  There was a very nifty search tool that allowed you to enter in your zip code, age requirements and number of children you were enrolling and it popped out a list of daycares that met your criteria.  There are not very many centers that take children under 1 year, so options were limited.  I checked out the local Kinder Care because it's a pretty well known name even though CCC did not have them in their system.  Not too thrilled with their prices and the location wasn't great.  I also checked out the center that is located on Jerry's company campus, but they didn't take infant.  Plus that place is dark, the rooms are small and they don't provide food.  (There were some other centers that  I checked, but most didn't meet all my criteria on my checklist.) 

The last place that I checked was in a great location, was in a brand new building and was very bright.  you have to have a swipe card to get in meaning no random strangers walking in off the street.  I fell in love right away when I saw that each classroom was had security cameras installed in them with a huge flat screen tv in front cycling through each classroom.  This meant that classrooms were being watched constantly and incidents could be replayed if ever needed.  (You always act better knowing that people are watching you.)  There are two separate play outdoor play areas and the kids get to play outside twice a day.  Food is provided once your child turns 1.  Breakfast/AM snack, Lunch, PM snack, and a late PM snack if needed.  Most days, they serve my child better food than I would at home because they have to meet very strict nutrition guidelines in order to receive funding.  I cannot even begin to tell you how much fun Kaitlyn has at daycare.  She is only 2 and can run you down through her day including telling you what everyone brought in for show and tell.  (She can also tell me who pushed who, who used mean words, and what the teacher did about it.)  My children do art, yes my infant has art for me to bring home, they sing, dance, participate in pretend play, and most importantly learn how to socialize and cooperate with other children their age.

This daycare is not raising my child.  I am the one who is instilling morals and values into my children; they just reinforce them.  Yes, they probably spend more time with my children during the week, but they also give me the opportunity to interact with my children in ways that I can't when I stay at home with them.  I LOVE Tyler's reaction when I walk into his classroom and he notices mommy.  I LOVE hearing Kaitlyn scream "mommy!" as she races to greet me across the playroom.  I know that they take great care of my children because they don't cry or have a fit when they are dropped off.  Kaitlyn talks about everything that happened during the day and I love to hear her stories.  She's learning so much more about cooperation and being a good friend than I could teach her at home alone.  Tyler is flourishing and is still the happiest baby in the world.

So for all you people who think I'm dropping my kids off at hell with Satan...BITE ME!

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for so many thing in my life, but right now I feel super blessed for:

*my summer spent with my children.

*me returning to work and my children returning to daycare.

*my coffee maker and Dunkin Donuts coffee from Costco.

*getting the house we BELONG in after two failed attempts at wrong houses.

*my wonderful parents for the help they are going to give us for said house.

*the start of a positive new school year with a wonderful new principal.

Working Moms

So I wrote a post on stay at home mommies, and I was kinda harsh.  I stand behind everything that I wrote 100%.  I feel like I need to address the working moms now.  I am one myself so I know what it is like to work and take care of your family.

Ok, so all you working mothers out there? Stop acting like you are some kind of super woman.  You are not better than stay at home mommies (SAHM).  Just because you go to work and then come home and take care of you family doesn't make you some sort of goddess so quit acting like people should bow down and worship you.  SAHM work just as hard as working mommies.

I also cannot stand working moms who degrade and demean SAHM.  I've read some really mean comments on blogs and really cannot believe the things that these women say.  I've read that working moms are dumb and uneducated and will be left by their husbands for younger women.  All I can say is wow.  I would never look down on a woman who chose to stay at home with their kids.  If that's what you want to do, then good for you.

I work because right now it is necessary financially.  We accrued a lot of debt while we were young, and now we are paying for it, literally.  I do get the benefit of staying at home with my children during the summers, and for that I am grateful.  I do have to admit that this summer has been exhausting and I am ready to go back to work.  Next summer Kaitlyn will be 3, Tyler 1 and I will watch a 6 year old for a coworker of Jerry's as well. 

So SAHM and working moms, neither group is better than the other.  One set of children don't do better than the other because their moms work or not, it's all about how you parent your child.  Can't we all just get along and stop criticizing each other and celebrate that we have the most important thing in common: being a mom.

A New Sheriff in Town

So, we have a new principal at school after ours decided he was going to retire suddenly this summer.  Can I say, so far, so good?  I absolutely LOVE him!  He is full of energy and positive vibes.  He really wants to change this school for the better and it really seems like most of the faculty is behind him.  There are going to be some great changes with attendance, tardies, electronic devices and discipline this year.  He came from the only F school in our district last year so I know that he is very aware of the challenges that are found in most high schools.  I think the students will be shocked and first and will complain, but eventually they will get used to it. 

Here is a breakdown of new policies and procedures (with a few bugs/details to work out.):

Alternative Bell Schedule (ABS).  If a student is having discipline issues, depending on the infraction, they could be suspended.  Most students who are suspended don't want to be in school in the first place, duh!  I have even heard students refuse detention, Saturday school and work detail and take a suspension because they want a vacation!  Now in lieu of getting suspended they will have to attend ABS and come to school at 1:00 pm and stay till 6:00 pm.  This way, they still have to come to school, they just won't be a disruption to the normal school day.  (They will not be able to come back to school until they full fill their ABS consequence and complete behavior modification.)

No electronic devices are to be in use, visible etc.  If a student has their electronic device out, it will be confiscated, labeled and locked away until a parent can come pick it up.  If they refuse to hand over their electronic device, then they receive three days of ABS.  It will be a shock to them, but I think it will eventually become a way of life.  Hopefully teachers will be good role models and also follow this rule.

A lock out policy will be in effect to keep tardies under control.  When the tardy bell rings, teachers will lock their doors and personnel will sweep the halls to make sure everyone goes to the cafeteria to get marked tardy.  Students will be let back in class, but they have to have a tardy pass before they can go in.  Administration will keep track of the tardies and also take care of the discipline so the teachers have one less thing on their plate to worry about.

These are just some of the changes that will be happening this year and hopefully we can turn our school around for the better! 

Thankful Thursday

This is what I'm most thankful for in my life:

Folk Tales and Fables and Dreams Oh My!

The other day we were at my mom's house and Kaitlyn just wouldn't listen to anything I was saying.  In fact, she would literally do the exact opposite.  My mom piped in and said "You're just like the little frog.  Mommy froggy says do this and little froggy does that.  Mommy froggy says do that and little froggy does this.  So mommy froggy wants to be buried up in the mountains so she doesn't wash away.  She tells little froggy that she wants to be buried by the river because he always does the opposite of what mommy says.  Mommy froggy dies and little froggy says I'm going to honor mommies last wish and buries her by the river.  When it rains little froggy comes out and cries, please don't wash away mommy.  And that's why when it rains all the little froggies come out and cry."  I almost peed my pants I was laughing so hard by the end of the story.  You have to imagine a little Asian woman telling this story with her not so good story-telling ability, in her thick accent and then asking my daughter what frogs say because she doesn't know what they say.

My mother, she has a lot of these little stories, fables and superstitions that she tells us.  Like the reason it rains while the sun is shining bright?  Tigers are mating.  (I have no idea why those two things go together.) Also, you never tell a pregnant woman no.  If you do, the baby will come out cross-eyed.  If you have the habit of shaking your leg, you know, that nervous twitching your foot occasionally does, you are shaking the luck out of your body.  She means that you are shaking out the good luck but we always tell her it's the bad luck leaving.  Also, don't eat sugar.  It causes memory loss and my brother is proof!  There are many, many more, but I can't think of them right now.

She's also believes that every dream has a specific meaning and she's big into dream interpretation.  (Please don't tell her that you had a dream about losing your teeth because then she will worry that you are going to be losing money soon.)  She had a pregnancy dream while pregnant with each of us kids.  I think I love my pregnancy dream the most because she remembers it in the most detail.  She dreamt that she and her best friend at the time were being chased by snakes.  Her friends snake didn't catch her, but instead slithered away.  My mom's snake on the other hand, caught up with her and wrapped itself around her really tight.  Around the time of the dream, not sure if this was before or after, she found out that both she and her friend were pregnant.  Coincidentally, I was born in the year of the snake.  I also have a SUPER close relationship with my mother, which could explain her snake wrapping around her really tight.  Her friend, on the other hand, left her abusive marriage and unfortunately had to leave her son behind and has no relationship with him to this day.  Super freaky if you ask me.

Not that this has anything to do with fables, superstitions or old wives tales, but my mother also happens to be a very good judge of character.  She has this sense of "knowing" who people are in the moment she meets them.  She has this uncanny knack of knowing which friends will be swept away with the wind and those that will stay at your side even in your worst moment.  She even predicted that Jerry and I would get married before we were even really friends.  She was wrong about Kaitlyn being a boy, but I'll forgive her for that one.

I get a kick out of most of my mom's silly stories and sayings and will pass them down to my children so they can laugh and always remember silly grandma.

Little Miss Lucy

Congratulations to my cousin Kelly and her fiance Ritchie.  Today they welcomed their own pink bundle of joy, little Miss Lucy.  She is a big girl already at 9lbs 13oz, OUCH!  She is the 6th baby born into the Kim mafia family over the last 5 years.  She is already loved by many.

Seven is Heaven

My Dearest Tyler,

You are seven months old today.  I know I say this a lot, but I truly cannot believe how fast time is going.  In the blink of an eye you will be off to college and I will be a hot mess.  But enough of that right now because I may just have a mental breakdown. 

You are still the happiest little guy in the whole world.  You are starting to crack yourself up.  Just the other day in the car you blew a raspberry and then you giggled at yourself.  I really hope that you keep on smiling through your life.  It will take you a great many places.

You are eating like a fiend!  You still eat 6 ounces about every 2 1/2 hours.  You are also eating solids about three or four times a day, it just depends on your nap times.  I think when you go back to daycare, you will definitely eat solids about four times a day with less bottles as they don't feed you unless you "ask" for it.

You are starting to army crawl although you still prefer to roll to whatever it is you want.  If you are too far from what you want, you roll as close to it as possible, then you will army crawl the rest of the way.  You are starting to pull your legs under your body so all you have left to figure out now is coordination between your legs and arms. 

I am teaching you sign language, just like I taught your sister.  It seems to calm you down when you are having a fit because I am not getting your food to you fast enough.  You know what the signs for milk and eat mean, but you haven't signed them yet.  It will be soon though, I'm sure of it.

You still only babble da da, but you are starting to add some bahs and gahs.  You are still very vocal nevertheless.  You are most vocal when you are watching your sister run around like a maniac.

You have two little bottom teeth!  So stinking cute.  It makes your pictures so much more adorable even though I can't get a great picture of them yet.  Keep smiling wide for your pictures and I will get them on film.

I am so looking forward to watching you grow into a little man.  I just want you to slow down a bit so I can really enjoy my time with you and your sister.

Love you dearly,
Mommy