At this very moment...

...four girls are playing a game of Candyland.

...Twin Boy is making an AB pattern with counting bears.

...two boys are playing with Bristle Blocks.

...David and a friend are playing with dominoes and counting bears, using a ruler as a diving board for the bears, who are jumping into a domino pool.

...a table full of babies are all making a card for J.K.'s momma, who is having a birthday today.

...two boys are playing with Tinker Toys.

...D.B. and another boy are playing with a phonics game, and I swear I saw D.B. talk!!! (This one is my favorite observation!)



Ok, ok, I know I'm supposed to be packing up my room, which is why the babies are doing centers, but I'm sitting here unable to stop watching my babies. MY babies. I'm so, so sad that this is my last day with them. I can't believe how much they've grown and matured in the last 10 months. It makes me so proud to see where they are now. Just the fact that they can quietly do centers, on their own, while I sit here and type, is amazing. There's no fighting, no yelling, nobody asking me "how do I do this?" etc. They have become the independent little buggers I've trained them to be all year.

I had actually intended to post about this a while ago. There have been several incidents over the past few weeks that made me step back and really look at how far the babies have come this year. I've always thought I had the best class in the school (which is what I say every year, but this year I REALLY mean it!!) and most of the staff would agree with me. I realize I sound like I'm tooting my own horn here, but I'm sorry, it's true. It's not like I have super powers or anything. It's called discipline, people!! (That was directed at the staff of the Hell-Hole, NOT my Bloggy Buddies, of course!) Ok, before I start getting up on my soapbox, I'd better move on...

I couple of weeks ago, I had an old friend visit, with a colleague of hers from the university where they both work. The ladies came to my room around 8:30, and we were still chatting away when my babies walked in at 9. Although I greeting them, and kept an eye on them, I didn't really interact that much with them. They went about their business, following the morning routine, just like they had for 160 days already. Chairs were taken down, book boxes placed on the tables, babies silently reading, etc. As I chatted with my visitors, I noticed that my friend's friend kept looking around the room and watching my babies as we talked. After about 10 minutes she said to me, "Are they ALWAYS this good?!" She was simply amazed at how "well trained" they were, how well behaved they were, and how they followed our routine without any prompting from me. As she was talking, I realized, "Hey, yeah, they really ARE wonderful at this, aren't they?" I guess I just took it for granted, since that's what they're supposed to do.

When the "pledge bell" rang, they continued to follow the routine - books back in the boxes, captains put the boxes away, stand up, push in your chair, get ready to say the pledge. My friends followed the babies' lead, and did all the opening exercises with them. It was a very proud moment for this Mother Hen!

Over the past couple of weeks, I've had to step out of the room numerous times to speak to another teacher, or run to the office, whatever. I am perfectly comfortable leaving my babies for a few minutes, without worrying that something will happen. On a few occasions, someone has walked in looking for me, only to find my babies quietly doing whatever task I left them to do. More than one of those people came to find me specifically to tell me how impressed they were with my babies. All of them said they assumed I was in the room somewhere because the babies were so good. Talk about a feather in my cap!! Most of the time, when I walk back in, they are all on task, quietly doing whatever it is I asked them to do before I walked out. It seriously makes me want to shout out, "I LOVE YOU GUYS!" every time it happens. (They are always rewarded with "table points" on our chart, sometimes several points per table.)

Anyway, I just wanted to brag about my babies for a minute, and say how very, very, VERY much I'm going to miss them. I suppose I should get back to work now, huh? sigh...

Has it really been a week?

I can't believe I let an entire week go by without a post. Shame on me!! I better get back on track, huh? I was so good last school year, and literally posted every single school day. Man, I've become such a slacker...


*****
Recent conversation:

Smart Boy: Mrs. L., Twin Boy keeps breathing by me!!!

Me: And....

Smart Boy: His breath STANKS!!

Me: Oh....hmmm....Twin Boy, did you remember to brush your teeth this morning?

Twin Boy: No. I don't have a toothbrush.

Me: (Trying to hide my shock/disgust) You don't have a toothbrush?!

Twin Girl: Yes he does! He just doesn't use it!

Me: (Now stifling a giggle) Ok....well, Twin Boy, you need to brush in the morning, ok? Twin Girl, maybe you can remind him.

Twin Girl just looked at him in disgust and turned around.


*****
When the babies finish their name papers, I let them turn them over and draw me a picture while the rest finish. Last week, naturally, all the babies had Halloween on the brain. On Thursday, David drew an awesome picture of three "things" that I thought were kids in Halloween costumes. When I asked him, he said, "No, those are monsters!" Then he went back to drawing. When it was time to clean up, he brought me his paper, and showed me what else he drew. "That's me. And those are the monsters, and I'm kicking their butts!" I gave him a 'look,' because I tend not to condone violence, but he thought the look was for something else. He looked panic-stricken and immediately says, "Oh, um, I mean I'm kicking their bottoms." It was hysterical!

*****
So, last Wednesday, Glasses decided to steal from me. He wouldn't be still or quiet during rest time, so I finally had to make him sit by the door (our naughty spot). Suddenly, I hear the sound of a bunch of 'things' hitting the floor. I look over at him, and I see a few of my counting bears on the floor. I asked, "Where did those come from?" and he just looks at me. I tell him to put them away, and go back and sit down. He does, and a few minutes later, the same thing happens. So I say, "Do you have my counting bears in your pockets?" He shakes his head. I tell him to come over to my desk, and I ask him again if he has my counting bears in his pockets. Again, he says no. So I tell him, "Come here, I want to check your pockets." Well, then he looked worried. Sure enough, he pocket was filled with my counting bears! Ugh! I wanted to smack him!! Not so much for taking the bears (he certainly isn't the first to do that, and he won't be the last) but for lying right to my face about it! There is NOTHING I hate more than lying. NOTHING! I let him have it, telling him, among other things, that the next time he steals from me, I'll be calling the police. Then I sent him back to the door.

Forward to Friday (Halloween). Every Friday, the babies take their Treasure Test, which is simply a test on their sight words. The Treasure Words (sight words) are from our reading program. I don't like the way they introduce words because I think they go WAY too slow. We are now 10 weeks into school, and they are only expected to know 7 freakin' words!! But, I digress. If they can read all the Treasure Words to me on Friday, they get a treat. I always give them Smarties. (Smarties for my smarties!) There are a couple of kids who still haven't passed the test even once, despite there only being six words on the list up to that point. D.B. is one of those kids. Last week, I gave the babies two "bonus words," and told them that if they could read the bonus words, too, they would get an extra treat. OK, so D.B. comes over for his test. Up until this point, he's only been able to tell me "we." Well, he had obviously been working hard that week on his words, because he was able to read 5 out of the six words, and one bonus word!! I was shocked and thrilled! He finally earned his Smarties!

What the hell does all this have to do with Glasses you're wondering, right? Well, normally I give them their treats in the afternoon, but last Friday, we did our test before lunch since the rest of the day was going to be tied up with Halloween activities. When we were lining up for lunch, D.B. comes over and bangs on my arm, and says, "My candy." (If you're a regular reader, you'll know that's only the third time he's said more than one word at a time to me.) I figure out that he doesn't have his candy, so I ask, "Did someone pick up D.B.'s candy?" Nobody had it. I ask again, "Who has D.B.'s candy? It didn't just disappear." No one 'fesses up. I finally say, "We are NOT going to lunch until D.B. gets his candy back!" A couple of the babies say, "Glasses took it." So I ask him, "Do you have D.B.'s candy?" "No." I get closer to him. "Did you take D.B.'s candy?" Again, "No." "So, if I check your pockets right now, I'm not going to find his candy?" "No." I took a couple of steps toward him, and he knew I was going to check, so he says, "Well, maybe if somebody put it there." I seriously saw red!!! I had to stop myself from cracking him one! Naturally, the candy was in his pocket. My blood was seriously boiling. Again, it was more the lying RIGHT TO MY FUCKING FACE that bothered me than the stealing. Although, the stealing really pissed me off, too, because poor D.B. worked hard to earn that treat, and this little shit goes and steals it!! AAAUUUGGGHHH!! Naturally, Glasses is one of the three that hasn't learned his words yet. I really want to smack his parents for being so completely uninvolved with their child. Again, I digress...

I made him sit at the table with me during lunch, away from the rest of the babies. I already told him before we left the room that he would NOT be going to the parade, he would NOT be participating in the party, he would NOT be getting any treats, etc... On the way to the lunchroom, I brought him over to our security guard to ask her if she would keep him while the rest of us went to the parade, and she laid into him, too. She suggested we call the police. I said I was going to seriously think about it. On Friday, we have gym, so of course, I made him stay with the security guard while I took the rest of the class up to the gym. Then, while walking back down the four freakin' flights of stairs (!) I decided that I was just going to call his house and have him picked up. There was no reason for him to stay, since he was NOT going to be participating in ANY of the Halloween fun.

I called his home number, and got no answer. I called the emergency number, which I think was his aunt, and a woman answered. I told her who I was, and that I tried calling his mom, but there was no answer, and then asked if she had another number. She asked what number I called, and I told her, and she says, "Oh, that's the right number. As a matter of fact, I was just talking to her." So, I figure, that's why she didn't answer, she was on the other line. I thank the aunt, and tell her I'm going to call again. She says, "Oh, no, I'll call for you. If she sees it's the school, she won't answer." Of course!! Why would you answer if your child's school is calling? I mean, hell, your child could have been in a terrible accident or something, so why would you need to know that?! Ugh! Anyway, I tell the aunt the whole story and tell her to tell the mom that she needs to come get him right now. That was at 11:00. Guess who was still there at 2:45? Guess who had to sit in the naughty spot all freakin' day (because I couldn't send him to another classroom, since everyone was celebrating)? Guess who bugged me all afternoon, mostly because everytime I turned my back, he was poking his head around the corner and making faces at the rest of the class? Eh....alright, ChiTown, let it go, it was days ago.... Glasses didn't come to school yesterday, although I doubt it had anything to do with what happened on Friday. Guess who didn't really care, and just enjoyed a day without Glasses? Now guess who is on the express train to hell for feeling that way about a little boy? Just trying to keep it real....

Wow, I guess this saga makes up for a week of no posts, huh? I'm gonna let you off the hook, and not write anymore tonight. I think my son and I are going to have a movie night, since the only thing on TV right now is all election related, and I can't take anymore!

Fantastic Friday!!!

Mostly because it's a 3 day weekend!!! Thank you, Christopher Columbus!

One of my absolute favorite blogs is Cake Wrecks. (Notice the link over there on the side.) You really should check it out if you've never read it. It makes me laugh every single day! Today's post is especially funny. Enjoy!
My little buddy E.B. looks, to me, exactly like David here. Except for the crazy teeth, of course. E.B. is missing most of his front teeth, so he's even cuter!! He has the same round face, and cute little triangle-shaped nose, plus those cute ears. I'm telling you, just like David! So, from now on, I'm going to refer to him as "David." You may remember that David came to me from a therapeutic school. He has kept me thoroughly entertained for the past 5 weeks. He says and does some of the funniest things of any baby I've ever had in my class. Remember the day he let D.B. into the line in front of him? There are so many other cute stories, I could create a blog just to tell David stories. These are the things just from today that I actually remembered to write down:

• We received a new student today (I'll bitch, I mean write, about that in a minute). David is one of the most friendly kids in my class, and New Boy was having a difficult time, so I asked David to be his "buddy" for the day, and show him the way we do things. So David says, very enthusiastically, "I'll teach him EVERYTHING all day today!"
• At the end of lunch, I chose David and New Boy to be the table washers. (I know, sounds like a punishment, but trust me, my kids fight over the job everyday!) I watched from afar as David showed New Boy where to get the washrag, then how to wash the table (so cute!) and then after he shows him, he says, "Ok, you do it just like that, New Boy." After a few minutes, he actually turns to him and says, "Great job, New Boy!" I swear, my heart melted a bit!
• As we came out of the lunch room, we were making our way to the stairway to go up to gym, and there were a couple of guys coming in with some sort of construction material. I had to tell the babies to please move quickly and quietly because we were making them wait for us. The men waited to the side as we started up the stairs. Naturally, David and New Boy were at the end of the line since they just came out of the lunchroom after doing their job. As I was walking up the stairs, I hear David say, "Hell-O PEE-ple, how YOU doin'?" (I was trying to show you how he emphasized the words) I almost wet my pants! As did the men, I'll tell ya! He's so damn funny and cute! Thankfully, they answered him back, because I wouldn't have wanted him to think they were laughing at him.
• When we got up to the fourth-freakin'-floor to the gym, as ALWAYS, David turns to me and blows me kisses as I tell them all to "be good and have fun!" He is just so adorable and sweet.
• At one point this afternoon, D.B. tripped over a chair leg and fell down. David rushed over to him to help him up, and asks, "Are you alright, Little Buddy?" I could eat this kid up with a spoon!

For seven years now, I've been asking/begging/pleading with the office to please not send new students to our classrooms in the middle of the day. If the parents can't get in and get the child registered before school starts at 9:00, then they should have to bring the child back the next day to start school. But, of course, the Hell-Hole does everything ass-backwards, so they have no set times to accept new students, they just let people register at whatever time they walk in, and then they send the kids to their new classrooms. So, this morning, as I'm in the middle of our reading block, the office interrupts on the intercom and asks how many students I had on my roster. I made the mistake of telling the real number (meaning, I didn't include the two that go to preschool in the afternoon) and I just knew that meant I'd be getting a new student. Damn it!!! Sure enough, about 10 minutes later, there's a knock at my door, and standing there is a mom and her two sons. Greeaaattt!!!

So now, I have to stop my lesson, meet and greet the new mom and her son, have a freakin' twenty minute conversation with the mom, all while my other 21 babies are supposed to be keeping themselves occupied. Yeah, like that's gonna happen! Needless to say, it completely upset the peace in our classroom, and it took several minutes to get them back under control. By this time, we had missed a big chunk of instructional time. Then, to make things even better, New Boy suddenly started wailing, saying he wants to go home. Well, of course you do! You were thrown into this crazy room with kids who were already in the middle of a routine that they know, you have no idea how to follow along or what to do, your new teacher is sounding like a big meanie because she's trying to get the rest of the class back on track, gee, why would you want to go home?

Ready for the icing on the cake? Today we had people at school from CPS and from the state doing a walkthrough! Yeah, that's right. And, when do you think they walked in? Go 'head, guess! Yep, you got it! Right in the middle of this chaos! So, here I am, sitting with New Boy, who's crying, the other 21 are basically running amok, even though they really were given something to do. Unfortunately, we were going to try a new center today, which I was in the middle of explaining when New Boy and his mom showed up. Needless to say, they didn't really have a complete grasp on what the hell they were supposed to do, so it seemed like they were wandering aimlessly around the room. What they were supposed to be doing was "Writing the Room," which simply means they walk around with their clipboard and paper, writing whatever words they see around the room. Normally, this is one of the babies' favorite activities, but like I said, they really weren't 100% sure of what to do. Now, here come 5 strangers into the room, wandering around, watching them, looking into every nook and cranny of my room, and, I'm sure, wondering why the hell we were writing when we were supposed to be reading. Gee, guess I didn't make a very good impression, huh? Oh well, fire me!! PLEASE!! I could use the break!

I'm sure I'll be hearing next week from our LLT about what the Higher Ups had to say about what they saw. Ask me if I care. Oh, never mind, you already know the answer. Hell no!

Another cute thing I heard today...One of babies (the last new girl I received) was trying hard to tell me a "story" during our reading time. I tried to ignore her for a few minutes, but then I firmly reminded her that it wasn't time for telling stories, it was time for listening. Well, when we moved off the rug to start our next activity, I remembered that she wanted to tell me something that started with "My momma said..." (That's usually a BIG clue that I don't really want to hear the rest!) I asked her, "Now, what did you want to tell me?" Confused look. "Remember, you started to say, 'My momma said...'" "Oh, yeah! My momma said that you are the bestest teacher in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!" Of course, she threw her arm up to show me how big the world is. Awww....and for the 2,385th time...THIS is why I show up at the Hell-Hole every morning!! Of course I told her, "That's because I have the best students in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!" She's another cutie patootie. I think a great nickname for her would be Sunny, since she's always got a sunny disposition. Always smiling, always happy, love her!!

Since I didn't work at the bar Wednesday because I had a Mothers' Club meeting, I'm working tonight, so I guess I'd better start getting ready. I hope you all have a great weekend. I know I will, although I'm not entirely sure what we'll be doing on Monday. For the past 14 years, we've spent Columbus Day at the pumpkin farm, since we were off from school. But, now that my son and niece are at private high schools, they don't get Monday off. Crap! For some reason, they'll be off on Friday instead. Weird. My younger niece IS off on Monday, though, so I'm tempted to just take her to the farm. However, the two older kids actually want to go, so I'm a bit torn. I've thought about maybe trying to go on Sunday instead, but I know I'll be really tired after working Friday and Saturday at the bar. I guess we'll just play it by ear. It's kinda buggin' me that I'm not even going to be able sleep in on Monday, since I still have to drive my son to school. Ah, the joys of motherhood, right? I hope the rest of you get to enjoy a day off with your families on Monday. Later!

My parents spent the first few years of my life trying to teach me to walk and talk. Now, all they do is tell me to sit down and be quiet!
-- (One of my boys wore a T-shirt to school today with this printed on it. So
funny!)

It's so crazy to me that I started this post at 4:51, like the time stamp says, but I'm just finishing this now, at 6:12. In between, I've done dishes, made dinner, fed my son, thrown a load of clothes in the washer, and had a snack. Women really are the superior sex, aren't we? ;-)

Welcome...

...to The Bus Driver. I discovered this blog a few weeks ago, and I've thoroughly enjoyed reading it ever since. All of my friends in the education field should check it out, (as well as the rest of you!) because it's really interesting to see another point of view for what happens in our schools.

Just for the record, Twin Boy has been back to his old tricks again for the past two days. Ah, it was great while it lasted...Tuesday, the one boy who had asked to high five him the day before actually said something in the morning about how he hoped Twin Boy was going to have another good day. It was so precious. The morning was ok, but as the day went on, it got progressively worse. By the end of the day he was back to punching people. Today was a train wreck from start to finish. I can't even count how many times he hit someone, and he was disruptive all day. It was very difficult to get our lesson finished, because the other babies were having so much trouble hearing me. Plus, it's hard to concentrate on what The Queen is saying when there's a boy rolling on the floor, throwing things, yelling out, and so on. If only there was another adult in the room, it would change everything.

Another big "break through" with D.B. yesterday. I was making the rounds at lunch, opening milk, ketchup and mustard packets, and sporks. D.B. held up his ketchup packet for me to open, which I did. Then, he held up his mustard and very clearly said, "I don't like this." I almost had to sit down. I've continued to ask him to talk to me throughout the day. If he wants to switch centers, he'll normally come over to me, bang on my arm, and then point at the center he wants to go to. I'll say, "Do you want to go to ______ (dominoes, counting bears, links, etc.)?" He'll nod his head, but then I'll say, "Tell me 'I want to go to dominoes'." He usually will just get out "dominoes," but still, it makes me happy.

When Mom came to pick him up today, I told her about yesterday's sentence, and how he's come so far. She was so happy, and relieved, to hear it. She said D.B. told her "I have to get used to the other kids, Mama." So, naturally, I asked her if he speaks at home, and she said he did. Now, obviously, I have no idea what that really means. He's able to make himself understood without being verbal. I told her that I'd keep working with him, and I joked that I hoped soon enough I would be complaining to her that D.B. can't keep his mouth shut! :)

Look what we made...

I totally stole this from Michaele over at Kindergarten's 3 Rs. However, when I read her post yesterday, I couldn't see the pictures because I was at school, so we just made them the way I thought her's looked. We finished ours today, then when I got home, I checked her blog and could see ours are not the same at all. But, I think they're still really cute! Her class made fall apple trees, but we just made Fall Trees, hence the leaves that are also on the ground. The babies loved making these. I'm sure they would have loved it even more if their anal-retentive freak of a teacher would have given them a little freedom. I didn't let them do the fingerprinting by themselves because I was afraid they would "ruin" their trees. I actually held their little fingers, dipped them in the paint, and pressed them down on the paper. Yes, I know, I'm so mean!! But, look how cute they turned out!! I did let one of the babies attempt to do her own, but I had to literally sit on my hands to not jump in and help her. I don't think her tree is as cute as the others. (Did I just say that out loud?)

Those of you have been reading this blog for a while will undoubtedly remember my darling D.J. from last year. For those not in the know, he was probably the most difficult child I've had to deal with in my nearly 20 years of teaching. Well, his little brother, also D.J., is in kindergarten this year. Thankfully, he's in the other room. However, I've had to deal with him in one way or another every one of the past 17 school days. He makes my D.J. look like an angel! Today, he went too far, and I lost it. He had been acting up all morning, and all through lunch. Ms. W., the other kindergarten teacher, is a bit lax with her children, and even though it bugs the living shit out of me, I haven't said or done anything about it. Today, however, I couldn't keep my mouth shut. D.J. was a beast all through lunch, throwing food, getting up out of his seat, running around, etc. She finally tried to get him and three other boys to sit and behave properly, but it was pretty much a lost cause. She took the rest of the class with her when lunch was over, but left the four boys with a parent who was there helping her. Naturally, they starting acting up immediately, and completely ignoring this mom. Mrs. Meanie wasn't going to stand by and do nothing, so I went over to reprimand them. D.J. basically just looked at me and laughed, then continued to act up. I warned him that if he didn't straighten out his act, he would be staying with me while the rest of the class went to gym.

I then left with my class, walked up to the third floor to art, and ended up coming back down with two of my beasts. I mean babies. One had been punching people all morning, and did it again on the way to art, and the other wouldn't stop pushing people on the stairs, and ended up causing about 6 boys to fall, like dominoes, on the stairs. They ended up falling into ME, almost making me fall down the entire flight of concrete stairs!! Needless to say, I was NOT happy. I stopped in Ms. W.'s room, and saw that she had kept those 4 boys back from gym. They were supposed to be sitting with their heads down, being quiet, but of course, they were talking, playing, generally doing whatever they wanted. She seemed oblivious to their behavior, which really was starting to piss me off. I told them all to be quiet, and little D.J. proceeds to pick up two pencils and starts banging on the table!! I wanted to "bust my foot off in his ass!" (One of my favorite Englewood-isms!) I told him I was taking him to call his mother, and he just smirked. We started toward the office, and one of the assistants that was in the hall asked if I was looking for his mom. Mom apparently just picked up the little brother from preschool, and had just walked out. Ms. S., the assistant, literally ran out the front door to try and catch her. In the meantime, D.J. starts with the crocodile tears. (A word to the wise: That only manages to piss me off even more. Pass it on.) Ms. S. just missed catching Mom. She then told me that this morning D.J. had been banging on a door, and when Ms. S. told him to stop, he stuck his tongue out at her! Ugh! Then, another woman spoke to him about the same thing, and he stuck his tongue out at her.

All this time, D.J. is still wailing. We went back to my room to get his phone number, and he just wouldn't be quiet. There's NOTHING I hate more than fake crying, simply for the show. Especially when it's LOUD! He was being incredibly defiant. I told him to sit, he refused. I told him to be quiet, he got louder. He was so loud, the class coming from the library heard him. One boy suddenly stopped at my door, and lo and behold, it was his big brother. I explained what had been going on and why his brother was crying, and big brother started to lay into him. It actually was hard not to laugh at him because he was trying so hard to sound like a parent. "Stop all that noise, boy! If you want to cry, I'll give you something to cry about!" He knew the crying was fake, and told D.J. just that. In the windup, he went to the office and called his mom for me. He came back and said D.J.'s dad would be coming to get him.

About a half hour later, Dad knocks on my door. Now, this man is also my D.J.'s father, but I never met him once in the year his son was with me. I let him know what's been going on today, as well as the past three weeks. I've decided that this year, I wasn't going to hold back at all with my parents. They need to know exactly what their children are doing, even if they then want to deny it. ("Not MY baby!") I gave dad every detail of what I've witnessed and dealt with first-hand. I told him that no matter how D.J. is allowed to act toward the adults in their home, he was NOT going to act that way at school. He IS going to be respectful, he IS going to listen, he IS going to do what he's told, and so on. Of course, Dad is nodding his head, saying, "You're right, you're right, Mrs. L.!" and acting outraged at his son's behavior. Was it just an act? Who knows. My guess is yes, because if he really believed his child should be acting a certain way, then he would have taught him that at some point in the past 5 years, would he? Whatever, I'm just glad he showed up. At least that's a step in the right direction, as far as I'm concerned. I told them both that if he didn't start showing some respect to Ms. W., I would be transferring him to MY room. D.J. didn't like that one bit! I'm curious to see how tomorrow goes. God knows, I don't want to take him, but I don't want to make empty threats, either. Hopefully, it won't come to that.

Other than all the BS I had to deal with thanks to these boys, the rest of the day was pretty darn good. I loved making the trees with the babies!! I know, I know, I should have let them do it alone, but I'm really happy with the way they turned out. I'm moving them to the hallway tomorrow. My little buddy, D.B. had yet another great day. He very nearly made me cry this morning. He actually said, "Mrs. L., I gotta pee." I realize this seems like a bizarre reason to get teary-eyed, but up until now, he has NEVER said my name. It's been all grunts, pointing and banging on me. The only word he's uttered to this point has been, "pee." The first week of school, he would just burst into tears when he had to go to the bathroom. It would take me several minutes to figure out he had to go to the bathroom. I starting telling him that I couldn't understand him when he cried like that, and all he had to do was say he had to use the bathroom. He could only manage to get out "pee," but at least it wasn't crying!! Other than that, he literally has not said one single, solitary other word. At some point this morning, I felt someone banging on me (He's FAR from the only one who does it!) and then I heard, "Mrs. L., I gotta pee." I looked down, and saw that it was D.B., and I swear to you, I got teary-eyed!! He didn't say another word the rest of the day, but that's ok by me. In my opinion, today was a break-through.

As much as I'd love to keep boring you (haha!), I need to get my act together for tonight. I'm working at the bar, and we're having our third Dinner, Dancing and Drinks event. It's going to be a busy night, so I think I'm going to try and nap. I ended up working last night (maybe I'll bitch about why later) so I'm wiped out. Especially after the day I've had! Maybe I'll fill my tub, and nap in there. Hmmm, sounds heavenly....

I'm afraid I'll jinx myself....

...by putting this in black and white. But, so far, 2008-2009 seems like it just may be a good year! Damn, now I'll probably get 6 new kids Monday morning!!!

So far, we have finished 9 days of kindergarten, and "we're 9 days smarter." For the third year in a row, I have a disproportionate number of boys to girls, as does the other kindergarten class. Right now, I have 7 girls and 13 boys. Last year, I had 7 girls and 23 boys!! I don't remember the exact numbers from the year before that, but the 2nd grade teacher asked me about it the first week of school because she couldn't believe how many boys she had. Must be something in the water in Englewood the past few years. Who knows. I shouldn't even admit this, but my cynical, jaded side thought for moment, "Gee, I wonder if the powers that be know about this trend, cuz their gonna need to build more jails in about 10 years." Yes, I know, that's horrible. That's what being in Englewood for 10 years had done to me. I immediately pushed that thought out of my head, and put my focus on trying to do something to ensure the exact opposite happens.

Another strange thing this year - our enrollment is WAY down. The first week of school, we only had 305 kids enrolled at the Hell-Hole. 305! By the end of the week, Mrs. J. in the office told me we were up to 429. Still a pitiful number. I do know, however, that during that week before the students came back, I saw three of my babies from last year and their parents in the office all asking for transfer papers.

One was my little D.S., who you might remember was the baby who needed to be thisclose to me all the time. He's the one that said, "Mrs. L., I love it when you touch me," and wanted "100 shmarshmallows." Jeez, I could think of a million more cute things he said and did. Anyway, I actually hugged his mom and celebrated the fact that he was going somewhere else. There isn't enough at the Hell-Hole for him. What a sad statement, huh? I know I gave him the best foundation I could, but I'm not that confident that there would have been a continuation of the same dedication to his education. I'm not for one minute trying to say that I'm the #1 teacher at the Hell-Hole. We have many teachers who care as much as I do about their students. But, unfortunately, they don't always have the resources to do everything they know or want to do for their students. Plus, we have a number of teachers there who simply show up everyday to collect their checks every other Friday (despite how small they are!) Add that to the fact that our staff turns over by 50-60% EVERY SINGLE YEAR, and it's a recipe for disaster.

That all leads to why so many of our kids have left. Because the Hell-Hole has been on probation for so long, the parents in the neighborhood have all been given the option to send their children to other, "better" schools. Obviously, many have opted to do just that. Which leaves me a bit torn. I'm really happy for those kids who will now get the quality of education they deserve. Hopefully, it will lead to a path of higher education that will someday get them out of that neighborhood and open doors to opportunities they might not have had.

But, at the same time, no students=no jobs. I'm not for a second worried about my job. Worst case scenario, the other kindergarten gets closed, and I will have to do both classes, probably as two half-day classes. Actually, I wouldn't mind that so much. I'm worried for the other teachers, especially those 'brand new' ones that were just hired. They come so full of enthusiasm and energy, and truly feel they can make a difference in the lives of these kids. I would hate for them to have to leave, but it's a very real possibility.

Very worst case scenario, Hell-Hole is closed due to low enrollment. Now, you gotta know, there's a small part of me that actually hope that happens. Maybe then, Big Cheese would be "forced" to retire. Within a year or two, the school would be reopened, but with a whole new administration, and probably new staff, and maybe things could finally turn around in that neighborhood. Ok, whoa, I'm getting way ahead of myself here. One can dream, can't they?

OK, back to this year's babies. For the most part, I LOVE them already. D.B. has actually been able to string together a couple of wonderful days. Just like she said, Mom didn't stay on Wednesday. There were a few ugly moments in the morning when he realized she was leaving, but luckily, Mrs. G. was going to stay with me for a while and do the morning read-aloud. [You may remember Mrs. G. and G. Family because I wrote about them many times last year. I LOVE THIS FAMILY!!! But, more on them in a bit...] So, Mrs. G. simply put her arms around the screaming D.B., and continued to read the story that she was reading, gently persuading D.B. to be her helper and hold the book, turn the pages, etc. She's so great! After a few minutes he stopped crying. I was actually able to leave the room, get some things done in the office, and put up a bulletin board in the 15 minutes that she read. Have a mentioned that I LOVE THIS WOMAN?!

There were just a couple other moments of crying, but we were able to get them under control very quickly. Thursday, Mom was saying good-bye, and the crying (ok, screaming) started again, but this time, another mom was in my room. (I had her daughter last year, and her daughter, I.W. was one of my absolute favorites.) She knows D.B.'s mom from the neighborhood, so she proceeded to step in and handle the situation. That's one thing that I still can't get used to about my parents. They really believe "it takes a village" and have no problem stepping in with other people's children. I go back and forth over whether I think it's a good thing or not. I'll let you know when I decide! Anyway, she proceeded to use a little tough love on D.B., which only made the screaming escalate. This went on for a few minutes, and just when I was about to step in (and ask her to get the hell out of my room!) he sat down in his seat, and stopped crying. I wasn't really sure what I should do, because I didn't want to set him off again. I just continued on with our morning routine, and he actually seemed fine. The rest of the day went relatively smoothly, with only two other very short crying episodes. By the afternoon, he was really showing a new side of himself. For the first time, he joined the other kids during center time, and actually played! Maybe that sounds insignificant to some of you, but to me, it was HUGE! All the other days so far, he either just sat/lied on the carpet, or sat alone at a table watching the other kids. He also put himself smack in the middle of the carpet during calendar time. The first 7 days, he was either on the very outer edge of the group, or next to me. And, the most exciting part was that he did it completely on his own. I looked down, and was very pleasantly surprised to see him in the middle, surrounded by the other boys and girls. Yay, D.B.!! Naturally, I couldn't give him enough praise and encouragement that day, and even the other babies chimed in, giving him a hand for having such a great day. One of them commented that "he didn't even cry during centers." Too cute! His mom came about 15 minutes before dismissal, and was going to come in to check on him, but I stopped her at the door and said, "Please don't jinx me, he's having a GREAT day!" She seemed very relieved to hear that.

Friday, D.B.'s mom sat with him for a few minutes reading during our quiet reading time. He was actually smiling and enjoying his time with his Mommy. Right up until....I.W.'s mom walked into the room! He took one look at her, and started screaming!! Oh, crap!! But, believe it or not, he was able to pull himself together very quickly, and the moms both left. The rest of the day was great!

I actually came home Friday in a relatively good mood. Exhausted, but happy. I also came home with my period AND a cold, but that's for another post :(

Customers are coming into the bar now, so I'll have to write about my other babies later. Have a great weekend!!

Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see. ~John W. Whitehead, The Stealing of America, 1983

Day 6

Things have been....I don't know....odd (?)....at the Hell-Hole so far. I still only have 20 babies. Ha! ONLY!! If I thought it would stay that way all year, I would promise right here and right now to NEVER, NEVER, NEVER complain about the Hell-Hole for the rest of the year. But, I'm sure that's not the case, so I plan to continue my complaining ;-)

I have some interesting characters this year already. One of my boys came to me from a therapeutic school. WTF was his mother thinking?! Why, oh why would you take him out of that school to bring him here!?

Another of my boys has some serious issues. Developmental delays, for sure, among other things. His brother was in kindergarten a couple of years ago, and was in Dori's room. She worked her rear-end off all year trying to get this child staffed and into special ed to get him some help. She finally got him placed in a therapeutic day school, but his mother never took him. The mom used to come sit with him most days, which I think actually made it worse because he would pretty much do whatever he wanted and she allowed it. She very much babied him, and I see she's doing it with his little brother, too.

So far, she stayed in my room yesterday and today. His first day was actually Friday, and she didn't even bring him to class. His older brother, who I believe is in 6th grade, brought him. This baby then proceeded to scream bloody murder because he didn't want his brother to leave. He was screaming so loudly, that Big Cheese heard him all the way from his office and came down to see what the hell was going on. I know I've mentioned before that Big Cheese doesn't have much patience for this kind of stuff, so he immediately started yelling at this child. He then took him out of my room, and sent the brother up to class. I have no idea what he said or did, but about 5 minutes later, Big Cheese brought him back, and he seemed to be OK. At least for about 10 minutes. Then the screaming/crying started again.

I eventually had to have our security guard take him for a few minutes. He brought him back after a while, and things seemed ok for a bit. We went to lunch, then off to gym. Well, half-way through my prep, there's a knock at my door. I open it and this baby is standing there with his brother. Apparently D.B. took off out of the gym, which you may recall is on the 4th floor (!) and somehow, found his brother. So, his brother brought him to me! Well, I had just about had enough, so we all went down to the office so we could call mom. Naturally, no answer. Big Cheese happened to come in the office, and saw D.B. and asked what the problem was. I told him how he took off from the gym (which makes me wonder when the hell the gym teacher was gonna let me know about it...) and he told the brother to take him right back up there and bring him back to the gym. Yay, Big Cheese!

After gym, we were going to have quiet time, and D.B. started his screaming again. He kept trying to leave the room, and obviously I wasn't going to let that happen. He finally threw himself on the carpet, and then screamed/cried himself to sleep. Thank goodness! The rest of the afternoon went so smoothly! The rest of the babies were so funny. No one wanted to wake him up, so they were extra quiet, even during centers.

I realize this sounds like I didn't have a lot of patience for D.B., but remember that in between all this fun, I still had 19 other babies to take care of, assessments to administer, teaching to do, 100 bathroom breaks to take, all without any assistance. We don't have teacher aides AGAIN this year, so this is just really way too much to deal with for one person. Believe me, I would have loved nothing more than to take D.B. aside and talk him through his fits, and try and make him more comfortable, etc. But, how do I do that without ignoring the other 19? The answer is, you don't! Thankfully, I only have 20 instead of the usual 30, cuz then I'd really be screwed!

I found out today that this mom has 7 sons, and they are almost all this way. The talk around school is that she did a lot of drugs when she was pregnant, or more precisely, she just didn't stop doing them while pregnant. So very sad... D.B. has only been with me 3 days, so I'm curious to see how the rest of the year will go. Hell, I'm curious as to how the rest of the week will go, since Mom said she isn't coming tomorrow.

There are many other things I wanted to write about tonight, but I'm too beat. I actually was able to get up a few minutes early this morning and stuff my crockpot with deliciousness, so I had my sister, two nieces and my dad over for dinner tonight. I haven't cooked like this since probably before we opened the bar. (Chicken w/mushrooms, onions and diced tomatoes, steamed broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, tomato and basil salad, tossed salad, whole wheat pasta and the most delicious Butterfinger cake for dessert) Yesterday was my sister's birthday, and the Butterfinger cake is one her favorites, so this was sort of a birthday celebration, even though we all went out for dinner last night. Today is my mom's birthday, so we sang to her, even though she's in Italy. Then, my niece started crying because she misses her grandma! Ah, good times, good times...

Anyway, I have many, many dishes to do, so I'll tell you about the rest of the babies next time.

When teachers are mad, they don't blink.
---William, age 12