Wednesday, November 18, 2009

A Real Sick Day

About a month ago, I took a day off to be with Emerson and a friend and her daughter. It was a lovely day. We went to the Folsom Zoo, hung out at a park, and had oodles of snack foods. The lovely day was made even lovelier because the next day I had class, so taking off a Friday added a day to my too-short weekend. A perfect day.

Today was not that kind of day.

I dragged myself out of a bed a bit late, but managed to make coffee before Justin had to make his way to work at O'dark-thirty. The morning was puttering off to a regular Wednesday start...until I was starting my make-up routine and heard a cough.

A yucky wet cough from Em's room. Rut-ro.

Sure enough, I went in and Em had a 101.4 fever. Too high for day care.

Luckily, today is Wednesday, so there's a little more wiggle room in the morning. I was able to call in my sub and send a lesson plan (though not stellar) to my school.

Em and I spent the morning watching cartoons, which was nice but it got old fast. Then, I hit upon a new issue as the mom of a sick three year old. They get bored. And a sick, bored three-year old with a yucky cough is a bad deal. She kept wanting to run around and play, but then she'd double over with her cough. Not fun.

So we played dollie, painted, read stories, and even played around with mommy's scrap booking materials. Eventually, I relented and we watch Barbie Fairytopia, which is really bad, but Em sat memorized.

Needless to say, Em was less than pleased when Barbie completed her journey and finally got her pretty, pink wings, but she mostly willingly complied with taking a nap. She's still sleeping, a sure sign that she's sick.

Justin should be home soon, and I'll head to class in a couple hours. Tomorrow, it's back-to-work time. I'm more than a little scared about what happened with my 1st and 2nd period freshmen, but at least there's only two days of this week left. And tomorrow Justin's on Emy duty.

Real rough job, btw. :)

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Oh, Right...I'm a Nerd

For my past two graduate courses, I have not been feeling super studious. In fact, I have been a horrible student. Always rushing to finish my homework at the last minute, I managed to scrape by in the last two courses. But it was a close call.

It's not that my classes this year haven't been interesting. Well, one, the course on categorical programs and special education, was mildly interesting. But the other one, my fiscal class, was a bear.

Mostly, I have just not been interested. I have made a good-ish effort in participation: I bring my materials. I attend class. And I try to raise my hand at least once per class. Again, a good-ish effort, but not stellar.

But today I started my last credential course, and, surprisingly, I really like it. It's my foundation of school law class.

Actually, I shouldn't be surprised that I like it. The course is right up my alley: tons of information, new words and concepts, and even better--Latin. Awesome. I love Latin.

While I am tired, and I will not be crying tears of sadness when my class is done on December 12th, it is nice that my last course is on a subject I'm genuinely interested in. I took four pages of notes today...and it was fun.

Sick, I know.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Is Halloween the New Christmas?

There are certain events that I don't really remember pre-child. Halloween is one of them. I know I used to do things for Halloween before I had a kid, but my memories are a hazy blend of drinking, questionable costumes, and too much candy.

Now, as a mother, Halloween has become a paramount event. I'm not quite sure why, as Emerson still doesn't really get it. But for some reason I now get really excited. Here's the tale of our Halloweens so far as parents.

First Halloween
As I was still in the haze of early motherhood and Em was only 4 months old, this was a quiet evening. It was a Wednesday, so there wasn't a whole lot of action. We dressed Em as a jalapeno, which she hated, handed out candy, and had a couple beers.

Second Halloween
This is where my mad desire to make Halloween special began to surface. I don't know if I was feeling homesick or lonely (we had just moved to Sacramento the summer before), but all of a sudden it became really important to capture the magic of the holiday. So we carved pumpkins, dressed Em as Yoda, and attended my uncle's church's "Trunk o' Treating."

Third Halloween
Last year, Halloween was a bit truncated. We had to leave that evening to drive to Redding. Also, Em was NOT into having a costume at all. At first I was really bummed, but then I came to the realization that Halloween was not about me, but her. So I made sure to do things she likes. Em really loves all things pumpkin. So we went to a harvest festival with my mom, carved pumpkins, and bought a veritable family of little pumpkins.

Fourth Halloween
Last night, we celebrated a full Halloween. Em dressed as Super Girl, which she only mildly hated. That evening, Em and I went with friends to a Waldorf School "Pumpkin Path", which was a very sweet, calm alternative to traditional trick o'treating. Afterwards, we went back to our friends' house and had Em's first sleep over, which was partially successful. She fell asleep okay but in the middle of the night she woke up scared. We took her into the living room with us. Then, the real sleep over began. She kept us up all night wanting to play. Needless to say, this morning hurt. But we remedied the situation with a greasy breakfast in a bar/restaurant. Nice.

So I seem to be over my must-make-Halloween-special disease, but I am struck by a weird post-Christmas like feeling I have after every Halloween. My mood reminds me of being a kid, having opened all your presents and eaten way too many cookies, and thinking "what now?"

There's always Thanksgiving...