Finally...

Joe's company has promoted him. For ages, he has been doing more and more, above and beyond what his original job description called for. It only took his company 2 years to recognize and reward him. He is now the supervisor in his area. It came with a raise and hopefully at the end of the month they will give a merit based raise as well. My husband is truly amazing and quite an invaluable asset to his company. He is also an invaluable asset to our little family and we are so proud of him!!

New accomplishments

Samuel can now hold his own sippy. This is a big deal because now I can hand it to him and he can drink himself. Of course this means that he chews the sippy nipple and splashes milk all over the place which in turn makes him laugh and do it more. He learned to say "all done." When he sees his daddy he says "dadadada." He likes to clap a lot. If we can get him to walk at all, we all cheer him on and clap when he reaches his destination. He smiles and claps along with everyone.

Joseph recognizes all the letters in their upper and lower case. We are working on getting him to read some words. He has counted to 31 and is still a bitt muffled with 14 through 19, but once he reaches 20 (with help) he counts on his own. He is also picking up on some Spanish. Since I am teaching at Walden, I told him he could come if he can learn and remember words in Spanish. He doesn't always remember them, but at least he is trying to say things whereas before, he wouldn't even try.

It is actually Tuesday morning, and I am getting ready to go to jury duty selection. I have never done this before, so I am a bit nervous and extremely tired. The clock may have said it was 6:15 in the morning, but my body felt like it was only 5:15. I need to go and get some snacks in case I am there longer than I hope to be.

Walking Samuel

This is a pic of Samuel walking around the toy room. He was getting more and more confident, but not long after this picture, he let go to walk towards me and fell backward and bumped his head pretty hard. Since then, he has been even more hestant to venture steps alone. I am trying to help him along. Joseph cheers and claps anytime Samuel walks on his own. My reserved little boy will get brave enough to do it alone!

"I scream" if you take my ice cream...

Samuel loves to grasp and crawl with an ice cream puzzle piece. I need to find it again. It is "lost" temporarily. Also he likes to grasp a small magnetic apple piece, a chimpanzee magnetic piece, or any other small pieces. Tonight he was playing in our closet and then he fell forward and hit his face on the doorframe. I have blood on my shirt. He calmed down pretty fast because he was nibbling on his sippy cup and yanking it out of his mouth.

Conversation:

Joseph: "Mommy, how did Samuel get out of your belly?"
Mommy: (thinks for a minute before responding) "Mommy pushed him out."
Joseph: (incredulously) "You did?!"

And I remember why I left teaching...

Today in biology a group of 6 guys were swearing and not doing their final paper for the class. After a few warnings, I decided to get up and inquire how things were going:

Me: "How is your paper coming along?"
Student: "I am not doing the paper because you didn't take me to Bajio."
Me: "You are doing your paper because I didn't take you to Bajio? You are not in my class."
Student: "I am not in Josh's class and he let me go to Kneader's with them."
Me: "I guess I am not as nice as Josh."
Student: "That kind of came back to slap you in the face (referring to not taking him to Bajio."

Yeah. Students like him (which are all too common) are a pain and have no respect. They feel all too entitled. This was a perfect reminder of why I wanted to leave teaching in the first place. Thank you student for refreshing my memory.

Substituting and more

This past week I have substituted at Walden and am so very grateful that I don't work there full time anymore. It is fun, but so exhausting. Yesterday Joseph called me and was almost in tears because he missed me. Samuel woke up this morning and just wanted me to hold him. At least next week, I am back to only teaching for a couple of hours a day, four days a week. Of course, I guess next week I am teaching health and have to prep and grade stuff. Yeesh. :P

They also want me to fill in for their counselor when she goes on maternity leave in April. I will see what it entails, but I can't guarantee anything because I miss my boys too much as it is. If I can bring them with me, that is another story.

Joseph and Samuel had their iron levels tested this week. They are both good. Joseph has grown about an inch in the past couple of months. Samuel has gained over 1 pound in the past month. Joseph complimented the lady that pricked his finger. He said, "That was really good. You did a great job." Today at school he was talking to any of the junior high and high school students that would listen to him. He made a lot of friends today. Only one more day this week and then I will have a less intense couple of weeks ahead of me. :)