Category: Uncategorized (Page 102 of 188)

and another one down..

April 17, 2011 / Michele Minehart

Today my baby girl turned one. All the veteran parents tell me how with each consecutive kid the time flies by exponentially and this has so far proven true. With the oldest, everything is new with each passing year. The next ones file in line and you wake up one day and she’s walking. Then talking. Then going to prom. Eeck.

I’m a bit saddened that Miss M only has 3 months left as the baby before moving into Older Sister ranks. In the past several weeks she’s been such a delight, discovering new things and engaging people in ways she hadn’t before. She’ll be a wonderful big sis, but I’ve enjoyed her as the baby girl. I really hope she’s not being jipped out of some special spotlight time with the new addition. But she has such personality that I think it will be hard to loose her in the shuffle.

So a bit about the little lady on this monumental day:

She’s trying to mimic words: thank you, milk, mommy/daddy, more, animal sounds, choo choo… Just tonight H was singing O’Toodles (from Mickey) and we hear M follow up.. “oooo toooo tooo”.
She’s an eating machine. Probably more than H eats at this point (he’s slowed down significantly over the winter. Hibernation?). For her birthday celebration we grilled chicken soak, had baked beans, a few picnic-y salads and she shared her cake – Pineapple Upside Down – as it’s also her daddy’s favorite.
She’s taking many consecutive steps! She’ll often take off from standing by the coffee table, especially if she thinks no one is looking. I think we’re going to have some races before too long.
She’ll blow kisses night night or even give you a real one (if you’re in the elite circle). She was nuzzling with me at church this morning. Oh, how a mom treasures those times.
She’s almost done with her bottles. She only gets one at night, but we’re on the last can of formula and I’m not buying more, so we’re about done. The past few nights she hasn’t even finished off what we’ve offered. Such a big girl.
She’s such a good listener! Tonight husband was already upstairs, so I just asked M to go upstairs to put on her jammies. And she did it. She’ll put her bink back in bed when we ask and sit down in her high chair (from standing) when firmly reminded. She knows so much more than what we think!
She’s even aware of dressing – she’ll try to put on shoes (mine, hers, whatever is close). She got a pair of bunny ears for her birthday and she tried to put them on her head. She even held a new shirt she got for her birthday up to her face, I think because she was trying to put it on. Maybe we will be able to leave the house completely dressed with three of them.
She loves to press buttons that make music. We have a hand-me-down Disney princess book that stays on the coffee table as a makeshift jukebox. She’ll sway with the music and even bob her head. She got a new set of wheels today that plays fairy music. Can I tell you the delight that brings everyone in this household? (Yes, you might detect a slight bit of sarcasm in that statement).
She’ll do anything that her big brother is doing – pulling cushions down from the couch and jump on them, climb things, try to ride his “car” (she’s nearly able to get a leg over on her own). I can hear the tune playing now… “anything you can do I can do better….”

So that’s our little lady in a nutshell. She so bright and fun (well, when Aunt Gigi isn’t around, right? She chippered right up this evening after the big crew left…). And she has a new pile of pink threads that mama needs to wash, so it’s time to wrap this one up.

Happy Birthday my sweet Miss M.

in the gap

April 12, 2011 / Michele Minehart

Today I recieved an email that nearly brought me to tears. It was actually a facebook message notification, several paragraphs long, containing primarily school district information and links to progress plans and the like. So it wasn’t necessarily what the email said, but what the email meant.
This spring kicked off year #2 that husband has been looking for a full-time teaching gig. I’ve mentioned his last positions in passing – a half time teacher/aid position at a ridiculously awful school and then a long-term sub post for a retiring teacher that ended in the position disippaiting for next year. Now we’re on to the 2011-12 openings, and thus far there have been 2 in his subject area. For the state of Ohio.
Husband has been told 3 times that he was 2nd choice. I’m not sure it’s all that comforting to know that he was *this* close. He’s had numerous interviews and after several (the “2nd choice” ones) he comes home feeling really good about it. And then… no. The disappointment is suffocating.
I know that he’ll be a great teacher. He was this past year, even in extremely difficult situations. It’s a tough time to be – or become – a teacher. But we’ve been working toward this for nearly 4 years, from the time he decided to return to school for a masters. We’ve put a lot out there – moved, left jobs, got new jobs, juggled schedules and trimmed a household budget down to the nibs. But we did it knowing it would be worth it.
Right?
The lack of clarity weighs on us… we’re willing to move for a good position, so it’s been mentally tough to get settled. I couldn’t even decide how much of a garden I would plant this year for fear I wouldn’t be around to tend and harvest it. I told him the other evening that for 3 years now all I’ve wanted was to plant berry bushes, but I keep holding off to make sure we’ll actually get to taste the fruit. We can’t imagine where we’ll be in 5 months, the future just a cloudy fog of unknown.
Don’t get me wrong; we’re extremely fortunate. My employer has been more than gracious with time off to have babies and yet taking on exciting assignments and working part time, but at a wage that I can afford to do so. We fell in a huge heap o’ luck and blessing when we bought our house; no matter how small the paychecks, we don’t fear foreclosure. Rather, we have more than enough of everything we need. Our cars run, our fridge is full and we rarely feel like we’re missing anything – life is, actually, good. We both have an ongoing opportunity to take on more hours, so if an education opening doesn’t pan out, we’re not down to nothing. In all of this, we’re very well cared for and we realize that we’re blessed. We live knowing that it’s going to be alright. Because it always is.
So we’ve lived in the tension of knowing we’ll be fine yet perpetually yearning for what is next. Sometimes, hope is exhausting.
So when Sarah J (sorry, “D”, but she’ll always be J to me) has taken step after step to help us, offering advice, tidbits and even writing a recommendation on his behalf, I’ve been taken aback by the love. So often these kinds of struggles are bore alone, but she has stepped into our plight willingly and graciously.
Our friends and family have shown concern and empathy with our situation; there have been many a prayer on our behalf. That’s about all one can do, unless s/he’s a principal with a business education opening next year. But SJD was put into a place that could offer us direction and advice, a practical leg-up alongside the spiritual one.
And she stepped in.
I’ve heard the rhetoric before about “standing in the gap” for those around us, being a voice and an advocate. I know the situation seems trivial, but I feel like that’s what she’s done. She went home sick, 9 months pregnant, but was sure to send us all her thoughts and advice for this simple 1st round interview. And her thoughts weren’t generci, simple flippant attempts to brush us off, but rather true words of hearing and seeing our situation.
I’m thankful for friends who love like that. Even if it pans to nothing – which is likely in a district that has, quite literally, thousands of applicants a year – it’s yet another experience for us to know that really we’re never alone.

wa-piSH

April 6, 2011 / Michele Minehart

I won’t lie. H-Boy is in training. Not for his run at the ’18 Olympics as the next Gary Hall Jr. (though I think we’ll start swim lessons this summer), but in hopes for maximum self-sufficiency in T-minus 3 months. About a month ago I realized that if I ever want to leave the house, I simply cannot tie 8 shoes. So, from that time on, I’ve been introducing the boy to both daily tasks and responsibilities that I think he can handle and velcro.

I had a few friends over one evening and they found it quite hilarious the amount of work the boy does; gets his own shoes, puts on/takes off his own clothes (except the shirt – pulling over the head is a hard one; we recently mastered socks as long as I give a good 10 minute head start from when we need to have them on). He puts his dishes (plastic!) in sink and, probably the most challenging: he is responsible for the current locale of his milk. I offer a few suggestions about where it might be, but he may have to go on a milk hunt to have a drink. He’s always been pretty good about putting it on the table (even a coaster – since he was young!), so it’s not too, too hard to find it out in the open. He also does a lot of carrying – groceries from the car (the light stuff! Come on, I’m not ruthless), clothes to the hamper, whathaveyou. I’m finding he also loves to do the dishes (well, he holds a sponge and a singular cup gets verrry clean while I do the rest).

He’s also a super-helper when it comes to clean up. Part of that might be due to his semi-quirky nature about needing things just right; another factor may be that I’m always having him do it. Sometimes he needs told a time or five, but he eventually gets the toys in the toy box. I wish I’d taken a picture of the giant bowling pins he lined up along the wall when I asked him to get them off my kitchen floor.

Tonight he was in charge of putting away the books he dumped off the shelf in search of the perfect read. I’ve mostly been putting them back away, but tonight Mickey remained unplayed until the books were on the shelf. Once he realized that cause-and-effect relationship, it took no less than 30 seconds to have things stacked. I was in awe that it really was that simple.

It’s a selfish ambition that we’ve worked on these skills; very little has to do with me wanting him “developmentally appropriate” (though it’s nice to have something to tell the ladies at the home visits). But I did some thinking after recent articles around education/learning that caused me to feel a bit validated.

When I’d posted about the homework issue, I was appreciative of my kindergartener-teacher friend who shared her experiences. She mentioned that it helps to teach some responsibility, and another former-lower grade (now collegiate) teacher validated that students need that direction. After reading and hearing about kids of various ages that can’t put on their own pants, hang up their coats or a variety of other simple self-serving tasks, I’d say that society probably needs to be asking a bit more of them. And insert soapbox:… what if teachers didn’t have to be the ones teach responsibility? What if… gasp… parents did?

Now let me throw another stick in the mix.

I’ve read some works by Mark-O and his research into the lengthening of adolescence (again – captivating for me! **disclaimer:I haven’t watched the video, only read his other pieces) and it’s [negative] affect on young adults. So I’m inclined to ask… what if it’s happening at all levels of childhood?

It’s fascinating to me that in so many ways we ask kids to grow up too soon – trade in play time for school hours, begin organized sports as soon as the jersey fits in exchange for backyard ball and pickup games, even deal with adultish issues like love and sexuality and relationships (some before jr. high!) – all the while we hold off on giving kids a sense of accomplishment for doing things like dressing or contributing to dinner. It’s as if we feel guilty for asking so much of our kids at a young age that we take the basics of life off their plate so they can enjoy youth soccer 4 nights a week.

There are lots and lots of kids I know who are quite self-sufficient and dressing themselves appropriately; I don’t mean to sound “well there’s this girl I know who’s daughter doesn’t even...” I’m simply reflecting on a few general trends I find fascinating. And perhaps I’m looking at 2 views of 2 separate extremes. I’m not sure the kids that can’t put on pants are the ones that are being asked to compose musical symphonies or hit the gym 4 nights a week. These could be 2 separate parenting deficiencies that display themselves at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Which, I suppose, just calls me to find a sense of balance. You know, one of my natural gifts. I suppose it’ll be a bit of a dance between letting kids be kids – putting play at the center of their day – and providing opportunities to grow and realize their full potential.

Category: Uncategorized (Page 102 of 188)

and another one down..

in the gap

wa-piSH

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