Ugh - it's back to work time, when summer officially ends. I went to campus three days last week and every day this week (though I officially have no contract yet - another story another day). Jacob has started back at the children's center, and we've arranged babysitters to watch Allison every day except next Tuesday (the high schoolers go back on Tuesday, but the elementary schoolers go back on Wednesday) so Brian is going to take the day off.
Tuesday was an exciting day of campus retreat where we learned to love our campus and I knew a surprising number of answers to the "campus trivia" quiz even though this is only my third year. No one at my table was apparently paying attention, as they gave us many of the answers in the morning sessions. And even though I insisted there were only three speed bumps in the parking lot (they are more fun when you bike), our group nominated me and the new math guy to go out and count them. Team building. We also heard a presentation on how to spot a campus mass murderer and what to do if someone starts shooting in your classroom (run, call 911, hide, all else fails - fight them). Hum.... they paid someone to come up with that?
Today I learned everything you wanted to know about clickers and more. That is to say I learned nothing about using clickers. It's a new technology and to do the presentation, it seemed like our head IT person spend about 1 hour testing it out and then showed us what she did. BTW - did anyone know that if you were born in 1982 or beyond you are part of Net Gen (though my colleague's moniker of Gen Tech sounds better, I think). High school enrollment is dropping which apparently has something to do with birth control in 1966. It's cyclical. This means we need a whole new revenue building plan at the college level. As you can see, I learned little about clickers, but gained an incredible amount of trivia knowledge. So it's "to each his own" regarding the clicker business, which should be interesting.
Tomorrow, we have an all day meeting in Fond du Lac. Party on! I realized (at about 3:30 this afternoon) that I was supposed to take all this software stuff with me to the meeting - which is an incredibly long story and even longer rant. And then the lab tech spent the morning trying to figure out how to dry green beans and keep them crispy (which was an off-hand question I had) rather than going into the lab and changing the papers on the desks and washing out the ceramic dishes, which is the request I put to her just prior to the offhand comment about green beans. That'll show me to make small talk.
I guess this post is me ranting about Jamie stuff - as opposed to filling you in on kid stuff. Variety is the spice of life!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Facts and Fees
Well, good news - Allison's school got a last minute third kindergarten class - which means the class sizes dropped from 28-29 to 17-19. Awesome! Allison also got one of the experienced teachers who we have heard good things about (particularly that she's very patient) - so yay!
It was Facts and Fees day, where I wrote at least 4 different checks - school fees and milk fund, hot lunch account ($2.25 a day - who remembers what it was when we were kids? I remember $0.25 milk), PTA, and a school T-shirt (smallest size 6-8). I found out that Allison could do either girl scouts or 4-H. Interesting.
We also went school shopping on Tuesday. We bought a backpack, pencils, markers, scissors, erasers, bingo dobbers, gym shoes, and - to our amazement - 16 glue sticks. There were other things too like hand soap, kleenex, and disinfecting wipes which just shows that public schools don't have as much money for 'classroom supplies' as they used to.
In other good news topics - we found a time that both kids could take swimming lessons at the downtown Y. Allison is registered for a martial arts class too (won't that be interesting). Also, after going 5 rounds with the optical store, they finally agreed to replace Allison's glasses. This after I superglued my finger this morning trying to get the ear things back on. So I think it's been a pretty good day.
It was Facts and Fees day, where I wrote at least 4 different checks - school fees and milk fund, hot lunch account ($2.25 a day - who remembers what it was when we were kids? I remember $0.25 milk), PTA, and a school T-shirt (smallest size 6-8). I found out that Allison could do either girl scouts or 4-H. Interesting.
We also went school shopping on Tuesday. We bought a backpack, pencils, markers, scissors, erasers, bingo dobbers, gym shoes, and - to our amazement - 16 glue sticks. There were other things too like hand soap, kleenex, and disinfecting wipes which just shows that public schools don't have as much money for 'classroom supplies' as they used to.
In other good news topics - we found a time that both kids could take swimming lessons at the downtown Y. Allison is registered for a martial arts class too (won't that be interesting). Also, after going 5 rounds with the optical store, they finally agreed to replace Allison's glasses. This after I superglued my finger this morning trying to get the ear things back on. So I think it's been a pretty good day.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Mirror Lake
We had a good time this weekend camping at Mirror Lake SP with our friends Theresa, Robin and Connor. We drove down on Friday afternoon and camped Friday and Saturday night. The kids were very excited to be there on Friday. Saturday morning Theresa and Robin cooked up breakfast (awesome) and we took a "geology hike" in the morning. I will admit to being a tough customer as a geology teacher and admittedly we didn't hear the whole spiel because some persons were walking very slowly - but it was less than exciting. The hike itself was neat to a large rock outcrop. Saturday afternoon we took the boats out, paddled around, and taught Allison that when you are kayaking - lakes and rivers are for peeing in.
The big 'excitement' of the day happened right before bed when Allison grabbed the business end of the hot dog cooker. Dora bandaids were insufficient, but Theresa had a first aid kit so we held ice on it as long as she would allow and then wrapped her hand in gauze. We relegated ourselves to non-water/non-beach activities on Sunday (Jacob was upset about this development). She has a sizable blister that runs about halfway across her palm, but I think it's a minor burn overall. It must have really hurt, but she says it's not bothering her anymore and she's quite proud of her big bandage.
Sunday we hiked several trails that were not on the map, but ran across the second "big" butterfly of the weekend. The kids need to hone their hiking skills - as Allison starts asking for a piggyback ride just about when the trail head disappears from view.
All-in-all a fun weekend. We're all lining up tonight to take showers to rinse off the alternating layers of bug spray, sunscreen, and beach sand.
Theresa and all the kids post-paddling. It was Connor's first canoe ride and he did great - even went swimming with the 'big kids.'
Watching the big butterfly.
The big 'excitement' of the day happened right before bed when Allison grabbed the business end of the hot dog cooker. Dora bandaids were insufficient, but Theresa had a first aid kit so we held ice on it as long as she would allow and then wrapped her hand in gauze. We relegated ourselves to non-water/non-beach activities on Sunday (Jacob was upset about this development). She has a sizable blister that runs about halfway across her palm, but I think it's a minor burn overall. It must have really hurt, but she says it's not bothering her anymore and she's quite proud of her big bandage.
Sunday we hiked several trails that were not on the map, but ran across the second "big" butterfly of the weekend. The kids need to hone their hiking skills - as Allison starts asking for a piggyback ride just about when the trail head disappears from view.
All-in-all a fun weekend. We're all lining up tonight to take showers to rinse off the alternating layers of bug spray, sunscreen, and beach sand.
Theresa and all the kids post-paddling. It was Connor's first canoe ride and he did great - even went swimming with the 'big kids.'
Watching the big butterfly.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Subterfuge
I'll admit, all our parenting strategies are not perfect. (shocking!) However, sometimes you employ a flawed plan because it produces results. One of the things we will do can be called "the race." "The race" essentially pits the kids against the adult (or sometimes each other) in the great events of - putting on shoes - going to the bathroom - getting in pj's - or going up the stairs.
Today, I noticed that the kids were employing strategies of their own. During the "who can put their shoes on first" event - Allison took Jacob's shoe and placed it just out of reach, something I found slightly amusing if only because she's never done that before. But after the Power Shower (more to come on that), the kids were supposed to put their pj's on before I did. This led to first - the Naked Kid Hallway Collision, and second - Jacob's attempt to steal first place by shoving Allison's pj's as far under his bed as he could while she was distracted by a twist in her underwear.
We also had an anatomy lesson this evening. I took both kids in the shower with me (otherwise termed the Power Shower from a woman I used to work with a B&V who employed this to get 4 children bathed in short order). Jacob was - um - exploring his "belly button" while waiting to get in - upon which I informed his of the correct anatomical term which prompted Allison to search for hers. Most amazing may be that this subject hasn't come up yet in any broad sense. I've never been one to give things cutsy names like "that's your wee wee" but the kids have never really questioned their anatomy or anatomical differences. So we had a discussion about the fact that only boys had them and girls did not - though Allison did put up a short insistence that hers was in there somewhere. Sorry kiddo - no peeing standing up for you.
Today, I noticed that the kids were employing strategies of their own. During the "who can put their shoes on first" event - Allison took Jacob's shoe and placed it just out of reach, something I found slightly amusing if only because she's never done that before. But after the Power Shower (more to come on that), the kids were supposed to put their pj's on before I did. This led to first - the Naked Kid Hallway Collision, and second - Jacob's attempt to steal first place by shoving Allison's pj's as far under his bed as he could while she was distracted by a twist in her underwear.
We also had an anatomy lesson this evening. I took both kids in the shower with me (otherwise termed the Power Shower from a woman I used to work with a B&V who employed this to get 4 children bathed in short order). Jacob was - um - exploring his "belly button" while waiting to get in - upon which I informed his of the correct anatomical term which prompted Allison to search for hers. Most amazing may be that this subject hasn't come up yet in any broad sense. I've never been one to give things cutsy names like "that's your wee wee" but the kids have never really questioned their anatomy or anatomical differences. So we had a discussion about the fact that only boys had them and girls did not - though Allison did put up a short insistence that hers was in there somewhere. Sorry kiddo - no peeing standing up for you.
Long time gone...
Well, it's been a while since I last posted. I was at a conference in San Jose, CA, and now completely understand why people overlook the whole earthquake / fire / landslide thing. Sue came up and stayed with the kids. Bruce wasn't waiting at the door to pick her up, so I think it went ok. Jacob got over his pooping phobia, but not without some .... er.... distress?
I had a great conference, learned a lot, but there was not a lot of free time so our team didn't get as much accomplished as we'd hoped.
Now it seems like the summer is gone. This weekend we're going camping with some friends and then Jacob will start back at daycare on Monday. Monday is also kindergarten orientation night (though class doesn't start until Sept 3rd). So we have a lot to do in two days - finish a quilt, write a paper, visit the zoo in Madison, go to the children's museum in Appleton, visit the train museum and the zoo in Green Bay, etc. Hum......
I had a great conference, learned a lot, but there was not a lot of free time so our team didn't get as much accomplished as we'd hoped.
Now it seems like the summer is gone. This weekend we're going camping with some friends and then Jacob will start back at daycare on Monday. Monday is also kindergarten orientation night (though class doesn't start until Sept 3rd). So we have a lot to do in two days - finish a quilt, write a paper, visit the zoo in Madison, go to the children's museum in Appleton, visit the train museum and the zoo in Green Bay, etc. Hum......
Sunday, August 3, 2008
24
Ahhh - finally Sunday and a little bit of time to rest. We had a busy 24 hours from Friday - Saturday night. Friday was Brian's company picnic. Jacob LOVED the inflatable slide and Allison's favorite was the balloon blow up race (mostly because she got candy at the end). The evening was overshadowed by Jacob's need to poop but refusal to do so - a theme that carries through the whole 24 hours.
Saturday morning we got up and headed down to Milwaukee to the Wisconsin State Fair. We were unable to find the shuttle lot (we just didn't look for the location before we left) so we parked a little outside the park and walked. Jacob really wanted to do the carnival rides, but after determining that a carousel ride was going to cost us $16 ($4 a person!) we steered him towards other (cheaper) activities - like the animal tents. The best part of the Wisconsin fair is not the cream puffs, but the Wisconsin products pavilion, where you can get goat cheese, honey sticks, apple sundaes, baked potatoes, lamb quiche, cranberry fluff, cherry everything, and ice cream. We walked to the far end of the park and took two tired kids back on the skyride and then walked (with kids on our shoulders) back to the car. Jacob visited the bathroom 5 times - and refused to go in any of them.
One big rabbit!
Saturday afternoon we returned home with a little time to rest and change before heading to Josh's birthday party at the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers game (baseball). Jacob was 2 days out from his past poop and fairly determined to hold it in forever. Many runs to the bathroom, screaming, bribing, and finally one warm bath later and we were only 45 minutes late to the game.
We enjoyed the game, and Jacob especially liked the fireworks that they had after the game was over. We got home and to bed way past everyone's bedtime - and yet today started right when the clock turned 6am. We were hoping they would sleep in a little.
Saturday morning we got up and headed down to Milwaukee to the Wisconsin State Fair. We were unable to find the shuttle lot (we just didn't look for the location before we left) so we parked a little outside the park and walked. Jacob really wanted to do the carnival rides, but after determining that a carousel ride was going to cost us $16 ($4 a person!) we steered him towards other (cheaper) activities - like the animal tents. The best part of the Wisconsin fair is not the cream puffs, but the Wisconsin products pavilion, where you can get goat cheese, honey sticks, apple sundaes, baked potatoes, lamb quiche, cranberry fluff, cherry everything, and ice cream. We walked to the far end of the park and took two tired kids back on the skyride and then walked (with kids on our shoulders) back to the car. Jacob visited the bathroom 5 times - and refused to go in any of them.
One big rabbit!
Saturday afternoon we returned home with a little time to rest and change before heading to Josh's birthday party at the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers game (baseball). Jacob was 2 days out from his past poop and fairly determined to hold it in forever. Many runs to the bathroom, screaming, bribing, and finally one warm bath later and we were only 45 minutes late to the game.
We enjoyed the game, and Jacob especially liked the fireworks that they had after the game was over. We got home and to bed way past everyone's bedtime - and yet today started right when the clock turned 6am. We were hoping they would sleep in a little.
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