Is it bad?

Is it bad that I read blogs about children that are Celia's age or a little older and compare her to them? Okay, no I don't really compare... I sit and think that my daughter is a genius because she can do so much more...

Is that so bad?

But she is a genius, right?? I know she must be.

Celia is speaking in 2 word sentences on a regular basis now, what 18 month old does that (okay so my friend Nicole's little boy was talking at 9 months but he too is a genius). She says "My Celia" or "Mine Celia", Hi ___, I sit chair, No, no, be nice. There are a list of phrases that she says. She even helped me read her "Monkey and Me" book today. She actualy said elephant, elephant- that is a hard word. Oh and the funniest thing now is that she is using "excuse me" appropriately and it is so cute.

The little genius still has some poopy trouble, not as bad. We are not sure what we are doing yet, might have to call in Grandpa to help out tomorrow. But I am hoping that either she is kicking this bug/ that she is getting used to the antibiotic. She is certainly in a good mood and she was hungry this morning. We have learned something through this- putting Ear drops in Celia's ear really, really, pisses her off. Oh and it pisses me off because the stupid bottle cost $30 and most of it drains right out of her ear no matter how long I hold her in the upright position like the directions suggest.

My two aunts are coming to visit Celia today, I am hoping that she turns on the charm.

Oh and my little genius doesn't just have brains, she has heart. She asks for hugs now all that time and according to her teachers she is the class comforter. When another student is upset Celia will give them a hug. So sweet.

I hate coupons and prayers still needed

The blogging world is still praying for baby Stellan. He is still in SVT and holding his own but right now they are likely going to have to go in a different direction of treating him. He has had some tricky moments and he is still very critical.

The coupons: I absolutely hate coupons, if you can get something cheap, then why not put them on sale. I know, too easy, too easy. It all has to be a stupid game. Actualy, it is a game to me to try to get our grocery bill as low as we can go. Pete doesn't quite understand it but he tries. He doesn't understand when I say, I am trying to get our grocery bill to x amount this week. He reasonably questions why, because the truth is- we can afford more. Right now I would like to get our grocery bill down to less then $300 a month. I have been doing that however we have had a pretty good supply in our freezer. Actualy, I am purging of things in our freezer. Stocking up is great, I did that when our local Acme closed. They had frozen veggies at a deep discount and so I stocked up. I then found myself still buying more that were on sale when I questioned why on earth I was doing that, we have to eat the veggies in the freezer. So we are eating our way through the frozen veggies. When we are out, then I will restock.

Here was my thoughts on restocking, I will start early and search for coupons. So I started searching online. A few sites make you download their coupon reader/software, others make you sign up for them to send them you emails, others you have to register. Just give me the stinkin coupon and call it a day. I hate them.

I do meal plan 2 to 3 weeks in advance which really helps our budget. Pete doesn't fully understand that either. I think he wants things to be a little bit more spontaneous but that doesn't work for budgeting. I do freeze alot that I make which really helps with the budget and time. I love looking at my freezer and realizing that I had forgotten I made that, etc. Right now I need to get out my ground turkey recipes as I have a ton in the freezer. I couldn't pass up the 1 1b packages for 1.99 with 30% off when the Acme was closing.

Celia Update- My poor little girl is sick, yet again. This is what daycare does, I know. She doesn't seem to be able to kick ear infections lately. She started getting them in January. The pediatrician told me that he really only thinks she has had two. She got one with RSV in January, 2 days after stopping the antibiotic she had a fever and I took her back to the doctor. Her ears were infected. The doctor thought that the antibiotic never really worked because it was so close. The same thing happened this month. At her 18 month check up her ears were found to be infected and now her left ear is infected again. The doctor doesn't think that it was ever cleared up. So she just has stubborn ear infections. So we have April, May, and June to get through. Please prayer for no more ear infections. Oh and we think she has the stomach bug. After her doctor's appointment yesterday I took her to daycare and before I left she started to throw up! So I took her home and she started with diarrhea in the evening. Prior to the diarrhea she showed no signs of being sick. Her antibiotic has that as the number one side effect for children under age 2 because the antibiotic is not intended for children under age 2... But that is what was prescribed. In anycase though her appetite is decreased and she doesn't have quite as much energy so who knows... Antibiotic or stomach flu (it is going around her daycare).

The good news about daycare- she is less likely to get leukemia and asthma. Of course this question the positive effects of breastfeeding, does it really protect them so much?? Granted she really hasn't gotten all of the colds that have been spread around, but still. You would think that since she is the only one in the room who is still nursing, actualy that I think was breastfeed, she would be the most healthy.

On the bright side she is talking more then ever, even phrases. She has perfected mine, I am not appreciating that word at all.

Prayer

I will not be doing a "Not Me Monday" today. Please visit MckMamma's site. Please see the link on the side of my blog for "MckMiracle" or go to mycharmingkids.net. Stellen is very sick. He was the baby that I think I mentioned in which he was not supposed to survive during his Mom's pregnancy. He was born completely healthy with just a suspected possible risk of SVT (extremly high heartrate). Well Stellen was having difficulty with a virus and was given one too many nebulizer treatments by an ER doctor and it set his heart into SVT. They have tried many things at this point and nothing has worked. He is 4 months old and was predicted to never make it through pregnancy. His story is miraculous and MckMamma's blog is inspiring.

I am not very religious however alot of blogs that I visit are and it has really made me think more about spirituality.

So say a little prayer for a sweet 4 month old that he will show us another miracle. I read blogs like they are novels and I am praying for only happy endings in this novel.

Celia's Story

Let me tell you what happened this morning, you are not going to believe it.

I was sitting in my carseat, jammin to my tunes. My Mom stopped the car and informed me that we were going to get my hair cut. This was my reaction. I like my hair, I thought it was fine the way it was. I prefer the hippy, shaggy dog look. I also didn't think she was serious, cut my hair, yeah right!! But we went inside a place called Snipits.

Guess what??? She was serious and when the lady came at me with the scissors, I reacted sort of like this. I asked for lots of hugs and kept telling them "all done" but they apparently didn't hear me.

So here I am again, jammin to my tunes in the carseat with my short new hair. Can you believe how much they took off?? I am surprised they didn't take off my ear. In anycase they gave me this ticket ot put in this very noisy machine that popped out this tiny rubber ducky. So I sacrifice my hair and risk my life and all I get is a rubber ducky. My Mom and the lady who chopped my hair seemed excited about it. I put it in my pocket with my truck and everything was cool.

We came back and ate lunch. Mom gave me my favorite chicken apple sausage so that makes up for the hair butchering slightly. My Mom took a bunch of pictures, trying to convince me that it looks really cute.

I spent some time cleaning the windows with cheese, that works right?? Smeared cheese does wonders for the windows.

"Nuss", Ankle Socks and Murder

Celia evidently wants to practice her sking. She was enjoying standing up on our stool and practicing her balance. So for the first time in Celia's short life, she only "Nuss"ed (nursed) 1x today! Am I weaning? Sort of. I have all along really wanted Celia to wean herself. I have been more then happy that we didn't stop at 1 year because a few times Celia would likely have had to take a trip to the ER for dehydration if she hadn't been nursing while sick. That alone makes me realize that at least for me, nursing was worth it!! But a few days ago I decided that it was time for me to get her down to 2x (in the morning and before bed) a day, or at least see if I could do it. So today she came home and really wanted to "nuss" but I talked her through it and I told her that we could do that after dinner. I expected her to ask after dinner, instead she asked to go upstairs. So we went upstairs, I read her a ton of books. We hugged and cuddled for a long time- no mention of "nuss". I put her in her crib and although she was pissed, she didn't ask. She didn't ask! So we will see if this is just a fluke.

Ankle Socks- I walked from my house today to get Celia at daycare. As I am walking, I looked down and noticed my socks. I had to buy some socks that came above my sneaker because I had a bloody mess after a training one weekend because my socks slipped below the sneaker. So I noticed that I was wearing capri length wind pants and these socks that looked a bit ridiculous. But they will have to look ridiculous. I am not exactly a fashion diva however socks are my thing. I have all different kinds of socks and typically I hate my socks to show above my sneaker. Somewhere along the way, function has become more important!

Murder you ask.

Our neighbor was smothered by her son on Monday. He was mentally ill and I had seen him around sometime, but never said a word for him. I had seen him running and honestly thought he lived somewhere else. His Mom was very nice but I only talked to her a couple times. So we really had no connections but it is scary. It is scary when it is so very close to your home. We have found out that he son threw a cement block in a police officer's car while the officer was in the car last week.

Today I saw friends and family going into the house, heads down, and not wanting to make eye contact. My heart hurt for them because they are going through a double loss. The son is going away for a very long time and his Mom is gone forever. I think there is a slight feel of shame in that kind of situation too. I just can't imagine it. I can't imagine what her last moments were like knowing that the person that she loved the most was doing that to her.

It also makes me think that really we don't know our neighbors. We didn't know them and they lived not too far at all from us, only a few doors away!

It is sad, very sad, our thoughts are with the family.

I also learned this week that my classroom may be moving. The commute will not be fun for me and I am bummed. Why can't things just be easy?? I don't plan on working full time if we have a second kid so maybe this is a sign, I don't know. I do know that I want to continue working with this group of kids and my assistant. So I will see it through I suppose for at least another school year.

Potty Time

Check out this link

http://www.americangreetings.com/ecards/view.pd?i=486540876&m=1479&source=ag992

Why??

I have this student, we will call her Sally (apologies to anyone who has that name). She was the devil child at the beginning of the school year. We would ask her to do something and get a quick and very mean voiced "No". If any new adult entered the room she turned into this sickenly sweet angel that no one understood why we had any problems with her. Of course all they had to do was try to walk in the hall with her then they had a glimpse of our day. Sally would plop her self on the floor and scream at the top of her lungs. It was for attention of course but ignoring it was sometimes hard when you had 5 other kids to deal with who were oh so curious about the little girl screaming on the floor. Okay so perhaps not so much curious as trying to copying her behavior too. When in the classroom Sally refused to sit for more then a few minutes, she wanted to run around the classroom, trying to get anyone to follow her. She created a disaster for my classroom, she the ring leader of bad behavior.

It took many months of ignoring her behavior and trying to encourage the other students to ignore her. It took sticker charts and various rewards, patience, walking with a painting poll in the hallway... But we got her to a tolerable point, more then tolerable Sally was sweet, funny, and a hard worker.

Fast forward to this week... Evil Sally is back. She wants to invite her classmates to join her in disrupting anything at all times. She tickles them, hits them, pokes them, laughs in their faces. She runs around the room like a lunatic. She tantrums when she is told to go to the bathroom, she runs full force down the hallway, she flops on the floor. Sally screams and cries during speech group. Okay it is just this week, but I see the pattern coming back. I see the beginning of the school year in which we were all exhausted and questioned if we wanted to keep our job. We blamed on a need to poop earlier in the week (she only goes a few times a month, ouch) but that issue was resolved and her mood still remains.

So why? why? why????? We will go back to charting behavior, the sticker charts will go back up perhaps, the rewards will become more frequent for her classmates to try to keep them back on track.

On a good note she somehow has started really remembering alot of information. Somehow she knows some of her letters and numbers. Perhaps she thinks that she has accomplished her academic goals and it is time to play...

I just don't get it at all. But we got through it in September and October, we shall get through it now!

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I certainly don't like watching the Secret Life of the American Teenager, no I would never watch anything as bad as that. If I did it would be because it is so pathetically bad that I find it hilarious. I don't find it slightly satisfying either that my husband is almost embarrassed when I watch it but will still watch some of it too.

I don't get Celia to sit in her carseat in the afternoon by telling her that we are going to see Amber every single day now, knowing full well that will probably won't. We also don't pretend to see a dog outside the window everytime we want to distract Celia.

I did not run a list of 4 letter words through my head as my student peed her pants on purpose this afternoon because I did not give her a cookie. While the other students were in Goodbye Circle she chose to run in and out of the room.. thus not deserving a cookie.

I am certainly not overwhelmed by life right now with taxes due, 5 million things due at work, refinancing the house, dealing with an idiotic trash removal company that overbills and underbills us, team in training, my 18 month old who thinks she is 2... No I am calm and collected.

I am certainly not nervous about the veggie soup I made in the crockpot yesterday that we are eating tomorrow. The one that I just threw in random things that I thought sounded tasty and ended up smelling delicious, but I wonder if it tastes delicious!

So that is Not Me Monday

Snow

Celia wasn't a fan of this snow either, but at the time we went out the wind picked up alot. I don't blame her. She had some trouble walking in the boots as they were quite big (size 5).

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Nothing is overly exciting this week, so I apologize.

I am certainly not sitting here on a snow day in March, watching delicious snow fall from the sky. I certainly didn't find out as early as last night that I have a snow day but still wake up a million times last night to watch the snow.

I certainly am not very frustrated and ticked off at someone who keeps putting their job above their health, then complaining about the same old health problems. I certainly will not throw a fit if that person reschedules yet another appointment. No I am understanding and I mind my own business, of course that person's business is partially mine, but I never nag.. Not me.

I certainly am not praying for another snow day at some point in the next week or so, even though I know it is March and the likelyhood is zilch.

I know that I am going to get dressed today at some point, I don't have an intention of wearing my comfy, cozy, fleece pjs the entire day.

I haven't had a mug of hot cocoa because I think that is what you are supposed to do on a snow day, even though I had to add a cup of milk and sugar to cover up the true cocoa taste (not a chocolate fan).

I am not overly grateful for MckMamma's post about potty training early because my genius daughter is not interested in potty training at 18 months. She didn't drag me to the potty a million times this morning so that she could sit on the potty. She did not pee in it, then pee in her diaper and say "pee pee".

My student certainly did not announce that he "blew Miss. K (his Occupational Therapist)" when we were discussing the things that we could blow in Science- we are studying air.

Snow

The anticipation is killing me and I feel like I am 8. When I was in elementary (okay middle school and high school), I used to peek out my window a dozen times before a snow storm. It wasn't just the anticipation of a snow day, it was the thought of seeing snow. Admittedly I also enjoyed those days in which we would lose electricity and have to bundle underneath blankets. One of my favorite memories is the terrible ice storm we had. My Mom and I lost electricity for more then a day. we bundled underneath my Grandmother's hand tied quilt that weighs about 50 lbs. We used a fondue pot to cook soup and I made tea from warm tap water, that at that point tasted like boiling hot water to me. My inhaler froze in the night, that is how cold it was!! We put it under the quilt to warm it up. Our garage doors froze shut so we could not get our cars out even if we wanted to. We had other people invite us out but honestly we were having fun, at least I did. Of course when we saw the new neighborhood near us lit up, we became annoyed when we found out through the electric company that we were a "low priority" neighborhood. Hmm...

So this snow storm is going to be the most we have had in awhile (okay it is supposed to be, but it has yet to start snowing here so I am not that optimistic at this point). It isn't going to be a blizzard or an ice storm. I am going to jump up and down if we have a blizzard in the next few years. I love blizzards, one every 2 to 3 years is perfect.

So send happy snow thoughts my way. I want lots of the fluffy stuff. I want it packable enough to make a 3 tiered snowman. I wanted to form snowballs as round as a tennis ball. I want to have a snow day too.. Though, Celia already has one so I guess I am staying home whether I have off or not!