Today, Micah had a sub at school for the first time, and look what showed up in his folder? Yup, we have never gotten a daily report on him until a sub comes. I really like this daily report, and I hope that it becomes a regular event in the future. I might even write his teachers a note about it.
Kidding. Only kidding. I try to leave them alone.
(Because secretly most teachers just want to be left alone to teach and do our job. Not worry about the petty things our parents can throw at us. Just being honest.)
While Micah was at school today and Daddy was sleeping, I attended a conference at the University of Memphis on mentoring new teachers. My principal picked me as one of two people from our school to go to this particular conference. So I take it as quite the honor. I sort of fell into my current job due to some reduction in force (loss of staff at a school moved to another school) four years ago. My principal didn't hire me, and she basically inherited me. I always wondered if that put me on the same playing field as my coworkers who all mostly came from her old school when she opened up our school. At any rate, I highly enjoyed myself today!
I had visions of a doctorate degree.
::Ahem::Clearsthroat::Ahem
Somebody slap the Roger out of me. Just kidding! Love you, Daddy! If you know anything about me in real life, my father (Roger) has been a life long student. Literally. He has a million degrees (um--an associate, a bachelor, 2 masters, and a doctorate), and he went to school my entire childhood. At any rate, I was looking around the room today at all of my colleagues thinking, "I want to do that. I want to teach teachers."
Somebody please slap me. Apparently I've lost my mind because I just got done with my masters less than two years ago.
I can't help it! I'm such a nerd! I loved watching the FedEx plane fly by the window as I engaged in theoretical discussions about best teaching practices. The sharing of ideas. The enthusiasm. The nineteen years olds running around campus with a stack of books full of high hopes and dreams.
Can I go back to college? Pretty please?
So I informed my husband over dinner that I might need to look into higher education again. We'll see what happens with that. Haha!
In all honestly, I highly enjoyed myself. There was a catered breakfast and lunch, and I get to go again tomorrow! =)
Moving on from that...above is Micah's creation for the day with the colors red and the letter S. And I'm a bad Mama. I forgot it was hat day at school. I hope I didn't have the only little pumpkin in class without a hat!
After the shock of Micah basically failing all his speech screenings on Tuesday, I had a talk with my husband, my mom, my sister, and the Lord. (That was in no particular order.)
I thought about my old friend Catherine, and I thought I'd reach out to her on Facebook. We went through our "single" days together, and she's a speech pathologist. I know her well, trust her, and believe any advice she would have to tell me. So I asked her if she minded me calling her to be a long distant second opinion.
She didn't mind. Thank you so much, Catherine! You set my mind at ease. After talking to Catherine, I think C & I agree Micah should have further testing once he turns two. Catherine explained that the standardized tests used by pathologists are in six month increments. Meaning, if he isn't quite two (he's 22 months)...the validity of the tests can be harder to read. She suggested waiting until he's two, letting him acclimate to MDO a little more, and ask to come to the next test to put him at ease. However, she was concerned about the number of words he knows. She also suggested a list on the fridge to get an actual count of his abilities speech wise.
I hate that Micah might be a "late talker" (as she put it), but I think it is better to know now. We can make a "plan" of attack to work with him before the gap grows larger. Meanwhile, she gave me different strategies to use with him at home which was so helpful! I have a better grasp of things I was doing wrong and things I can do better.
She also highly recommended that he stay in a MDO program for his language development.
In other random news, we received the October calendar from Micah's school. You just don't understand how giddy this super organized piece of paper makes my heart! I am such a teacher nerd. So for my own sake, I'm going to record what he'll be studying his second month of school:
Week 1: "Noah's Big Boat"
Unit: Farm/Animals
Letter: F
Number: 3
Color: Red
Shape: Square
Red Day is Thursday.
Week 2: Fall Break!
Week 3: "Elijah Obeyed"
Unit: Fall/Apples
Letter: A
Number: 3
Color: Red
Shape: Square
Week 4: "Joseph's Colorful Coat"
Unit: Fall/ Leaves
Letter: L
Number: 3
Color: Red
Shape: Square
Week 5: "Share the Good News"
Unit: Fall/Pumpkins
Letter: P
Number: 4
Color: Orange
Shape: Triangle
Fall Party & Happy Times Farm
LOVE IT. Yes, I'm a nerd, but I'm thankful for a Christian curriculum and all the things he is learning this year!
And in our last bit of news, I booked Micah's second birthday party today at The Little Gym. I went back and forth on the decision to spend (what seems to me) obscene amounts of money for one birthday party. But it boils down to a few things:
1. I work.
2. I work.
3. I work.
Last year's party, although the cutest thing you'd ever see, about killed me. Organizing, decorating, cooking, and hosting a million people in our tiny home drove me to the edge. You don't even know how much of that my mom did for me. It just drove me insane. I love guests, but to clean, clean, clean only for everyone to tear it up in five seconds? Plus there is absolutely nowhere in my 1200 square foot home for at least 8+ kids to go. It's cooooolllld in November (basically December since his bday is the last day of the month). Cold! I can't send them outside, either. So to save my sanity, we're paying for his party to be at The Little Gym. They can clean it up. They can entertain all the kids. They can do all the work. I'm going to enjoy this day much more than I did last year!
Well, friends, I've rambled on enough. I hope you have a great rest of the week and weekend! Hello, Friday! I'll be in my conference enjoying every minute of my child free (classroom wise) day. =)
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