Sigh

For years I have been reading American teachers blogging about the testing madness that has gripped American education for the last decade. I have waited with concern for when that madness would cross the border. It's here. Sigh.

Missing Papa

As we left the airport today Jo piped up from the back seat, "Are we leaving Papa at the airport?"

"Yes, sweetie.  He is flying on a plane to be with Oma and Opa for Grandma D's funeral."

"Oh."

Ten minutes later we were in the middle of the city and I was stressing about the check engine light that came on as we left the airport.  And I missed my turn-off and wasn't quite sure if I was heading in the right direction (having no co-pilot to read the map).

"I want to go with Papa." said a sad little voice from the backseat.

"I do too." was all I could say.

Halfway home we were all doing okay, I thought.  No breakdowns - either the car or in tears.

With a hitch in his voice and tears welling up, "I miss Papa."

"Me too, sweetie.  Me too."

We arrived safely home, unloaded the car, loaded the washing machine and started to unwind.

"I miss Papa!" was sobbed from upstairs as Jo tried to clean up his toys before supper.

I have new appreciation for my life.  I get to spend every day with my partner and best friend.  We commute to work together, support each other as colleagues, and have rich time every morning and evening as a family.  We actually get to eat two whole meals a day together as a family, every day!

I am so grateful.  We are very rich indeed.

Resolution Update

Well writing down everything that goes into your mouth is certainly very revealing.  It is already making a substantial difference in how much I eat every day.  This is a great exercise.  I highly recommend it if you are struggling with eating at all.

The biggest change that has happened in my eating habits over the first two weeks of the month is that I am no longer snacking in the evening after the Sprouts have gone to bed.  That was my crashing and noshing time previously - particularly during the holidays when there were yummy treats available in the house all the time.  As a result I have felt more energy in the mornings and am really hungry for breakfast.  Both good things.

I am not doing quite so well with the phone calls.  I think that I will amend my goals to two phone calls a month rather than weekly.  Small steps...

There's an App for That!

The littlest Sprout has been bumped from JK to SK. Overall this is a good change for him. But there are sad aspects to it, as with all change. Socially it is a good shift. He is also ready to read, so he will continue to be challenged to stretch and grow there.

One thing that we are concerned about is his handwriting. Four year old hands are not always ready for the demands of five year old curriculum. So we have started to work on fine motor skills with him at home.

Thanks to a great PD last year, I have an arsenal of tools from Handwriting Without Tears to support him in this. so tonight we started working together. HWT is a fabulous program to develop neat, well formed handwriting in children.  It also has lots of fun activities to make the learning fun, particularly for the littlest learners.  One example is using slates to practice letters in a large size before transferring skills to the smaller scale of paper.

I ran into a little problem when we had no chalk at home for the mini slate. But fear not, there's an app for that! A lovely little app called Slate works beautifully with just fingers. Jo was thrilled and very interested in practicing if it included the iPad.

Date Night

Heaven is date night.

Living in the middle of nowhere with no family for many kilometres means that leaving Sprouts with a grandparent for a few hours to have a date or run errands has been outside our experience for all our Sprouts' lives (with the exception of visits).  Now Nana and Pop lie just down the road and they kept the Sprouts yesterday afternoon while LK and I went to town, did groceries etc. and had a date.  BLISS!

After the necessary groceries and errands were done we ate at the Southview Inn & Bistro, which was new to us.  It has been on our list of place to check out, but is not on the child-friendly side of the list, and so has languished untasted.  No more.

We started with a bread plate.  Crusty bread with oil and vinegar, hummus, and roasted garlic for tempting the palate.  I added a creamy chocolatini to that.  My new favourite bevvy (better than Bailey's) that requires lots of water to balance the kick it carries.

The soup course was  chicken with wild rice (wild rice being a local delicacy).  No can compares to homemade soups. We both "mmmm"ed our way through the soup with smiles growing ever wider as we sunk into the quiet and pleasure of the meal.  No asking people to stay at the table.  No reminding people that there would be no dessert if they didn't eat their dinner.  No interruptions to our conversation before even a sentence was out.

The main course was a stuffed tenderloin with a fig reduction and roasted seasonal vegetables served over a mountain of garlic mashed potatoes.  A wintery food hug.  Zucchini, red peppers and sweet potato have long been under-appreciated and should be lauded for their gorgeous colours as well as the variety of nutrients hiding inside.  And what can be said about garlic mashed potatoes?  These were even better than LK's version; and his are incredible.  The tenderloin was a rich mash of earthy flavours that matched the rest of the plate beautifully. 

We shared a slice of chocolate cake for dessert since we were both really enjoying ourselves so much and couldn't bear to end the meal quite yet.  And really, every meal should end with chocolate.

I walked away from the meal feeling sated physically and spiritually.  That kind of a meal should be a regular part of live to help me remember to appreciate what good ingredients and relaxed enjoyable company make.  Because this date made real that food and love are one.

Yard Duty Sunshine

Yard duty has not always been my favourite part of teaching.  When the weather is nasty and cold, or I have a To Do list as long as my arm I bemoan it.  But today it was a wonderful lift.

First, my teaching day was pretty much done.  I had my prep at the end of the day, which meant that after recess all I had to do was walk students down to their Native Language class.  That took the pressure to urgently accomplish anything off.

Second, the day turned out to be sunny and warm.  Well, warm for January in northwestern Ontario.  I bundled up before going outside, expecting to be chilled even though I was wearing my puffer coat, a hat, scarf and gloves.  This morning was chilly!  Instead I stepped outside to sunshine that warmed my face and blue skies.  Since blue skies have been scare this past two weeks, it was a sight for sore eyes.

But the icing on the cake was a little boy all dressed in a blue snowsuit who has just moved from JK to SK.  The JK students are only allowed to play in the front playground with very careful supervision.  The SK students have more freedom to move around the whole elementary schoolyard.  This little guy was spreading his wings for the first time today.  When he saw me on duty he smiled a very special smile (reserved only for his Mama) and ran full-tilt at me.  I caught him and swung him around in a great big hug.  Then he wandered off to play with his new SK classmates.

What a treat to be able to watch my own kids play with their peers as they grow up.  Plus I made some new SK friends myself today who were most curious about my relationship with their new classmate. 

"Are you Jo's mommy?"  they queried repeatedly.

"Yes I am," I replied, proud as punch.

Resolution Ammendments

I have already been reflecting on how to ensure that I suceed in my resolutions (chronic achiever that I am). Many many bloggers post resolutions. In exploring some of these I have realized that my resolutions are not SMART. I have learned that mine are far too vague to be achievable goals. So, I will set a habit to support each resolution each month, a la Gretchin Rubin in her book The Happiness Project.

With the goal of eating healthier in mind, I am planning to keep a food journal for the month of January. This will, I hope, enable me to be more mindful of what I eat. And I will be able to see just how crazy-too-much chocolate I really eat. It should be revealing to say the least.

With my relationship goal in mind I will make a phone call to someone who is not in my daily life once a week to stay more in touch.

Fingers crossed!