Monday, January 24, 2005

15 little indians....

Man, Mondays at my new job suck!  We had 15 one year olds today!  And for the drama at my second day there...drum roll, please....... a possible case of lice was discovered on Friday!  What joy, and first time closing alone-getting to explain to all the parents.....can you say fun?  

There were some kids there today I didn't give the lowdown on, so here they are:  

Eli:  He's a quiet kid, he doesn't really have a favorite activity, he just goes with the flow.  He's also allergic to everything under the sun-one to watch.  But a real sweetie.  

Abigail:  Well, she's a little chunk, who says nothing-not one word.  She will smile if you smile at her.  But she is good by herself and in a group, and spends her day walking around playing with whatever toy she comes across.  

Joshua:  He's a match for Griffin for sure!  He loves the trucks and playing catch.  I wish Grif would've been there today to keep him busy.  Joshie is severely allergic to anything peanut, poor boy~hopefully he grows out of it--Can you imagine never eating a PBJ sandwich?  I lived off those when I was in grade school.  

Abbey:  She's a cutie, too.  Another snow white blonde baby who is always happy and smiling.  I just love those happy babies.  Abbey and Claire (the little genius) played together all day-it was sweet to watch..  

Ok, that being updated-onto today's report.  

Kennady, who I keep calling McKenzie~I have no idea why~is a little bully.  She's cute as hell, too-which makes it real hard to be mad at her.  She plays with no toys at all.  She hoards them all and won't letanyone else play.  When she isn't doing that, she's throwing her much-larger-than-all-but-2-kids-self on top of all the little ones!  She even has little bitty Caroline mocking her actions.....  It takes one of us with her all day, too.....  But like I said, I think she's way too mature for this room-she is bored.  

Ava, aka Squishy, started hitting me today.  I can't touch her without her crying-though I can always win her over in the end.  Each time I put her down, we have to start all over again.  But in time, she'll get used to me, I'm sure.  

Tyler or Ty-Ty turns 2 in February and will be moved to another room.  He plays by himself all day and exhibits different behaviors than his counterparts.  I venture to say he shows signs of autism with his rocking, fingers always moving, and touching textures like mad.  He's such a sweetie and his parents are very attentive, so I'm hoping they have checked into this.  

Claire is so intelligent for being one...I'm amazed.  She's so quiet and good, it's almost like she's not there at all.  She is also usually one of the last to get seated for snacks/lunch, etc, because she never causes any problems.  She can handle a total conversation on her own-with no translator needed :)  Heck, Gracie is 3 and I'm the only one who can get what she's saying half the time...  

The kids are the best part though.  My coworkers, now.... that's undecided yet.    From what I can tell, Mrs. Lead Teacher says very little, other than small talk nonsense stuff, to anyone.  She lets the other Assts. do whatever they please and rolls her eyes when they do or say something she doesn't care for, but never corrects or stops them. 

She attempted to read a book to all of the kids at one time.  These are 1-year-olds, they all wanted to get in close and point to pictures, but there were so many no one could see--so she put the book up.    Now call me insane, but wouldn't have been best for us to break these kids into smaller groups and each one of us read a book to 4 or 5 versus all 15?!  Guess I can see why Mrs. Lead is going into veterinary assistants programs.  Major burn out.  

 I guess some of the Assistant Teachers switch rooms, because there was a girl in the room today I don't know (still don't know her name).  She's going to college for nursing, and started talking about it with the other lead.  She (pretty much ignored me all day~and I'm cool with that) was mentioning something that I had experienced, so I put my two cents in and she rolled her eyes~ok speckled girl, what-eva!  So, she can kiss my backside for the duration.  

The other Asst. there full time she's friendly at least.  We seem to get along okay and much better once the Lead is out the door.  The last part timer came in for her 2 or 3 hour shift, and we get along great.  Which is good considering I am the last one to leave.  Of course, I got out at 5:56 tonight.   

My parenting class started tonight, too, so I went right from work to Grace's school and sat for 2 hours listening to the instructor and other parents share experiences.  I came in late and right in the middle of the whole 'introduce yourself and tell about your kid' routine. 

Totally caught off guard without having the chance to get my mind in order, I said my only real problem with Grace is that she won't sleep anywhere but in her own bed.  Then I spent the next 20 minutes agreeing with what the rest of the parents said their problems were.... 

Oh well, sure I'll get the opportunity to correct myself.   Tonight's topic was praise and rewards versus bribery.  It was fairly interesting.  I praise Gracie for good behavior/actions (of course, after she's done it, not before~that's a bribe).  Things like picking her toys up, doing her chores, and working during learning time, instead of playing, she has to do (she gets rewards when she does them on her own).  Most of the parents complaints were about siblings or sleeping, neither of which I deal.  Just keep telling myself it'll be an easy $200 when I'm done.  

Work asked me to come in tomorrow from 7:30 -11:30 am in the 2-year-old room.  I'm happy its only 4 hours~thanks Gracie for having to go to school  :)   It's been awhile since I've had to tell an employer 'no' and I used to be quite good at it, too.  Have to scrape the rust of my guns.... 

Actually, tonight, my back and legs hurt like I've climbed to the top of Stone Mountain (winks to Sie).  So, I'm off to attempt to get myself asleep before 1am.   Hopefully, I can recover before Wednesday and they won't ask me to work on Thursday~ Am I terrible or what?  

One more thing, as I was sitting with the kids for their lunch-- I looked around at them and got a little teary eyed thinking I don't even remember Grace being this age~I was that messed up in the head~ and I just realized what I missed.....  Sad, huh?  

Have a nice night people..........  

Cat        

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Geez and I thought my life was busy!!!

Stacy

Anonymous said...

Of course as the mother of an autistic child myself, my little ears pricked up at the mention of Tyler.  As you already know, rocking, waving fingers and touching textures are classic autistic behaviours!!  I hope his parents are keeping an eye on him.  Love hearing about your days at work!!
Sara   x

Anonymous said...

Listening to tales of the little ones makes me miss mine being that age.  It passes way too quickly.  St. Mt..... I'd keel over if I tried to climb it these days..lol  The stories are great, keep em coming! ~Sie

Anonymous said...

Ahhhhhh! Lice!!!  I had a run in with lice a few years ago and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy!  3 months, a few hundred bucks, several shampoos, hours of combing individual hairs and new beds and couches later...they were gone.  A few years later I still check her head every week.  
I'm glad you're having a good time with the kids, I admire you for it.  I love kids, I just don't get how to interact with them...we kind of stare at each other :)
I miss Pey being little, I wasn't there much at that time...that's when I was doing the single mom with 3 jobs routine and she was in daycare and had babysitters all the time.  I wish they had little cameras attached to them and we could Tivo their childhood ;)
Take care doll and have a great week at work!!
xoxo~B

Anonymous said...

WOW!  15 one year olds....what is the child/provider ratio?  Rules are alot different with home and centers.