We bought everyone's Halloween costumes today.
Sammy will be a yellow Power Ranger (I thought for sure she'd pick a princess again). As soon as she tried the ranger costume on she started doing karate kicks and going hi-ya hi-ya! I hope she doesnt' kick anyone at school when they have their Halloween parade.
Gerry will be a blue Power Ranger. He is very happy with his choice now, but originally wanted to be a Star Wars storm trooper. Not just any storm trooper -but the 'deluxe' storm trooper. It cost $5o!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He refused to choose the cheaper storm troopers and pouted for a while but then came around. That boy always picks the expensive stuff. The last time we went shoe shopping he went straight to the $70 pair. I guess he has expensive tastes.
Abera ended up choosing the Dark Knight Batman. Funny, cause for weeks he's been saying he wanted to be Iron Man or Optimus Prime (or a lion or a pumpkin or an "A" for Abera) but once we got there, he chose the Batman.
And Brandon got his first choice. There was never any doubt...he wanted to be the Hulk and he got what he wanted. He got one with fake muscles-it's hilarious. He kept making a tough 'hulk' face.
We took some cute pictures today but I won't post any costume pics until Halloween. It should be interesting this year.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Life Goes On
Everyone seems to be settling in better at daycare. We've spoken with them more about the teasing issue and are dealing with it. The kids actually say they like it there and I think I"ll leave it be if they seem genually happy there...that's what counts I guess.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
More Daycare Ranting
Here I go again, complaining about having to work and complaining about daycare. It's been one catastrophe after another. First thinking I would only have to work one month of day shift and then finding out my first week that it would be at least 3 months of days. So we frantically look for daycare and find a great nanny who quits when she walks in the door on her first day. She gave us 2 days notice. Then we find a daycare center which seems nice but I have a few complaints. Friday was their first day. I had to work 7am-7:30pm so Gerald had to drop them off and pick them up.
1.) They told me when I visited them the first time that they serve healthy full meals, not just snacks. Well, the kids told me they had poptarts for breakfast. Great, real nutritious. I"m pretty desparate for daycare right now (and this is a temporary situation) so I"ll live with it...but why say you serve real meals and then serve poptarts? Strike one.
2.) Abera and Brandon don't have preschool on Fridays so they were at the center all day. Abera excitedly told me he watched "The Jungle Book", a movie with alot of cats, and Tom and Jerry. Grrrr, I really hate Tom and Jerry!!!!! Oh did I tell you that they advertise that they are academically based. I thought, 'great, these are more than just babysitters-they'll be more structured than that'. Guess I was wrong. It kills me that I have to pay them more than half my paycheck just so they can sit my kids in front of the TV. And come on, now --days,IF you're going to do TV, there are soooo many better options that Tom and Jerry-really? Tom and Jerry?!?! Strike two.
3.) We got an incident report about Samantha (and they spoke with Gerald about it when he picked them up). Apparently, a kid called Samantha the 'R' word on the bus on the way to school and Samantha punched him in the leg (please imagine me jumping up and down with a huge smile on my face, screaming "THAT'S MY GIRL!!!!!!!) Of course, I didn't say that to her face. Gerald said, the boy got spoken to on the bus by the adult with them and they were going to address the issue with his parents. That's good. But Gerry told us that 3 kids were teasing Sam in the morning before the bus. Calling her a baby and a Kindergartner (she's in the second grade). We only knew that from Gerry. No one told us that. I'm pretty sure if she hadn't hit the boy and they werent' forced to write out an official incident report, then we would have never known Samantha was being teased at all. Pontential big strike three!
So, if anyone's reading this. Do you think I should look elsewhere...give this place some time? I MAY have a potential lead on a home based daycare. I ran into an aquaitance at church today and of course was mentioning my daycare problems and she said she had a friend who is going to have openings soon (preferably preschoolers, and she does before care too for school-agers). They are in our school district and could be bussed to school. What would you do? Gerry is not happy about going to daycare tomorrow. It makes me so sad. They loved the nanny we had for 2 days. They werent' wierd about me leaving them with her the second day (they were excited). Now none of the kids are thrilled with going to the center tomorrow :( At least I only work 8-4:30 tomorrow so I get to drop them off and pick them up and can speak myself to someone there. If this were permanent, then I would surely be looking elsewhere but I keep thinking, it's only temporary, let's see what happens. I'm pretty sure I'll be calling that home daycare mom this week to see if she would even take us-then I"ll go from there.
1.) They told me when I visited them the first time that they serve healthy full meals, not just snacks. Well, the kids told me they had poptarts for breakfast. Great, real nutritious. I"m pretty desparate for daycare right now (and this is a temporary situation) so I"ll live with it...but why say you serve real meals and then serve poptarts? Strike one.
2.) Abera and Brandon don't have preschool on Fridays so they were at the center all day. Abera excitedly told me he watched "The Jungle Book", a movie with alot of cats, and Tom and Jerry. Grrrr, I really hate Tom and Jerry!!!!! Oh did I tell you that they advertise that they are academically based. I thought, 'great, these are more than just babysitters-they'll be more structured than that'. Guess I was wrong. It kills me that I have to pay them more than half my paycheck just so they can sit my kids in front of the TV. And come on, now --days,IF you're going to do TV, there are soooo many better options that Tom and Jerry-really? Tom and Jerry?!?! Strike two.
3.) We got an incident report about Samantha (and they spoke with Gerald about it when he picked them up). Apparently, a kid called Samantha the 'R' word on the bus on the way to school and Samantha punched him in the leg (please imagine me jumping up and down with a huge smile on my face, screaming "THAT'S MY GIRL!!!!!!!) Of course, I didn't say that to her face. Gerald said, the boy got spoken to on the bus by the adult with them and they were going to address the issue with his parents. That's good. But Gerry told us that 3 kids were teasing Sam in the morning before the bus. Calling her a baby and a Kindergartner (she's in the second grade). We only knew that from Gerry. No one told us that. I'm pretty sure if she hadn't hit the boy and they werent' forced to write out an official incident report, then we would have never known Samantha was being teased at all. Pontential big strike three!
So, if anyone's reading this. Do you think I should look elsewhere...give this place some time? I MAY have a potential lead on a home based daycare. I ran into an aquaitance at church today and of course was mentioning my daycare problems and she said she had a friend who is going to have openings soon (preferably preschoolers, and she does before care too for school-agers). They are in our school district and could be bussed to school. What would you do? Gerry is not happy about going to daycare tomorrow. It makes me so sad. They loved the nanny we had for 2 days. They werent' wierd about me leaving them with her the second day (they were excited). Now none of the kids are thrilled with going to the center tomorrow :( At least I only work 8-4:30 tomorrow so I get to drop them off and pick them up and can speak myself to someone there. If this were permanent, then I would surely be looking elsewhere but I keep thinking, it's only temporary, let's see what happens. I'm pretty sure I'll be calling that home daycare mom this week to see if she would even take us-then I"ll go from there.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Here's some pictures!
The first one is Brandon's from school. Don't know why it came out sideways. Monday, Brandon came home talking all about Humpty Dumpty. He thought it was so amazing that I knew who Humpty Dumpty was :)
This pink and black one is Abera's caterpillar and something to do with a kickball too. Abstract I guess
This one is Gerry's. He drew everyone in the family including Jake (the dog). He also has Grandma and Grandpa and his kindergarten teacher. He started it last night but it wasn't complete until he woke up this morning and drew beds for everyone too. Too cute.
Samantha drew some family members too, although I'm not sure who's who. I love her smiley faces and curly hair. Oh and the crayons below. I have no idea who took that picture, but Gerry and Abera are at the top of list of suspects.
OK, these wonderful pieces of artwork aren't all from school but I thought they were cute. The kids were coloring the other day and wanted me to put their pictures on the computer. Also, a little daycare update. I think we found a daycare provider that will work for us. We originally wanted a nanny 'cause we thought it'd be cheaper but we could not find one on our own and it would have taken too long to find one through a nanny-finder service. We also couldn't find any home daycare that had room for all 4 kids and who could transport everyone everywhere. We found a daycare center that came recommended from a friend. I went to visit and liked what I saw (especially compared to the last crappy place I visited). They will transport all the kids to the public school in the morning and take care of the preschoolers throughout the day. Our friend who uses this center has a girl with DS. When I told the director that Samantha had DS and asked if they'd have a problem with that. I got a, 'no problems here. We believe in mainstreaming. "Jane" who comes here now with DS, we excpect her to do her homework just like all the other kids in the afternoon. We will make accomidations at parent's suggestions but we believe all kids will achieve if the excpectations are there" AMEN sister!!! Gotta love that . I hope this works out. I like the place but I'm still nervous as I've never used a daycare center before. It's all so new and rushed. I had to take off work today because I was getting the health forms together from the pediatricians. Luckily I have off tomorrow and I'm planning to take the kids to the center on Friday. Keep your fingers crossed. This will be temporary until I start working nights in Dec.......Anyhooo, here's the pictures. Oh well, the pictures came first. I'm no good with the computer. It's a miracle I have a blog.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
