The wonder of bubble wrap....

My children both love bubble wrap. It doesn't matter how big or how small, but if a piece of the stuff arrives in my house, it instantly becomes a battle worth fighting over.  Currently, the box the bubble wrap arrived in is being converted into a spaceship.  All on a Friday night.  Party. On.

I do believe that children have so much of life figured out. The innocence thing is cute and all, but it's the creativity thing that I love.  When a kleenex box becomes a bed for Barbie and a box becomes a spaceship and when bubble wrap is enough to keep one busy for at least a good 15 minutes....that's creative.  When crayons create and a pencil and paper is all you need ....when you can put on a pair of high heels while cleaning and instantly be Cinderella....that's creative.  I still love to use my imagination and although I feel like my creativity wanes sometimes, like why I didn't post for three months *cough*writer'sblock*cough*, I still really do see watching kids play quite a miraculous experience.

In the past week, I've seen fly swatters turn my girls into Moth Killing Ninjas. I've watched small plastic creatures shaped like animals mesmerize my girls and take on character traits of their own for hours.  I've seen them pull my ferns out of the ground and replant them in the sandbox as their new garden.  I've seen my three year old run around with underwear on her head singing Adele.  Of course, this same Thing 2 child also named her baby at daycare Dumb Ass so sometimes I would venture to guess her creativity needs a filter.  Either way, it brings me to the question of when does that imagination simmer down to a fizzle?  What age is it that we decide bubble wrap and spaceships are only for kids?

I know that research has shown children lose their honesty in writing around fourth grade because they start "worrying" about what the teacher wants instead of writing what they truly feel.  Sad.  Before that time, they write what they think...they make up wonderful adventures...they create.  But then, once the whole "grade" thing kicks in for them, they stop.  Does that happen to imaginations, too?

I've racked my brains thinking about my seventh graders and their imaginations.  Honestly, sometimes there are a few who let it slip that there is an imagination behind that cell phone and e-reader.  For the most part though, being creative equals work and many won't go there whether it's a grade or not.  However, put a toddler with some legos alone with that same 7th grader and you'll see something magical.  Suddenly, it's okay to be a kid again.  Legos are cool. Making silly faces and voices are cool. Jumping and pretending are cool.  But back to the real world and BOOM, gone. Sad face.

So the question hits me....how can I as a teacher foster and allow that imagination to flourish even when they're on the verge of being a teenager?  And how can I keep my own Thing 1 and Thing 2 loving the simple part of life....like cardboard rocket ships?  If you'll excuse me, I must go fight for my portion of the bubble wrap before it's all popped!

Calling a Bluff

As an educator to hormonally imbalanced and sometimes quite idiotic adolescents, I quite often spend my time calling people's bluffs. It's amazing to me how we are all born with an invisible line that dares to be crossed.  We sometimes are the ones doing the crossing and other times, we're the ones daring another to cross. I've become quite good at recognizing a bluff as a bluff, but let me reiterate, I'm old and experienced.  My poor children. They seriously don't have much of a fighting chance to pull anything over me.  However, they are strong little girls and stubborn like crazy so already in their lives, they've made me call their bluffs.  Today was one of those days.

Thing 2 has a notorious and awful habit of thinking that cleaning up is standing in the doorway and tossing your toys into your room.  Thus, the issue.  I've been watching her and waiting for her to suddenly understand the importance of her toys, of which she has quite a few, mostly hand me downs from Thing 1.  That moment never arrived.  I asked her daycare provider if she helped clean up there.  The smirk and shake of the head was clear enough indication that we had a habit forming that needed to be broken and soon.  I refuse to raise slobs.  Yes, I know, I may eat those words someday when they're in those "rebellious teen years" I hear so much about, but when they're small and my house is filled with their crap, they will not be slobs.

I literally gave Thing 2 a warning two days ago that her toys were going bye bye since she couldn't pick them up.  "Where they go, Mama?"

"Well, probably into a garbage bag so I can take them to another little girl who will love My Little Ponies and Barbies," I replied.

"I go get the bag," she stated matter of factly and by golly, she had a garbage bag in her hand and was standing in the door.  "You clean it."

At this point, my blood began to boil, but I remained calm.  I also realized I was in a pickle because I wasn't ready to truly tackle the whole project of getting rid of things. However, I began to throw things in the bag and she didn't flinch. Dang. I was seriously going to have to up the ante. I left some in the bag, but put the bag in her room and reminded her that if this wasn't cleaned up, it was gone tomorrow.

Tomorrow came. She didn't care. I was grumpy and had had it with life for the moment, so I walked into the house and said, "Thing 1, help me rid your sister of her mess, please."  Thing 1 was happy to oblige because there is always a little fun to be had when your sibling is screaming her head off and you get to be on the better end of the screaming. The toys were emptied within 10 mins. The screaming lasted 40. I ignored.  Thing 1 went about daily business. Thing 2 eventually stopped, went and stood in her room, grabbed her one toy that had been put away and came out to the kitchen where the computer is.

"I love you too much to let you be disobedient, Thing 2. I love you so much I want you to understand how important it is to take care of our things." I gave her a quick cheek kiss and went back to work.   She sniffed and licked her running boogers.

"I love you too, Mama."  If only I had the ability to "get over" things as quickly as she does.  Of course, we'll see what the next hour brings....

And these are the moments that keep me coming back

We're in grammar at school right now.  Yes, I said the G word.  It's one of those hills I'm willing to die on, even when research supposedly shows that teaching grammar doesn't really work.  I beg to differ.  I'm sure that the research done to prove such nonsense didn't take place in my classroom for the last 20 years where I've continued to break the rules and teach it anyway.  They took spelling away from middle school for Pete's sake, but no matter how sneaky I have to be about it, I will teach them what a prepositional phrase, action verb, linking verb, subject, predicate words and adjectives are. I have had more than one student thank me later on when they realized that the infamous research about grammar not mattering didn't get out to high school and college English teachers.

Regardless, one of the reasons I love teaching it is because most of my students are on pretty even playing fields when it comes to grammar. Not many have had specific instruction on it other than a worksheet here or there that introduces it and ends it all on one sheet.  So, I truly believe they are interested in it because it is literally a new concept.  Not only that but when they start, they think there is no way they will be able to do what I ask them to do.  We're half way through my unit and guess what?  THEY CAN DO IT! Today was a fun day of me watching them succeed.  We laughed. We argued about certain words (which is good because that means they care for one nanosecond about something) and more importantly to me, I saw the invisible light bulbs lighting up as time progressed. I was assured once again, that I am exactly where I was born to be and that I love my job so much that I will go to work when my nose is running, my head is throbbing and my body is aching (that would be my last two days anyway). At the end of my day, I wrote a quiz for tomorrow and I smiled, not out of spite that they will be surprised, but because I think the surprise they will experience will be the growth that has occurred in the last week and half.

Fast forward two minutes after running my quiz to the end of the school day.  I met with some teachers and the discussion went to our governor and the sad state of affairs SD is in right now. It's hard to know how to feel right now. I know I make a difference. I work so darn hard and to me, it's not always work, but it's what I do. And guess what? I'm not alone in this feeling.  Many of my colleagues do the very same thing. Give it their all practically every single day of school and beyond. And here we are, another year into the legislative session where education is being pooped upon. Literally. The governor's plan is to provide an incentive yearly to math and science teachers, stating of course, that we have a hard time getting good math and science teachers in our state. I would beg to differ.  We have outstanding math and science teachers in our state (and yes, there are a few ringers too, but the majority ARE NOT) and I can speak directly for my team at my school right now.  Do I believe they deserve to get the monetary incentive?  Absolutely.  Do I think they should be singled out to get it?  Not on your life.  Middle school is like a body in a sense. There is a purpose for each part. The science teacher is as important as the physical education teacher who is as important as the home ec teacher who is as important as the music teacher and the English teacher and the counselors. To say a body can function perfectly with only two parts is a lie. To say two parts of the body are better than another is also a lie.  Yes, I know my analogy loses some footing when you compare the brain and the heart to the big toe, but just let me have my moment of believing it works.  :o)

In addition to the monetary incentive for the math and science people, he then wants to give the top 20% merit pay. This is where I chuckle. Repeatedly throughout the nation this concept has failed. It will pit teacher against teacher (no matter how much they say it won't, with "they" being our legislatures supporting the concept). You can bet your bottom dollar that if I'm going to be getting merit pay based on my test scores and reviews, nobody else is going to get my secrets (of which I do have a few after 20 years, of which I religiously share without issue).  I would even go as far as to say education, which is pretty much broken already (remember when it was fun in the classroom and you could be creative with your plans because the test was just a yearly occurrence and not the thing that your whole school was graded on---I DO) will become one big "Test Fest."  I can imagine how incredibly fun that will be for my daughters to live through.  "Oh, creative writing? Umm, no that isn't on our test.  Let's do more prefixes."  And yes, YUCK is onomatopoeia, which is maybe on the test.

Anyway, not sure where I'm at right now, besides dreaming of the days of old when the teachers were looked upon as knowledgeable, respected people who had the ability to make professional decisions and had the trust of the community.  Now I know many think my job is easy and they can do it. Misconceptions about teachers and teaching makes me sad. But, I shall wake up tomorrow, eat my eggs, go to school and do my job because that's who I am.

I remember the day so clearly.....

Although it seems pretty much like I've been a mom my entire life, that isn't the case.  Thing 1 didn't enter my world until 2003.  In fact, yesterday marked the nine year anniversary of the phone call that changed my world.  I remember being active on a yahoo group that tried hard to track when referrals had been released from China.  It was sketchy, but was all I had at the time.  When Thing 2 came into being, the whole system was different, but for Thing 1, it was a huge guessing game.  Her referral call was supposed to come in December and it didn't.  I distinctly remember the sadness that overcame that Christmas because I so wanted to be a mom by Christmas (not physically, just with the promise of travel to get my baby soon).  So, when referrals were supposedly out of China and arriving at some agencies in the US, I began to get the whole nervous stomach.

I was teaching that day and was sure I would be getting called from my social worker while at work.  I had no cell phone then so I was at the mercy of the school secretaries to connect me.  I do believe I checked in with them every half hour via email!  There was also a "situation" going on at school that needed an emergency meeting so some teachers went to an area restaurant right after school to discuss what we were planning to do.  Well, I left at 3:45 and the social worker called at 4.  I left the restaurant at 5:00 and when I arrived home there was a message from my social worker at 4:30 which simply said, "Cindy, I have some good news for you.  Please call me back. I've been trying to reach you for an hour." Of course, getting ahold of her wasn't as simple as she stated because she was a counselor too and was in session.......until 6:00!  Needless to say, longest hour of my life.  At 6:07 the phone rang and I was told my baby girl was 8 months old and the agency said she was beautiful, which she mentioned they normally don't comment on. She gave me stats and we got off the phone.  For a minute. I was literally on the phone until 11:30 that night calling people and answering phone calls.  I couldn't reach my mom, my sister or any brothers right away so I think my first to know was a friend and my niece who was in college at the time.  Thus, Thing 1 took over my world.

I'm pretty amazed by her. I know I'm biased, but she really is quite an exceptional kid.  Her talent in the arts is crazy, especially in drawing and creating.  Her desire to be a good person puts me to shame as she studies God's word and is very aware of those around her that are hurting or alone on the playground and she doesn't hesitate to step up and be a friend.  As a big sister, there is none better.  I see her frustration with life at times and I feel sad because I know that in her, I see me and that is certainly something I didn't want to pass on to her.  My goal for my 9.5 year old is to instill in her a sense of security the best I can, show her that loving God is the best decision one can make, and assure her that the family is the core of our being and no matter what lies ahead for her or I, we will face it together with the grace only God can supply and the undying love we've shared since she was handed to me on May 11, 2003 with boogers everywhere, the look of fear filling her beautiful eyes and screams of an internal pain leaving her mouth.  Man, I love that kid.

How do they know?

Sitting in church with two children tends to produce some "moments."  Today was one of those days.  The girls are okay going to Sunday School classes, but if there is ever a time when we can skip it, they will jump at the chance.  Today they jumped and I gave them the whole, "I will take a snack for you and you take something quiet to keep you occupied" lecture and off we went.

Within five minutes of the sermon starting, Thing 2 decides she has to go potty.  This has become a routine now, not only at church, but pretty much at any store we enter.  I don't get it, but I expect it because this isn't my first rodeo.  Luckily, I have Thing 1 who can now take her potty by herself.  Begrudgingly, of course, but she does it.  They leave and return with a little spectacle, but not a major one.  Smirks cover the faces of those around me as they think to themselves, "Oh, Cummins...you got what you deserved in these children."

Twenty minutes pass and suddenly, in a quiet moment, Thing 2 says full voice, "I've got to poop. I'm going to go potty and poopy in my pants! I have to...." and it was then I was able to reach her, put my hand over her mouth before she said the P word again full voice, and listen to the chuckles around me from those who got the pleasure of hearing the announcement from a three year old.  Now I was in a pickle.  Thing 1 did NOT want to take Thing 2 to the bathroom again because she was busy sketching.  She also has done it enough now to know that Thing 2 will pretty much do whatever it takes to get out of a quiet situation, so she said, "She's lying. She does NOT have to go poop."  As soon as Thing 2 heard this, she said, "I have to go poopy now. I go poopy in my pants."  Again, chuckles.  I pull her close, gently of course because I always assume a social worker is watching me, and I whisper in her ear, "You can wait."  Wrong answer. An even louder 3 year old states, "I HAVE to go poopy now."  At this point, I believe I've been beaten and I concede, but before I allow her to go I say, "If you don't poop, you will get a spanking because that would mean you were lying to mama."  Thing 1 takes her little sister to the bathroom with the anger in her step that only I can recognize along with this glint in her eye knowing that her little sister is probably going to get a spanking soon.

They return. Church is ending when they return and people are milling about so it's not quite as obvious that my children have once again exited the church.  Thing 1 walks quickly toward me and I know without a doubt Thing 2 did not poop.  "She did NOT poop, just like I said she wouldn't. Now she gets to get spanked."  Thing 2 looks at me with a quick smirk and then it registers that she isn't off the hook.  The big eyes and reluctant walk to the car made me realize that I must be consistent with my threats because she truly knew what was coming.

Do I think this swat on the behind will cure her from lying to me? No. Do I think she really has to poop?  Yes.  Do I think I'm scarring her for life by swatting her for not pooping when she says she will?  Perhaps.  But I have to hand it to the kid.  She knows exactly what NOT to say and exactly WHEN to say it for full attention and effect from her mommy.

Sometimes I think too much.....

Being a people pleaser sux.  Or blows,  or whatever the lingo that conveys how I get into these ruts where I am trying to please others when I write instead of writing the things I know. I am a perfectionist by nature, although you wouldn't always know it by looking at my cluttered desk/classroom and my cluttered household.  So, when I do things, like write, or take photos, or teach and yes, I put too many commas in this sentence on purpose, not that most people would notice anyway, and by most people I mean the 18 of you who follow me and by 18 I really mean maybe two who read past the first line of the blog, but I digress.....I'm going to write about my life. I thought I would use this blog as a stepping stone to the spiritual direction because since I was a wee child of 20ish, I've always figured I'd do two things in my life (besides being a mom and a teacher):  I'd author a devotional book that would be cool to read....realistic and appealing to varied ages and I'd also be a motivational speaker of sorts (without having to live in a van down by the river...oh Farley, I miss you!)   So, when starting the blog, it was mostly in rebellion against facebook and the issues I have with that place but it was also as a potential start to my future devotional.

Not gonna happen.  I don't feel spiritual.  In fact, I feel bloated right now.  And that my friends, is real life and that is going to be my future blog posts.  With Thing 1 and Thing 2 along with the furry things who cost more in medical than my kids do, combined with teaching middle school kids....I might enjoy being able to just spout off.   So, I will.  But now, I hear girls screaming, the shower starting and various thuds.  I don't even want to know.

A second chance....perhaps.

And here we are in 2012.  For some strange reason I hear Manilow blasting, "Looks like we made it...."  One thing that is definite and never changing in my world is time.  In everyone's world actually.  I remember when I was in college I read a quote somewhere that said we are all aging at exactly the same pace.  I'm sure you find it odd that a quote so simple-minded would strike one as deep as I as it did, but it totally changed my whole mind on getting older. I realized that the baby I hold is aging at the same rate as my 79 year old mother.  Nobody gets special treatment or more time.  (Barring death of course as some get more time on this earth than others, but my point is dealing with the whole 24 hours a day thing.)

I wonder what this year will bring to me in the form of different choices.  Yes, I have goals.  Not resolutions mind you because those to me have always been a joke, not to mention I consider my new year's day the first day of school starting in the fall and function from fall to fall really.  But, I digress.  Each day presents itself as a new chance....and possibly a second chance to do things differently.  I am such a creature of habit that it is very much out of my comfort zone to mess things up.....especially when they're working.  Yet, I also have this desire to be a better "me" which will require me to decide what it is that I choose to use my "second chance" to correct.

In my last post, I discussed budgeting.  Yep, it's huge.  It's my number one thing this year and although it's a pain in the rear to work on a budget and to plan where every dollar gets spent, it so works if you work it.  This is my second chance to get my life in order financially.

I also need people.  I have come to a place in my life where I feel pretty friendless (yes, this is me being extremely vulnerable---oh look, another goal).  I have my job where I have colleagues who mean the world to me and whom I spend moments with at work, but beyond that, it doesn't happen really.  I have many in my world I would consider friends, but again, to truly have them be IN my world (by IN, I mean to know my thoughts, my heart, my dreams....you know, like the best friend you had when you were in school at some point in life) just doesn't happen.  I am not sure how to fix this or even if it is fixable. I do try to invest in others and intentionally reach out to friends, so it's not that I'm a hermit in a corner, rocking back and forth muttering things that are senseless.  I'm sure I could write for days on this topic, so I'll end it with the statement that I hope 2012 brings deeper relationships to me because yeah, I need people.

Another area I want a "second chance" at is my health. Yeah, I'm saying it.  There is too much junk in my trunk.  There are so many reasons why this is the case, but ultimately, the only one who can throw out the junk is me. I'm joining Jennifer Hudson in singing, "Believe" from the top of my lungs.

I probably should include things like being a better mom, a better teacher, more spiritual and so on, but those are way too predictable, and if I'm honest, taking care of the things listed above will probably enhance the whole mom, teacher and spirituality part. Not sure where all of this post is coming from.  Sorry if I lost you two paragraphs ago, which would mean you would also miss this apology, but hey, I tried.  I just maybe was caught up in the whole 2012 being a second chance in a way and I went for it......with the maze I call my mind and my "stream of consciousness" writing technique. So. Be. It.