Fire!!!

Posted by Meli on January 26, 2012 in daycare ratings

There was a snow storm.

It was one of the coldest days of the year.

The repairman fixing the sprinkler system set off the fire alarm at the daycare.

At nap time.

The kids were in there socks and no sweaters because they were asleep in the cots and cribs with their blankets.

The teachers, thinking there really was a fire, grabbed all the kids as they were and bustled them outdoors as fast as they could.

The big kids didn’t have any time to grab their shoes, coats or even blankets. They ended up standing outside in the snow in their socks, huddled in groups, trying to stay warm under their teacher’s sweaters for 10 minutes. There were tears, flushed cheeks and really cold toes.

There was no time to grab snowsuits and boots for the babies. So they were wrapped up in blankets from their cribs and carried outside. The teachers carried all the babies, even the ones that could walk so that they would stay warm. The babies thought it was great fun.

The director was away on holiday for the week. The assistant director had gone out for lunch, so had about a 1/3 of the staff. The people that were designated to be the leaders and arrange for the kids to go back into the daycare were not there. This meant that the teachers were scrambling and no one knew what was going on. It wasn’t until the repairman, told them that it was safe to go back in, that they went back in.

That’s why the kids were out there for so long.

I brought Maks and Mat home and gave them a really warm bath.

Because they were really cold.

It was a not so funny comedy of errors.

Mat’s Report Card

Posted by Meli on January 26, 2012 in baby

Mat got his report card last week too. Just because he just mastered walking and doesn’t really speak words right now doesn’t mean that the daycare won’t evaluate him.

His report card was just as I expected. His teachers like him. He is a loving child that isn’t destructive or rambunctious. He likes to look at books and play with balls. But his teachers noted two big areas of improvement.

They would like him to speak more. Right now the only word he says is baba. But in his defense, his baba (bottle) is the most important thing to him. He loves his baba more than anything else out there. If he wants or needs something else, he just yells at you in baby babble until you can figure out what he needs. If you ask me, he has it pretty good. But hey, these are the professionals so I will work on getting him to articulate is 16 month old self better. O_0
They also want him to interact more with the other kids. They say that he interacts very well with the teachers and that he is very receptive to them but they want him to play with the other kids. Now it should be noted that with the exception of DJ Cheesy, none of the other kids can walk yet, nor can they really speak yet. They just sit where they are placed and do their own thing. And by their own thing I mean, they sit where they are plopped down and usually just sit there looking around, sometimes crying and occasionally falling over. I am not sure what exactly Mat’s teachers want him to do or how he is supposed to interact with the other kids but they suggested that the interaction would be beneficial for him. So I am going to encourage him to “play” with the other children.

If Mat was older, I would have pointed all this out at the parent / teacher conference because really, you can’t force a child to socialize, they will when they’re ready. But that’s just my thinking though. Since Mat is just in the infant room, I don’t get a parent / teacher conference, which I think the teachers do on purpose. This way they can make suggestions and evaluate without any real repercussions. I can always bring up my concerns to the teacher when I drop Mat off but I am not too concerned. Mat is surrounded by older kids and adults when he is at home and because of that, that’s who he feels most comfortable with.

I’m not going to stress over his report card,

Too much,

Yet.

Maks’ Report Card

Posted by Meli on January 24, 2012 in daycare ratings, Maks

Maks’ got his report card last week. I hate getting Maks’ report card. I am always worried that I am doing something wrong and the report card just points out how bad of a mom I am.

Maks’ teacher prefaced handing me the report card by saying that Maks has gone through a crazy change over the Christmas holidays. He has matured and is focusing a lot more. She is very pleased with how he is working on his workbooks and that his interests in books are greatly improving. She wasn’t sure where all this was coming from, because he wasn’t learning this behavior from school (her words not mine) but she was pleased.

So that being said, the majority of the report card no longer applies (once again her words not mine).

Now I am not sure what to do. The majority of Maks’ report card talked about his lack of focus and his immaturity. But none of that applies anymore.

I go in for my parent/teacher conference tomorrow. I am not really sure what to expect. Usually I go in with the report card highlighted and armed with a list of questions on how to make improvements or clarifications that I need but this time I have none of that. I am not sure what comments actually apply to Maks now.

And because of that I don’t know how to prepare for the parent teacher interview.

Random Tuesday Thoughts: Things I know today that I didn’t know yesterday

Posted by Meli on January 24, 2012 in baby, Maks

DJ Cheesy is away this week. That means that Mat is the only boy is his class for the entire week. He’s the mack daddy!
Maks calls his best friend P’s mom by her first name. I have no idea how he knows what he first name is because up until he told me what her name was yesterday, I had no idea what it was. I just called her P’s mom.
Mat loves being outdoors. He hates his winter boots though. But he will tolerate to go outdoors. If he has them on and is not outdoors, then there’s trouble.
Apparently there’s a beaver living in the pond down the street.

The return of heartbreak

Posted by Meli on January 19, 2012 in Maks

In the daycare when one child leaves or “graduates” to another class, they are replaced by a younger child or someone that is new to the daycare. So there is always a steady flow of children coming in and out of Maks’ life, which can suck in some cases because friends get separated or “romances” get broken up. In some cases, it is a good thing because toxic friendships and “romances” get broken up.

When Maks moved on to the kindergarten class, I was relieved. He had a crazy strong crush on a little girl in his preschool class but alas she did not feel the same way about him. He used to follow her around and get her things, help her with her chair or eating her lunch, he always wanted to be near her. She liked him but she didn’t want to be shadowed all the time so she would run away from him and as I went on she started being mean to him. It got so bad that the teachers had to step in and keep them apart because her words were really starting to affect him. He would come home, just so down on himself, saying how he wasn’t good enough or cool enough or smart enough or fun enough for anyone to like him. And even with all my reassurances, he still felt and acted extremely sad. Picking him up after school and hearing about all the drama that was going on, just broke my heart. I was hurting for him and there was nothing I could do about separating them before Maks moved to kindergarten because all there was only one preschool class.

So when he “graduated” to kindergarten, I was relieved. He was getting a break from his crush and I thought that it would be a really good thing. And it was. He did a complete 180 in the kindergarten room. He self esteem went back to normal. He would come home happy and proud of all that he did during the day. He would be full of stories and ideas. He was happy and I loved it.

But his crush has now graduated to the kindergarten room and I am so worried. As of right now, it looks as though Maks has lost all the amorous feelings that he had towards her. He plays with the other kids and pretty much leaves his crush alone. I have spoken to the kindergarten teacher about what happened before and asked to them keep an eye out, just in case things go back to the way they were. Part of me is very worried that the rejection and sadness coming back. It kills me to know that there is nothing I can do to protect him from heartbreak.

The truth about my husband

Posted by Meli on January 18, 2012 in hubby

Millhouse complains all the time about how many blankets and pillows I keep on the bed. He is forever saying that it is too hot to sleep and that he is going to throw them all out. But the truth is: HE IS A BLANKET HOG! He is the one that is forever stealing the blankets at night. Hence, why I keep adding more.

Random Thursday Thoughts: The Catch Up Edition

Posted by Meli on January 17, 2012 in baby, daycare ratings, Maks

Looks like Mat is going to be transferred over to the toddler room pretty soon. He has been spending a lot of time over in the toddler room lately. It’s gotten to the point where, he and DJ Cheesy* spend the mornings and afternoons with the toddlers and only come back to the infant room for play time and meals. And last week Mat’s teacher expressly asked that I start weaning him off his bottle and if I had looked into potty training him yet. I hadn’t really been planning on doing either anytime soon. But now that she has brought it to my attention that he is going to be moving and that he needs to be weaned or he will have a tough time adapting to the room, I am going to get on that. I can’t believe that how quickly this kid is growing up.
Maks is itching to go to senior kindergarten. He is currently in junior kindergarten at the daycare and he is pretty happy there but his friends, more specifically his “girlfriend” M has moved over to senior kindergarten and now he wants to go too. Because he wants to be with the “big” kids. I’ve asked his teacher about this and she said that he would be moving over pretty soon. He has mastered his letters and numbers, and his writing is improving. We just have to work on his reading and he should be ready to go.
Maks is unilingual this year. I haven’t signed Maks back up for French immersion this term. I don’t think it is beneficial for him at this age. We don’t speak French at home and it confuses him more than anything right now. His teacher suggested that we have him listen to French songs and watch TV shows in French but he is just not interested. So we’re not going to push him, just yet. He has asked to take Spanish though, so we may look into Spanish classes.
Mat has mastered eating with a spoon. He prefers to eat with his fingers but the spoon must always be present on the highchair or there’s gonna be trouble.

*DJ Cheesy is Mat’s buddy. They both started the infant room on the same day. DJ Cheesy got his name from the family party that Mat’s class had. Cheesy’s mom wasn’t able to attend, so Cheesy spent the majority of the party with us, eating as many cheesies as he could fit into his mouth. The teachers all call him “Pudgie” but I prefer Cheesy. I am not sure how or when the DJ part got tagged on but it did and now we call him “DJ Cheesy”.

I owe back taxes

Posted by Meli on January 17, 2012 in blogging

I think.

But I’m really not sure if I do or not.

Last year, for the first time ever, I filed my taxes late. The tax deadline fell right in the middle of moving, and new baby sleep deprivation. I was losing things, forgetting things and desperate for a nap.

So I missed the tax deadline. I had al my documents together and I knew that I was ready to file but in the heacticness of life, the actual tax filing slipped my mind. I ended up filing my taxes about a month after the tax deadline. I was really scared when I filed. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. I wasn’t sure if the government was going to penalize me or hunt me down, or what.

But nothing happened.

That’s what worries me. I submitted my taxes via email, like I usually do, but this time I didn’t get a confirmation number. And here I am months, later and I still don’t have my summary from the government. So I am thinking that I did something wrong and I probably owe the government big time.

This year, I am not going to be such a screw up. I am going to get some free tax support and make sure that I get my taxes submitted way before the deadline. For good measure, I may even see if I can resubmit my taxes from last year, in case they weren’t received.

I have a feeling I am going to owe big time.

Some people are better off not married

Posted by Meli on January 17, 2012 in blogging

Millhouse has a friend , S. He lived with his girlfriend, Z for years. They moved in together 6 months after they started dating and lived together for 8 years. Z decided after 8 years that she wanted to have children and wanted to get married so she and S had a big blowout wedding.

Their marriage lasted less than a year.

S decided that he didn’t want kids and that a settled down family life in the suburbs wasn’t for him.

So he ran off with a stripper. And no, I am not just calling his new girlfriend a stripper. Her occupation is stripper. S met her while she was working at the strip club. He liked to get “extras” from her. And yes, he thought she was worth leaving his partner of almost 10 years for.

And by ran off, I mean he has left the country and no one can find him. Z is now in a very bad position. When she and S separated they had a verbal agreement that she would move out of their home and he would stay there and put it up for sale. Once the house sold, then they would split the profits 50/50 and each go on their way. Neither of them knows much about estate law, but this seemed like the right thing to do.

Until S fled the country.

It turns out that S sold the house, privately and without Z’s permission, and all of the profits tied to the sale have now gone off with S and the stripper. Z is seeing an estate lawyer barrie but right now it looks as though she is not going to get her money. The estate lawyer Barrie is helping her work through her rights and file papers against S, for when he returns to Canada.

But right now she is stuck.

And really wishes that she never married the bastard.

Carpooling no more

Posted by Meli on January 9, 2012 in hubby

Millhouse is employed!!!!

Hooray!!!!

I have to drive myself into work again.

Boo!!!!

Randomosity – Mommy Style!