Rock star

I've been reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, and he talks about how practicing something for 10,000 hours is the key to success. If that is the case, my son is well on his way to drumming greatness. "You better watch out!"

Hallween successes and failures

Halloween '09 seemed to last forever. Is it me or did the decorations appear extra early this year? Around the same time as school supplies? Hubby says it is because the economy is hurting and retailers need to push for every penny. The over abundance of consumerism makes me nostalgic for a time when you could just piece together a creative costume out of stuff in the closet rather than watch your child pour over the party city catalogue and carry it around like a comfort object. With that said, when he decided he wanted to be a ghost I thought, "Cool. I can cut some holes in a sheet." Apparently he spent the evening trying to readjust his eye holes while running from house to house. At one point he ran into a tree. (There goes Mother of the Year award!) He kept making the holes bigger until eventually there was one hole... for his entire head. I would have taken an after picture (of what the costume looked like when he returned from trick-or-treating) but he tore it off and headed straight for the kitchen to investigate his loot.

In the meantime, I had tons of fun coming up with creative dishes for our little get together. And CJ had a ball decorating the front yard. He made a coffin for our "zombie" and had motion sensor lights. (Ok, so we did make a few purchases - we had to do our part as good Americans after all.) Now that it is November, I am ready to rest. But I've noticed that retailers wasted no time with Christmas decorations. Welcome to the two month countdown... ho, ho, ho.

Our little helper

The boy likes to "help" with household chores and has been enthusiastically chipping in with outdoor fall cleanup. However it seems that when he is with his father, the helping is actually productive, versus when he is with me and it appears to be more, well, counterproductive. He regularly helps daddy mow the lawn (don't my boys look cute in their matching ear protection?) and has also helped to rake the leaves and set up for Halloween. I took him out to rake the other day and after making a nice pile for removal, he proceeded to "un-rake" it.

The weather outside is frightful

I love fall, and I have to admit that this one has been a little disappointing so far. It seems like every time we try to have a little fun in the great outdoors, the weather is miserable. Rain, rain, rain, rain. What - did I move back to the Pacific Northwest? Yesterday we headed out to our favorite pick your own pumpkin place, and the mud was so thick I was worried it would suck the boy down into the great beyond. Meanwhile, wind is wiping my hair in such a fashion as to make it nearly impossible to choose an acceptable gourd. The positive in all of this? Our pumpkins this year are monster-sized. They will probably be tasteless from all the water retention, but they are HUGE. Yes, we eat the pumpkin guts after carving jack-o-lanterns. I make a fantastic pumpkin soup. And yes, I am aware of my pessimistic attitude. The depressing autumn situation has made me a bit jaded. Needless to say, I shucked out all our available cash to pay for our mutant pumpkins while husband and the boy trampled knee-deep in the muddy corn maze. I have zero photographic evidence this year because my camera can only keep a charge for about 15 minutes and apparently I had used it all up the day before on cheese-ball shots of boy in commercialized pumpkin patch. Cute, eh?

New school, old questions

Started back to school last week. It was a little freaky going back before Labor Day, but I guess the district decided it was best to have some extra emergency days to work with in the event of a major storm or flu outbreak. Opening day for teachers was September 1, and I survived the district-wide introduction. All of the new teachers were required to stand up in front of a large live audience (in addition to several other locations receiving a live broadcast) and introduce ourselves in a clever manner. I wrote a poem and managed to say it without messing up. A very proud moment indeed. Thursday the students started and all is going well thus far. I like my colleagues and it seems I will have a good group of students this year. Of course we are in the "honeymoon phase" right now; ask me how I feel come October. The biggest adjustment is teaching without walls; it is a little challenging to focus on what is going on in the immediate vicinity when you can clearly hear what is going in other people's "rooms". My former co-teacher referred to my new job as a "teacher without borders". It's wild, but I know I will get used to it soon and will barely notice the difference.
In the meantime I have been trying to meet some new people. During the days of new teacher orientation I got to know the other full-time substitute for Special Ed. in our building. We're the same age but she is newly married and does not have children yet. I showed her a picture of Paul and was (of course) bragging about his awesomeness. She didn't come right out and say anything about the fact that he is Asian, and I am beginning to wonder if she realizes he is adopted. The other day we were talking about Paul's outgoing personality and she asked, "Does he get that from you?"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Do you think his personality is more like yours or your husband's?"
"Uh, neither." Admittedly I was caught off guard and didn't have the right answer. Is there a right answer? Sometimes I struggle with how best to communicate my status as an adoptive mom to someone I am getting to know. Part of me wants to avoid tricky questions/comments that force the issue - like "Did you nurse?" or "Pregnancy changes the way your bra fits" (I actually was told this at V.S. one day... with Paul right there.) Another new teacher asked me, "Are you planning on having more?" What do I say - "Well, I didn't exactly have my first one."??? My mom would say that all of this thinking and worrying is silly and no one really cares. The problem is, I care. And I get stuck in my head about this stuff all the time. When Paul starts understanding his adoption story (right now he simply likes to repeat it), I want to be able to equip him with the best answers for inevitable questions he'll face his whole life. If I can't figure out how to answer them, how can I teach him?

A room fit for a wild beast

Being three (going on 13), the boy wants to do everything "ALL BY MYSELF". In order to accommodate this, I have been working on upgrading his room to a more preschool appropriate space and shifting all of his baby/toddler things into the guest room as it will eventually be the baby's room. The first thing I did was remove the too-tall dresser that I worried would one day crush the boy while he struggled to remove underwear and socks from its top drawer. I replaced it with a small piece I bought at our church's rummage sale for $2 and jazzed up with some blue paint and new hardware. It's basically a cheap piece of junk (as the hubby says, "Ya got what ya paid for") but it serves its purpose. Now underwear, socks and pajamas can be easily, safely and independently removed. The next step was a new bed. CJ took apart the crib and stored it in the basement (so that guests can still enjoy a full sized bed until the baby arrives) and I found a wooded bed frame on Craigslist for $32. Paul was thrilled to have a big boy bed and tried to cram every single stuffed animal in his collection under the covers. Sadly, there was no room for him at that point and we needed to compromise on who would stay and who remained in the basket. The first few nights in the new bed were a little rough, but he has adjusted quite well to the openness of it all. In the meantime I also brought in the larger bookshelf to accommodate his large collection of reading material. The boy loves his books. Funny side story: the other night I went to check if he was sleeping and found him on his belly, head propped up in his hands, reading by the light of his nightlight. It was too cute.
The last step was completed last night. CJ installed a closet organizer that allows Paul to reach his own clothes and return the hangers without assistance. He was so excited at the prospect of picking his outfit that he picked and re-picked at least a dozen times. And look at all the room we cleared out for MORE CLOTHES! Yippee!! As you can see, the boy is very happy with his new room.

The new journey

August. The dog days of summer. The only month that has no official holiday. And the time in a teacher's life when you realize that summer is halfway over. (Those of us who don't teach summer school anyway!) I start a new teaching job in a few weeks and have to admit that I am a little nervous. New situations are generally pretty intimidating to me, but this particular job is a bit more so because I am returning to teach in the district where I received my education. I will be co-teaching English for three periods with two periods of resource room. The school runs their English program a little differently. Students in 9th grade all take freshman English. Then in 10th, 11th and 12th grade they choose their class based on the literature. My classes will be 10-12 graders. Tomorrow I am going in to meet the other new special education teachers (& hopefully my co-teachers) and find out what literature we will be reading. The best part is that during the second semester the English department focuses on Shakespeare and puts together a performance for the end of the year. There is a lot to be excited about, but also a lot of anxiety about making a good impression. I am thankful to have had this past year of high school experience with some fantastic co-teachers; here's hoping this coming school year will be great too!