We waited a while for Francesca.  In a lot of different ways ways.  We waited to conceive.  We switched to science when our own attempts did not work.  We tried different scientific approaches, finally arriving at success with PGD and in-vitro fertilization.  When Francesca was around a year old, at the suggestion of her day care,  we had the folks from the Zero to Three program come out to evaluate her.  The teacher at the day care felt she wasn’t hitting the milestones she should be in basically all areas.  I had some concerns myself but had chalked them off to her being on the slower side of the “normal” range.  When I brought the concerns up to our pediatrician he said she was fine, we should wait, but he understood my concern and need to follow up further.

The program administrators sent out a slew of folks, from occupational and physical therapists to speech therapists, all of whom came to conduct an in-home evaluation.  I am pleased to say, as were they, that Francesca was doing just fine and would be hitting those milestones in her own time.  We just need to wait.  The speech therapist did suggest that if by 18 months she didn’t speak more we could have her re-evaluated.

She spoke a little more, but not much more at 18 months.  At this point, I was more comfortable in my own skin and felt that Francesca was just moving at her own pace and that it was just a tad behind the other kids.  We didn’t re-evaluate.   We waited some more.  Every so often I question where she is developmentally and before I have a chance to explore my concerns further, she goes and moves on up to another milestone.

At just over 3 now, she is talking up a storm.  Her sentences are not grammatically correct by any stretch of the imagination.  At times I catch myself wondering if she should have the syntax of grammar “down” a little more than she does, and then I remember that she will “get it” in her own time.  And we wait.   There will come a time, in the very near future that I will miss the little nuances and errors of her speech and grammar.  She will soon move away from those cute mixed-up phrases and be talking like a “3 going on 10″ year old. For now, she speaks like this:

“Who do that?”

“Mommy, this eye wake” (as she points to her eye), “this eye, tired” (as she points to the other).

“I hungry Mommy.”

“I no sorry!” (very popular after asking her to apologize to her brother for something she did to him)

I love the way she speaks. For now, I will cherish the words and phrases of a pre-schooler and

I will chuckle, to myself, when she talks as she does.  It will soon change.  I can wait.

We did it!  With just a small effort Francesca is potty trained.  She is a stubborn little one and has resisted for some time now, even though she knew the drill.  So I waited.  I finally revisited the whole potty training thing and within short order she was running to the potty on her own.

I still have her in pull-ups at night although she wakes up dry most mornings.  I should have let my 6 year old train her, because she looks up to him so much.  He suggested she use the ” big potty” (toilet) and lo and behold she has circumvented the potty chair and went straight to the big potty.  So much for transition.

It is so nice to not have to buy diapers anymore.  We now have quite the assortment of fancy big girl underwear.  Dora, Disney princesses and Fancy Nancy underwear are particular favorites.  Although with a big brother who is such a Star Wars fan, I think she might prefer Star Wars underwear.  She walks around humming the Star Wars theme and playing with his Lego Star Wars toys. Too bad they don’t make them for girls.

Hello. Hello. Anyone out there?  I didn’t think so.  It has been so very long since I’ve written here.  And I’ve missed it.  I decided that I can carve out a little time for me.  I need to carve out a little time for me.   Time for me to do what I love and time for me to do what I don’t love but need to do - hello exercise I’m talking to you!

I started grad school this past fall and it has taken me a while to get my groove back.  I have been so determined to make sure that my going back to school didn’t adversely affect my family or take away much time from them that I kind of lost me in the midst of it all.  Sure, school is for me, but it is also for them.  I think it’s been good for Sam and the kids to have their own time together on Tuesday nights when I am at school.  They watch movies together or play games.  The kids are just fine with me walking out the door and Sam has really enjoyed spending time with the kids, and they have loved having Daddy to themselves.

I squeeze my homework in when they are asleep or otherwise occupied and it feels good to be paving my path in a new direction.  With all the juggling though, I’ve lost some of the things I have enjoyed like writing here, and doing things for me.  Can’t recall the last time I painted my nails.  The gray in my hair is really noticeable by the time I get around to dyeing it.  I am not exactly the person people come to for fashion advice.  I have decided that I am going to make an effort to do those me things that I so enjoy.  So there you have it.  This here post is for me.  I am back.

My homework is done.  I have taken the first step by posting on this blog again.  While Francesca is still napping, I’m going to squeeze in a workout.  Then it’s dinner, off to Gymnastics for Francesca and a much anticipated trip to the library for the kids.  Maybe I’ll even find a book for me.  What a concept!  Missed you.

The last post was all pumpkins, mums and corn stalks, this one is all haunted house, Grim Reaper and tombstones.

Here it is in closer detail…

You can’t see it in the picture but there were 3 cars parked in the driveway, well two cars and a hearse.

The other day I showed you one of the homes in our area that were decorated for Halloween.   Since then I’ve had the opportunity to walk around and get some more shots of Halloween decor.  Over the next few posts I will share them with you.  This lovely home is all decked out for Halloween, but not in a scary way at all.  It is all very Autumnal and pretty.

This house just looks so cozy and inviting and really little kid friendly.  We look forward to trick-or-treating here.  Francesca’s been practicing saying “Trick or Treat” over and over again.

This is Ross and his sailboat, The Eliminator.  Sam and Ross worked together to put this kit together and then to paint and decorate it.  The Tiger Cub Scouts had their Rain Gutter Regatta, where all the scouts got to race their sailboat across a rain gutter.  The Eliminator didn’t exactly eliminate the competition but in the end, fun was had by all.  Lessons about sportsmanship, good and bad, were also learned.

He is really proud of the sailboat that he and his dad built.  The biggest joy was seeing them working together on building it.

I went to the Farmer’s Market on Saturday.  It was a bit chilly and the Market is nearing the end of the season.  I went specifically to get our knives sharpened.  They have an older man that comes to the parking lot and sets up his knife sharpener contraption.  He sits on this thing and pumps the pedals and the wheel turns allowing him to sharpen the blades.  I wish I had gotten a photo of him, but I didn’t want to be rude.  He was really busy, you just drop off your knives (or garden tools, scissors, etc)  and he takes them in the order in which they are dropped off.  It took about an hour and an half, during the wait Francesca and I shopped the market.

They had the typical locally grown produce, some beautiful flowers, pumpkins and gourds, baked goods and handmade soaps.  They even had gourmet doggy treats and some seasonal doggy scarves.  We had fun looking and buying.  We bought some butter cookies to munch on while we walked, some mini pumpkins and gourds and a Scooby Do neckerchief for Moose for Halloween.

On the way home, I was driving along and was stopped in my tracks by the Halloween decor on this house.

This is a HUGE display and the biggest spider I have ever seen.  Here is a close up of the carnage.

A little too gory for our house with little ones and all but I applaud their creativity!  I hope to capture some other neat Halloween displays around here - I’ve seen so many - now I just need to get my camera and go for a neighborhood walk.

I did decide to go for it and sign up for the MATC - Masters in Education / Teaching Certification Program at North Park College.  I know that there are more certified teachers graduating these days than there are jobs to fill.  I do hope that in a couple of years school districts will be anticipating openings as the early baby boomers will be retiring.  Gosh, I hope so.  I’ve always wanted to teach but never pursued it.  I’m not sure what grade level I’d like to teach but I do know I am looking at  Elementary Education.  I also have enough classes/credits to be endorsed in Social Studies for middle school so that’s a plus.

I need 3 classes for Special Ed and am considering that as an option as I know it is a specialty in demand - that and Reading Specialist which really interests me but is not an option at my school.  Perhaps after I get my certificate and Master’s Degree I’ll pursue that option.

My first class is almost over.  I just started and I only have one more week - time flies.  We studied how the Brain learns and WOW.  A lot of it was common knowledge but so much was such an eye opener.  It also made me do a double take at our education system since much of what we learned about Windows of Opportunity (best learning times for children in different areas - musical instruments, foreign language, etc.) contradicts when we teach them.  The system is getting better but we are still a long way off.  All this and only one class.  It makes me wonder how teachers reconcile what they know about best teaching practices and the realities of the curriculum and class options available.  My guess is that they work with what they have and try to be the best teacher they can be with the resources they have. 

I have really enjoyed this class and look forward to the rest of them.  I also received my substitute teaching certificate and just got my mandatory TB testing done so I can apply to be a substitute teacher.  The job market for Marketing and Public Affairs is abysmal so this might be a great solution, plus it will give me an insight into different grade levels, etc. and maybe point me in a particular direction.  I look forward to subbing my first class.  I also hope it is a great way to network so that when I am certified as a teacher I might have a better chance to get an interview if I know some of the school personnel.  I’d love to work in our district here, how fabulous would that be?  I do know it is a difficult district to get into, but I sure will try. 

This class has taken me back to some of the great teachers I have had in the past - the ones who knew how to engage the children, and to some of the not-so-great teachers like my High School Geometry teacher who called our row (including me) “no-brains”.  All of us in the row did not do well in the class and I for one know that I shut down after a few of those comments. It wasn’t until college, many years later that I was able to overcome my math issues and start fresh.  From Elementary Algebra to Intermediate Algebra to College Algebra, Finite Math, Calculus, Statistics I and Statistics II, I finally felt I was able to do it.  Okay, maybe not Calculus (my only C in college and happy to get it!) but that’s okay.  I strive to be the teacher that can make a significant learning impact on my students, at the very least I want to be the teacher that does no harm to her students, by words or by actions - I want my students to know that each and every one of them “can do it”.

Photo courtesy of Amazon.com.

So we’re watching Cartoon Network the other night, and this comes on.  Thumb Wars.  I have never seen this and it was hysterical.  Ross is a huge Star Wars fan, we had just finished watching Clone Wars.  Thumb Wars is just like it sounds.  It is a show about the Star Wars characters made with thumbs.  Uh huh, you heard me right, thumbs.   The characters faces are drawn on thumbs.

It seems that this has been around for a while but since I never had a boy before and my girls were not  taken very much by Star Wars, this escaped my path.  Ross is smitten - I think Thumb Wars will be a new favorite in our house.  May the force be with you.

With Kiddie Land closing this summer, I thought it would be nice to bring the kids there for a first and last visit.  We used to go to Kiddie Land when my older girls were little and I remember going with my parents as a child.  We had a fun time, although we were supposed to meet one of Ross’ friends and his family.  They got there about a half an hour after us and literally could not park.  It was that crowded.  Even with the crowds though, we didn’t have to wait too long to get on the rides.  The kids had a blast and went on many a spinning ride.  I snapped this picture of the kids on one of the spinning rides, Ross looks like he is going to throw up.  When I asked him if he felt sick, he said “no - I just like to hold my breath when spinning”.  Uh, okay.

It’s kind of sad that they are closing up the amusement park.  At least we got to experience it as a family and will have the memories and the photos.  They are still open on weekends through the end of this month I believe.  We may try for one last visit since the weather is so summery now.