So, what is going on with me????

Penny asked the big question, but I don't think I have such a big answer. I feel like I haven't talked to her all week (which is true, since I haven't talked to her since Tuesday, when I had a snow day). Let me see...I didn't do anything at all on Tuesday, I just relaxed and enjoyed the day off. Wednesday came around, and it was back to work at the Daycare center. Boy were those kids on one! Four days in a row with their parents and they really didn't want to come back! Add to that the fact that we couldn't let them play outside b/c it was so cold, and it was a rough day. I taught my first center that I designed. It didn't go too well. We split the kids up into 3 groups, and the first 2 groups didn't want anything to do with my game. I had them guess the next animal in a pattern, and I had cut out all these cute animals using Kate's Cricut font. The 3rd group did a lot better. The kids were interested and engages. I guess because I had had 2 groups to perfect the technique. Then I had to get together with my Co-teaching partner before class at 4:20 that evening, so we met at a local library. We had to decide what our lessons are going to be next week. We decided on "Winter Animals" and we'll talk about:
Polar Bears on Monday
Penguins on Tuesday
Seals on Wednesday
Moose on Thursday
Groundhogs on Friday

Ok, I know those aren't necessarily just wintery animals, or polar animals, but it works. We'll put it all together. The way we split up the work, I got to plan for Wed, Thurs, and Fri. I got a start after class that night (Matt was on duty) and then worked on it some more Thursday after my Daycare rotation. My class on Thursday was canceled, thank goodness. My day at the Daycare went a little better. My center that I planned and executed was making bracelets using pipe cleaners and beads. It went AWESOME! The kids were engaged, excited, and it took the full 15 minutes for them to complete. It was so much fun.

Now, let me tell you about yesterday. Well....it was Friday. The center I had planned was using hand cut-outs to measure the children. The first two groups I had did pretty well. Once they figured out what we were doing, they were excited. The last group, well.........I was almost in tears. There were 4 kids, and not a single one of them was the least bit interested in doing anything but their own thing. I was at a loss. I didn't know what to do. If I had known that I could take them outside, that might have changed things a little bit. Finally, the head teacher told me to get their coats and take them outside. I felt awful. But afterward, she took me aside and told me it was alright. They probably would have done the same thing to her. They were just done with centers, and that happens sometimes. It made me feel a little better, but holy cow! I'm glad my first day or week at the Daycare wasn't like that day, or probably would have just given up and said "To heck with this." I know it can be better. But I really hope it doesn't get any worse than that!

After the daycare, Matt called me and said his division was going out for sushi. So I met them at the restaurant. I had a good time. I guess one of the Chiefs that is in Matt's division was on the Truman with me. I used to stand watch with him sometimes. I didn't really like him, though. It was weird. He didn't introduce himself to me, but he looked really familiar. I just thought maybe I had seen him at some other function. Turns out, he recognized me, too. It just took a little while. We talked for a little bit. *shrug* I don't know. I had a good time, even though it was with a bunch of *ahem* Navy guys. I had almost forgotten how crude, rude, racist, sexist, dumb, those guys could be. I was reminded yesterday exactly what it used to be like.

Ok, well, that's about it. Yesterday was the first day in 23 days that I ate anything that wasn't on my diet. It was a little weird, and it actually hurt my stomach a little. I started the Helm Health Challenge, yesterday, with a vengeance. I did the P90X Core Synergistics workout. That might have been the toughest workout I've ever done. Most of the moves I couldn't even do (yet). Soon, soon.

Ok, that's about it. I hope to get to hang out with Kate a little bit today. We'll see how it goes.

Talk to you guys later (Penny, give me a call!)

Pam