My "little" girl

I spent some good quality time with my little girl today. I braided her hair for the first time into two little braids. Suddenly, she looked so grown up. Fortunately for my slightly aching heart, she still cuddled with me on the couch while we watched Reading Rainbow and Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies (her serious favorite). Later though, she decided to "skip the songs". Normally we read two stories, then rock in the rocking chair to the lullaby music and then put her in bed. After the stories, she decided that she wanted to skip the songs and the rocking and go straight to bed. I know it's just a little thing and she'll probably want to rock again tomorrow, but right now I'm feeling a little...melancholy perhaps. I'm not sure if that's the word I'm looking for but I want to treasure these days when she's little. The days when she eats "nini" (tortelini) and "tella toast" (toast with nutella) and asking me ever so very nicely (using all of her good manners), for a cookie at breakfast.

I'm not ready for her to grow up while I'm working too hard. This is my reminder that time marches, savor it all.

(P.S. If I'm emotional now, what will kindergarten, college, and marriage be like!?!)

Coming back...

Well, the fact that I haven't written in awhile can mean one of two things, either I'm busy getting it done or too busy to get anything done! I would say the truth is kind of in between. Over Christmas I was busy enjoying life, much too busy to write about it. Now I'm too busy working to get much of anything done. Every spring all the ESL students in my school (well, everyone's school) need to be tested. I have 87 students to test myself on a four part test. It's more work than I was expecting and I have several things working against me.

It's a new test so nobody knows how anything works. The state had issues with last year's scores so the paperwork is messed up this year and I've spent hours upon hours wading through records to clean it up. The test is more work than it used to be and I'm still a second year teacher teaching at a new school and a new grade level over last year. That means it's like my first year all over again.

Oh, and Katie is still afraid of pooping on the potty. (Although we are starting to have some progress in that department. Stay tuned as the story progresses.)

The good news is that Jim just started a new job that starts to pay in a couple of weeks and the tests are due in to the testing office by March 20th. Then, I may take a personal sanity day and sleep in. :)