What We've Been Up To in Bullet Points

A post in bullet points:

• Sophia is quite the crafter and the board game player.  She loves coloring, cutting and pasting, doing play-doh, painting, etc.  She also loves playing Sorry and Yahtzee- which is a great way to practice counting and numbers.  She also loves playing Boggle Jr. at "school" where they practice letter matching and naming. 

• Coloring in her crafting apron one morning last weekend.

• Above, Sophia taking her medicine- "my pink medicine from my doctor" as she calls it every morning and night....which leads to:
• Sophia made it till January 30th before getting her first ear infection of  2012.  She also had tonsillitis, poor thing.  Needless to say the last few weeks have consisted of lots of cuddles and staying home when we aren't working as well as a few days off home with mommy or daddy.  Now she has a pretty nasty cough.  She has been off her antibiotics for a day now, so we are hoping the ear ache does not come back as we know that this ear infection, antibiotics, ear infection cycle can become a pattern for our sweet Sophia.
• We have an ENT appointment next week so hopefully that will lead to getting Sophia some relief. 
  

• Her hair has grown so much, the curls are crazy and out of control in the morning.  Each day I am thankful for spray in conditioner.  I really don't know what we would do without it. 

• My sweet cheeseball!

• A great picture from the other morning, my big blue eyed girl with cute piggy tails.  

• Sophia stories from the last week or so:
• The other night Sophia was laying in bed and Steven and I were cuddling her and talking to her about her day.  She was telling us all the names of the kids that were at school with her "I saw DJ, Baby Tai, Baby Addison, Harrison, no Sam, no Sam, no Sam"  I said "where was Sam today" and Sophia replied in her sweet little two year old voice "No Sam today, I don't know what happened there?" with her little hands up in the air and her shoulders shrugging.  It was so cute and sounded so adult.  It cracked us up.
• The other day I was taking her to daycare and I was asking her what she wanted to play when we got home.  She told me she wanted to play Sorry.  I told her "okay, I will pick you up and then we'll come home, play Sorry, then have chicken for dinner"  she relied "oh Mama, what a big good idea, yay Mommy".  It was so cute.  Since then she has frequently complimented Steven and I on our "big good ideas".  She is so sweet.
• She is also really into having us close our eyes and then she'll surprise us with whatever she happens to have within arms reach.  It is really funny.  
• One of my favorite Sophia stories from this week was the other day I walked into her daycare to pick her up and she was sitting on the floor against the wall, a common timeout place.  I looked at her and she said "I in timeout, I run in the house".  I was a little surprised because she has never had a timeout at daycare before and usually is a stickler for following the rules.  Right after she told me that her daycare provided Robyn told me "she's not on timeout, she put herself in timeout because DJ (her best buddy) is in timeout."  Sophia just smiled, stood up, and said "timeout over, let's go Momma".  She just cracks me up. 

• In my "other life" (a.k.a work) I really should change my title from teacher to proctor.  Whoever thought it was a good use of an eight year old's learning time to test test test has never spent time in the classroom.  I swear between state testing, district testing, progress monitoring, etc. all I do is test these kids.  It would be amazing to see what kind of learning these kids could do if I was just given time to plan and teach....  okay, enough negative school talk, it's just been a hard few weeks. 

• My classroom in the middle of district testing...

• This was written by a little boy in my class, it was very sweet.  I feel like all I do is push and push and push these kids to succeed and take responsibility for themselves when many of them have no role models of what that looks like and sometimes I wonder if they think I am just a meanie.  But, then I remember these kids crave routine and for part of their lives to be predictable and at least I can provide them that.  I also love how just recently the kids realized I have a first name, even though it is on my badge I am required to wear each day.  Cracks me up....

• I got a new student last month, and without going into too much detail, he is a big challenge. If you imagine some of the worst situations a child has to be put in, this kid has probably been through it and due to his tough life experiences he has a really hard time in the classroom.  We've had our moments but I know I am starting to get through the big wall of toughness he surrounds himself with and yesterday he walked into class a little taller with a big smile on his face.  "Mrs. Prine, I got these for you and I got the pink one cause I know your favorite color is pink"  then he handed them to me turned around and went to breakfast.  I made a big deal out of how nice they are when he got back and then throughout the day I could hear him tell other kids "You see those balloons on Mrs. Prine's desk, yeah, I got them for her".  It was good.  Maybe, just maybe- despite the fact I want to bang my head against the wall and shake some of these parents- maybe I am getting through to some of these kids???  Here's hoping....

• Alright, my favorite little girl/coughing machine just woke up!  Time for my favorite thing- Saturday morning cuddles!!!!!!!!!!!!