The Lumberjack's Wife

In the never-ending knee saga that is now my life, I did end up having to have the knee Manipulation Under Anesthesia procedure done a few days ago.

This picture cracks me up.  One eye is smaller than the other.  They had already started me on a fine mixture of drugs at this point.  And it was probably 6am.

Drugs.  I am a fan!

The procedure itself didn’t take much time at all, I guess.  The doctor said I had quite a bit of scar tissue built up and he heard a lot of cracking and noise as he bent my knee.

I shudder at the thought.

Directly after I came out of recovery, David had to take me to physical therapy so I could get started right away on bending.  Because the universe is against me.

I am going to be seeing my physical therapist friends often over the next few days.  I think I am one of their younger customers by far and they enjoy the youthful energy that I bring. I feel like I am totally bending like a champ now.  I was able to get my knee bent to 117 degrees yesterday.  Before the manipulation, the farthest I could bend was about 90-93 degrees.  I make me proud.

I finally got my knee brace off and my students have been seeing me walk for the first time this school year without one.  The other day when I was passing out papers, I could hear them whispering to each other:

“Look at how fast she is walking!”

“Look at her go!”

Ha.  Cuties.

We have a student of the month assembly each month.  For November, I chose a sweet little pumpkin boy from my class who is very honest.  He lives with grandma.  I called grandma to let her know that he was receiving the award and that I liked to keep it a surprise for the kiddos.

After he received his award, he was sitting by me in the assembly.  I chose to talk to him, even though we are certainly not allowed to be talking during an assembly.

I am such a bad example.

Me:  You look very nice today!

He was wearing a vest with a tie.

Kiddo:  My grandma wanted me to look nice today.  But I don’t know why.

Me (still talking during an assembly.):  Don’t you think it was because you were student of the month?

Kiddo (shrugging):  No, because my grandma didn’t know I was going to win.

Me:  Yes, she did!  I told her!

Kiddo (eyes lighting up):  Really?

Me:  Yes.  And she is here.

Kiddo:  No . . . really?

I point her out to him.  The moment he saw her was the best moment of my whole teaching career.  His whole face lit up and he waved to her.  He even got a bit teary-eyed.

He was very proud of himself.  It was precious.

I love my spirited class.  Even though they do exhaust me at times!

Happy Saturday!

I started back to work this week . . . just in time to start parent-teacher conferences.  This is one of the busiest times of the year for teachers.  It was a brutal week to start back during.  I had an amazing long term sub who completed all of my assessments for me, which made my life much easier. She is a retired teacher with many years of experience behind her.  I have mentioned before that my class is “spirited” . . . she believed them to be her biggest challenge yet.  It made me feel a bit better-I was worried it was just me with my gimpy knee thinking they were a challenging group!  I did miss them, and was happy to be back with them.  I do enjoy them, “spiritedness” and all.

I went to the doctor and I am having problems bending my knee.  There might be too much scar tissue in there preventing it from bending.  If it doesn’t improve soon, I will need to go in for a procedure under anesthesia called a knee manipulation. He said he would bend the knee until he heard the scar tissue break.

I shudder at the thought.

I told David that this sounds worse than any of the surgeries to me.  I will find out in a few days if I will be needing this procedure.  I am truly beginning to doubt my knee will ever be normal again.

****

I took the Fab Four to the dentist the other day.  I heard the hygienist begin to scold Handsome Dude on the cleanliness of his teeth.

Hygienist:  How often do you brush your teeth?

HD:  Hmmm . . . once a day?

This caught my attention immediately.  Since forever, our kids have had to brush their teeth every morning and every night.  So, of course, I had to come and join the convo.

Me:  When do you brush your teeth?

HD:  Mostly at night.

Me:  Did you brush your teeth this morning?

HD:  Hmm . . . I forgot.

Great. On dentist day, he doesn’t brush his teeth that morning.  We are an impressive family.  But then, I start to panic.

Is Handsome Dude going to be the child who ruins our no cavity streak?  I pride myself on the fact that I have managed to rear four youngins and have NO CAVITIES to date.

It is the one thing I have succeeded at as a parent.

Are they always responsible?  No!

Do they get along and never fight?  No!

Do they follow directions?  Rarely!

Does anyone get in the shower without having to be asked 14 times?  No!

Does anyone get out of the shower without having to be asked 14 times?  No!

Are we EVER on time?  No!

Do we have proper table manners?  Absolutely not!

Can the boys properly use the toilet without making a mess?  NOPE.

Is our car ever clean?  HA

But have we remained cavity free?  YES.

And that is it.  That is all I’ve got on my parenting resume.

Thankfully, his teeth were just gross.  No cavities.  I was quite relieved.  HD listened intently to the dentist as the dentist mapped out a new dental hygiene plan for him.  He came home and promptly wrote himself a little note to help him remember, and he has been following it ever since.

Perhaps the dentist can help him with the toilet.

Happy Weekend!

I am being spoiled.  Peoples are sending us meals, and they are sending me many fine and delicious pity treats, mostly full of chocolate.  I figure everyone is in on some grandiose plan to get me all good and plump for Christmas.  The only thing saving me is I am experiencing some nausea and stomach pain since surgery, so I am not able to eat much at a time.

I do nothing all day. Literally.  I try to read, but I get dizzy.  I watch TV, but I am often drifting off during the shows.   My biggest accomplishments are showering and putting pants on.  I have recently added mascara and hair -doing to my routine, so I am basically a rockstar. David had to make some changes to his work schedule and he is taking the kids to and fro, leaving me home alone all day.  I do a good job fending for myself, but I am not used to being alone this much.  It’s about 12 hours per day.  David is doing a great job of being me + him.  He has taken on a lot of extra stuff, including laundry.  And I don’t even say anything about him putting all of my clothes in the dryer on extra-high-hot-horrid heat.  Because, oh well.

He is also experiencing the joy that is Little Dude.  Little Dude basically never knows where anything is and he is never really doing what he is supposed to be doing.  Ever.

David:  Where is LD?

Sweet Pea:  Laying on the floor of the shower.

Dear Readers.  You may ask, “Why is the child laying on the floor of the shower?”

The answer is:  We have no idea.  We are waving the white flag of parenthood on this child.  We just don’t know.  We simply are not qualified to parent this child.

David:  LD, go get dressed.

*20 minutes later*

David:  Why are you still in a towel?

LD:  I wish everyone didn’t want to look at my private parts!  It is so frustrating!

Me:  Trust me, we don’t want to look.  If you could please just get underwear on immediately after you shower, we would all appreciate it.

LD:  I AM, MOOOOOM.

David is also completely taking over the bedtime routine, seeing as how I cannot get downstairs to deal with the children.

I truly had to try and sit quietly while David delivered this gem little bit of parental advice:

“It is bedtime.  Everyone will keep their hands to themselves and their PANTS ON.”

I failed.  I had to bury my laughing face in a pillow.

Next week, I will need to start driving the kids to and fro again, but I will not be teaching again quite yet.  This is going to be tricky.  I am having a bit of a rougher recovery than I had anticipated and I am still needing to be on pain meds, but I can’t be on pain meds and drive.  That would be frowned upon for sure.

At this point, it feels like I will never even be able to walk again normally, let alone teach.  I really am just not feeling great.  I am very nauseous and am having some circulation and numbness issues.  I sound old, do I not?

Happy Friday!

Today, I took a shower.

It was a major event and one that I shan’t likely repeat anytime soon.

First of all, my leg must remain straight at all times.  I have an incision on my quad muscle and it cannot come apart.  This makes taking clothes on and off tricky-ish.  David suggested that I wear the brace in the shower, which I felt was a solid plan.  So, Daisy Mae was within yelling distance and David went out to worm and castrate pigs, as all men do on a Sunday.  And I was going to take a shower.

I unwrapped my leg and tried to not faint.  This was my first time seeing the atrocities that happened to my leg.  I will spare you the picture.  Because, the horror.

After much pomp and circumstance, I was able to get in and out of the shower all by myself, but needed David to help me re-wrap the leg.  He came in and said I should probably wait for the leg to air dry a bit.  This sounded reasonable coming from a man who just removed a pig’s ability to procreate.  Surely, he must know a thing or two about life.  David left again, presumably to ruin more pigs’ days, and I was faced with the daunting task of putting fresh underwear on.

Since Thursday, I basically have not moved.  I am maybe burning 4 calories per day.

Maybe.

Putting underwear on is a new workout activity for me, burning no less than 754 calories a minute.

I was slightly successful.

However, when I tried to sit back up, I kinda forgot to not use my quad muscle, and it felt like my entire thigh area ripped in two.

So, then I just sat there.  Crying.  Again, like a champ.  I had to alert Daisy Mae to go and get Farmer Bob from his pig-ventures and come and help me.

He came back in and I told him we had to get the brace back on quickly.

Me:  I sat up and used my muscle and it felt like my incision ripped apart.

David:  It doesn’t look ripped apart.

David does not understand that I am currently not interested in the facts.  I am interested in him feeling badly for me and just letting me have a moment.

And then it was time for pants.

I need to wear large pants so they will fit easily over the brace.  I have already used up both of David’s large pajama pants, so I had to dip into the supply of pajama pants from MY DAD that Ma had sent over.

It was a new low point in my life: me, whimpering like a baby, while my husband, smelling of pig manure, tried to maneuver my dad’s pajamas pants up on me.

Taylor.  Winning.

So, that whole event took me about an hour to recover from.  And then one of my many children came in to ask me for help writing an essay.

Me:  No, I don’t want to write an essay!  I am too groggy from pain medicine.

Child:  Please!

Me:  Oh, man.

Child:  What?

Me:  This just all makes me so sad.

Child:  Why?

Me:  Well, my knee hurts, so that is making me sad.  And the way you spelled double is making me sad.

So, I have been in homework jail for most of the afternoon.  Although, I am pretty sure I am not much help.  Seeing as how I just randomly drift off to sleep.

And that was today.

Sunday’s list of accomplishments: I showered and kind of put underwear on.

Here’s to hoping Monday will be more successful.

I had knee surgery #7 on Thursday.  I am thinking I should have been given a punch card at some point.  One of these is bound to be free at some point, right?  This was my 3rd ACL and it has been much more painful that I had anticipated.

David took me to the surgery on Thursday.  David is weird with doctors and all things medical.  He isn’t really a fan.  It’s hard to explain, but some of you might remember how difficult he was when he had to get his own appendix out.

So, we arrived at the surgery center, and David was helping me tie the gown in the back.  He was taking a long time and made some comment like, “Ok, this is definitely not going to come undone.”  I am a fan of things not coming untied when I would rather they did not, so I didn’t question it.

Meanwhile, our friendly nurse is getting me already to go.  She is going over the anesthesia, and David is asking her what happens if a person doesn’t want anesthesia.  The nurse gives me a funny look and I have to assure her that I have absolutely no problems being put under to have my knee sliced open, thankyouverymuch.

Later on, I ask David if he would refuse anesthesia.

David:  Heck, yes.

Me:  Why?!?

David:  They could do anything to you in there and you wouldn’t even know it.

Me:  Well, I am sure it will be fine and I do not want to be awake while they cut me open.

The nurse finishes up everything she needs to and it comes time for me to go to the operating room.  I say goodbye to David, and they take me back.  They needed to untie the gown in the back so they could place things on my chest.

All I see are male nurses.  Male nurses everywhere.

Male Nurse:  Wow, who tied your gown?

Me:  Um, David.  My husband.

Male Nurse:  Oh, wow.  I have never seen anything like this.

Male Nurse #1 calls Male Nurse #2 over to come and take a look.  Both are baffled.  Neither can untie the gown.

Male Nurse #3 to me:  Ok, hon, we are going to have to cut this gown open.

Male Nurse #3 has to basically hold me to his chest while the other two cut the gown up the sides and a bit down the back.

Male Nurse #1″  Wow.  He really didn’t want you coming out of this thing!

It was embarrassing.

Coming out of surgery was rough.  I know I cried a lot and we stayed there much longer than we thought we would need to.

So, obviously, I took it like a champ.

This was my 3rd ACL and this time they did a quad graft.  I have an incision on the front of my thigh and it is very painful.  I have to keep my leg completely straight for one week so the incision doesn’t come open.  I am uncomfortable and hurting.

I am definitely ready to be done with this chapter.  This knee injury has been dragging on for too long and I have been in bad shape since mid-July.

Here’s to hoping I can walk normally soon!

It was a day.

Today, I had to get the chrome book cart and get my first graders all logged in to aforementioned chrome books, help them navigate the tricky Interwebs, and take an online math diagnostic test.

The horror.

If you plan on attempting this activity, I implore you to take the following bullet points into consideration:

*Before you begin, turn down the heat.  A lot.  Things are gonna get stressful, and you are going to sweat.  Sweat is bad and you do not need that kind of negativity in your life.

*Find 20+ other adults to be one on one companions for these little guys who only know how to use touch screen technology and keep tapping on the computer screen and don’t understand why you are saying things like “mouse” and “click” and “scroll down.” Sadly, I did not have this luxury, but the idea of it fills me with joy and pleasantness.

*Have numerous pairs of extra headphones.

*Have a pep talk with students beforehand.  Tell them:

“If you have a problem, or a need, please do not shout out: ‘Mrs. M!  Help!’ or ‘Mrs. M!  I can’t hear my computer!’ or ‘Mrs. M!  My computer is too loud!’ or ‘Mrs. M!  I logged myself out!  Come fix it!'”

No.  Tell them they must stay quiet, raise their hand, and wait patiently.  For you are only one person.  This will only work for about 3 1/2 minutes, but oh, what a glorious 3 1/2 minutes it shall be.

So, yeah.  We did the chrome books today.  It was stressful.  At one point, I walked by one kiddo and he was not doing math at all.  Nay.  He was watching a delightful episode of Handy Manny.  And how fun for him!

Me: Buddy!  What are you doing?

Handy Manny-Watcher:  I don’t know!  The computer just wanted me to watch this!

Mmmm-hmmm.

Yes.  ‘Twas a day.  Here are some other fun happenstances, for your reading pleasure.  To give you a taste of the joy that is teaching.

***

During the computer test, one student had his headphones over his eyes, like a blindfold.  Oh, he thought he was so hilarious!  He was delighted with himself.

***

Student :  Is it ok to put superglue in your hair?

Me:  Uh, no?

Cue me panicking, trying to figure out how someone got superglue.

Student:  Great!  My mom put superglue in my hair!

Me:  It was probably hair gel, buddy.  (Today was picture day.  Also a fun experience!)

Student:  Nope.  It was superglue.

***

Student said a bad word, a word that I am not even allowed to say, during lunch.

***

Student was lying to other students and bragging that the principal was his grandma.

She is not.

This was after he had just gotten in trouble from the principal for rough play at recess.

Me to Student-Who-Wishes-The-Principal-Was -His-Grandma:  Why are you lying?

Student:  Because he lied to me first!

***

Student lies about throwing up.  I don’t know why.  I don’t have the energy to find out.

***

Student army crawls under all the tables when an aide brought them into the room.  Because maybe he thought aides are cool with that.

***

Student has an accident.

***

Student argues with me in the morning that she brought a lunch from home.  Arguing Student is always confused about what the sitch is for her lunch.  I check her backpack and find a juice box, goldfish, and a granola bar.  I tell her I think these are snacks.  She argues.  I get distracted by a student eating his squeezie-stress ball.  He is probably stressed that there is arguing going on and the principal’s grandson is a rough-houser.  But I digress.  Fast forward to lunch.  Arguing student is mad at me because she is pretty sure she is supposed to get GRILLED CHEESE FROM THE CAFETERIA HER MOM SAID SO and she is NOT COLD LUNCH.

***

I go to pick up my kids from recess.  One student is “swimming” in the gravel.  He is supposed to waiting for me in a nice, quiet line.

***

The principal walks into my room (to talk to her rough-housing “grandson”) just as I am saying in a firm voice,

“No, we do not stick our crayons in between the cracks of the table.  We are working on our math sheet.”

She was surely impressed.

***

Aforementioned student says the same bad word, that I still can’t say, in the line to go home.

***

That was my day in a nutshell.

It is only Tuesday.

Good night.

I really love buying books for my classroom.  It is a problem.  But it makes me SO happy.  Teaching is a strange profession.  We all spend so much of our own money on our classrooms.  I am feeling all book-happy because I just submitted my class’ book order.

First of all, could I not be more of a grown up?

I have an actual “class code” and everything.  And I have the power to submit orders.  Oh, it is thrilling.  I earn bonus points when parents order books, too!  So, for example, today I was already ordering about $50 worth of books (gasp) for my class when I was pleasantly alerted to the fact that I got bonus points PLUS $15 to spend right now!  So, of course, I had to spend 20 more minutes gleefully choosing books I can stuff in my little pumpkins’ book boxes.

Mo Willems.  Mo Willems and his books with Piggie and Elephant have saved my life this week.  My class loves this author and cannot get enough of him.  I have probably lost most of my readers at this point, because who honestly wants to hear some crazy person drone on and on about her love for books, but I care not!  I am a 35-year-old school marm now, and these are the thoughts that go through my brain. I would love to hear any and all of your favorite authors/books for 1st grade if you have any.

If only I could just spend all day reading fun books with my class.  But no.  I must teach them the other things.  And some days can be hard.  Especially when you are a little “non-walky,” such as I.  For those of you not in the know, allow me to bring you up to speed:  I had 5 knee surgeries between the ages of 15 and 17, but was doing fine until this past July.   I was running and fell in the middle of July.  I have not been able to walk normally since.  I had surgery number 6 at the end of July, and I should have been much better by now, but I am not.  I am still unable to walk normally.  I still need the brace and the crutches, too.

I found out that I will need to have another surgery-ACL reconstruction.  This will be my 3rd ACL reconstruction and my 7th knee surgery.  I won’t be able to get this surgery for about a month, due to the logistics of working things out with our kids commuting to and from school, sports, needing help from others, etc.  It is not easy to be teaching with my knee in this state, so I am feeling a bit weary.  I am also not happy about having to leave my class for a couple of weeks.  I feel terribly guilty.  The whole situation is a big mess and I just want to be able to go on a walk.  But, such is life.

So, to make myself feel better, I propped my knee up and I bought some books!  If my knee doesn’t get better soon, I might spend all our monies on books.

So, I am tired.  But I do like my class.  They are definitely a challenging group, but I love them.  I had an aide come in and cover my class so I could do some testing.

Aide:  Oh my gosh.  This class!  They are . . . busy!

Me:  Yup.

Aide:  How are you doing this everyday?

Me:  Oh, I am praying a lot.

Aide:  I will join you in your prayers.

Ha!  Can I just say this made me feel better?  It is nice to know that it is not just me . . . they are definitely “spirited.”

Class Convos:

Student (hand down pants):  Ah!  There is a zit on my butt!

Me:  What are you doing?!

Student:  A zit!  I think it is bleeding!

Me (trying to be discreet and save the student his dignity):  I need you to take your hand out of your pants and wash your hands.

Student:  WASH MY HANDS?  WHY?!

Me (trying to not have other students notice):  Because your hand was just in your bottom.

Student:  I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY I NEED TO WASH MY HANDS.

Me:  We don’t stick our hands down our pants in class.  Now you have germs on your hands.  Please wash them.

***

I also have about 5 students who will not stop putting their shoelaces in their mouths.

Me all day:  Please take your shoelaces out of your mouth.  We don’t chew on our shoelaces during math.

***

Student:  Teacher!  I brought a snack for recess!  Chips and Dip!  I am so excited!

Me:  Excellent!

Student tells me about her morning recess snack 4.2 billion times between 9 and 10 am.

At recess time, she pulls out a giant, family size bag of Ruffles potato chips and a large container of some sort of melted nacho cheese.

Sadly, the lid to the cheese was not secured.  There was a pool of cheese in her backpack.  All over her locker.  The floor.  My classroom cabinets.  She even got some on my dress, my brace, and my crutches.  It truly was amazing.

So, we spent her whole morning recess cleaning up the cheese.  Another teacher even had to help.  When all was said and done, she looked at me, her eyes brimming with tears:

“I thought it would be a yummy snack!”

Public Service Announcement:  Parents:  please help your child pack a healthy, reasonable snack for school.  Also:  no nacho cheese.  Ever.

Thank you.

Happy Sunday!

Last weekend, the whole fam went camping for Labor Day weekend.  As per the usual custom.  I try to tell all the people who are my kin that camping over Labor Day is a treacherous thought to a teacher, but no one believes me and off we all go.  This year, however,  my knee was being a party pooper, and I was unable to camp.  I was able to join everyone, however, for dinner and fireworks one of the nights.

Daisy Mae is hip to life now, as she is 12 and in 7th grade and all, and she has mastered the art of the “Selfie.”  And she is also good at the “Groupie.”

So, here is her “Groupie” of all of us waiting for the BIG fireworks show.

Handsome Dude decided to snuggle with me during the fireworks and was interested in a selfie with the two of us.  Bad news for him:  I am terrible at the selfie.

I absolutely have no idea where to put my eyes.  One would presume one would look at the actual camera on the phone.  And I 100% believe that is where I am looking every time.  Oh well.  I am 35 now, so it is expected that I would struggle.

So camping came to an end, and so did summer, and the boys and I were off to our first day of school.  (The girls had already started the week before)

Little Dude is in 3rd, I am in 1st, and Handsome Dude is in 4th.

We had the first day of school, and a more exhausting day it could not be.  Let me tell you something friends:  there is a BIG difference between an end of the year 2nd grader (students I left in June) and a beginning of the year 1st grader (students I met this week).  Oh my lands.  I went into panic mode after school the first day and tried to figure out all the ways to improve things.  I have a “spirited” class.  They are definitely going to be my most challenging group since I started teaching, NOT counting my 6th graders from my long term sub gig, of course.

My kids are weary little Teacher’s kids.  HD had about enough of this staying late business on day one.  He fell asleep for a bit over an hour while I worked hard to try to come up with a game plan for Mrs. M’s Wild and Crazy Firsties.

Poor Kid.

Day One:

Me:  How was your day?  Did you make any friends?

HD:  Good.  Yeah, I have 1 and `1/2 friends.

Me:  Huh?

Day Two:

Me:  How are the 1 1/2 friends?

HD:  Good.  It’s two friends now.  I wasn’t sure about the 1/2 friend, but I found out today I am pretty sure he is my full friend.

Alrighty.

Anyways.  I have survived week one.  Barely.

You know how we used to live in town and not have 4 billion farm animals and then David moved us out to the country and now we have had 4 billion farm animals?  I have oft wondered why.  You know, like why is this my lot in life?  To have a multitude of pigs and whatnot?  Well, this past week, I have discovered why David has turned into a pig farmer.  It was to help me tame my wild and crazy firsties on day three.

Allow me to explain:

This may surprise you, but it is tricky to get first graders to sit still and be engaged and want to listen to the teacher.  And on this particular day, we were practicing our letter sounds with my large ABC cards.

Well, we were going for it, and I was trying very hard to get them excited about the fact that “T says ‘T’ like ‘Turtle'” and I noticed I was about to lose them.

It became particularly worrisome when I was distracted (never good) by watching some of the kiddos and I held up the L Lion card and said “N says ‘N’ like Nest” and not one kiddo corrected me.  I did correct my mistake, but ohmygoodness, why didn’t any of the kids say, “But Mrs. M!  That is the letter L!”?

Nope.  They all went with it.  I might have my work cut out for me.  But I digress.

Luckily, the very next card was:  “P says ‘P’ like ‘Piglet'” and the Lord smiled upon me and gave me a brilliant idea.

Me (in my most bestest teacher voice):  Class, do you know something?

Class:  What, teacher?

Me:  Mrs. M lives far away and Mr. M loves farm animals.  And do you know what Mr. M has at our house?

Class (thoroughly enthralled):  What, teacher?

Me:  Mr. M has horses and ducks and chickens and pigs!  And this baby piglet picture on this card reminded me of something funny that happened with Mr. M’s pigs.

Class:  What, teacher?

Me:  One of Mr. M’s pigs is a mama pig.  And she has four baby piglets.  And sometimes, that mama’s piglets are naughty.  Would you like to know why?

Class:  WHY?!?

At this point, dear readers, I am completely rocking it.  They are all engaged, completely with me, and behaving.  It was a moment that would have been just perfect for an administrator to walk in and see.  And that administrator would think to herself, “Wow, Taylor really has this wild group of first graders under control.”  But, no.  Administrators only walk in during a transition time when most of the children have forgotten your instructions, one kid is spinning circles, and one kid is tugging at your shirt and saying he needs to go to the bathroom but “needs help wiping his buns.”  (True Story)  But back to the pig story.

Me:  Well those baby piglets are so small, and they can squeeze through the squares of their fence.  But the mama pig is too big to go through the squares, so she can not follow them.  And those naughty baby piglets leave their mama, and do you know where they go?

Class:  Where?

Me:  They go into the chicken pen and they play with the chickens and the ducks!

Class:  Cool! (They have stars in their eyes and are looking at me like I am the most magical teacher ever.  And maybe I am.)

Me:  And do you know what that mama pig does?  She grunts and stomps and I think she is telling her four baby piglets to come back!  But do they listen?

Class:  NO!

Me:  No they don’t, those naughty little piglets.  But after a while, they get tired of playing with the chickens and the ducks and miss their mama, so they do go back.

It was amazing.  I completely had them after that and we were able to get through the rest of our letter sound cards.  So, I now know why the good Lord put it upon David’s heart to become a pig farmer:  It was to help me reign in my “spirited” group of firsties and get them back to their learning.  So, you know, everything happens for a reason.

As the week came to a close, I started to feel more encouraged about my group and like I had a bit more control over the class.  On Friday afternoon, I was basically done.  I was beat, the kiddos were beat . . . we were just tired.  I ran into a group of teachers in the break room while the kiddos were at P.E.

Me:  Oh my word, I don’t know what to do the last 45 minutes.

(This may surprise you, but sometimes teachers aren’t planned down to the second of every day.  But only sometimes.)

Other 1st grade teacher:  Me either.

3rd grade teacher:  I think they will have free time.

Me:  I am thinking a story and play dough.

1st grade teacher:  Yes.  Perfect. That is what I will do, too.

Me to 3rd grade teacher:  OR you could bring your kids down to my room and your kids can read to my kids?

3rd grade teacher:  Yes.  That is what we are doing.

And so we did, and it was brilliant.  All parties involved were happy, and 3rd grade teacher and I decided we were winning at teaching.

Phew.  Week one.  Check.

***

I saw the doctor this week and he feels something might be wrong with me knee, as I should be much farther in my recovery at this point than I am and not be in so much pain.  So, he sent me for another MRI, and I am waiting for those results.  I am pretty discouraged about the situation.  I am in a lot of pain all day, and I am so trying to be a good teacher to these little kiddos, but I am hurting and weary.  Hopefully I will have some answers soon.

A mama of one of my kiddos told me she asked her son how he liked me and he said, “She is nice, but a little non-walky!”

Ha!  It is a perfect description of me right now:  Non-Walky.

Happy Weekend!