The Dreaded "D" Word.

Lately we have been watching the Sesame Street Alphabet video my sister and niece got Tyler for his birthday and we have been doing our alphabet flashcards.  Not that we think our 1 year old is going to recite the whole alphabet, but to expose him to the sounds and letters.  So the alphabet is fresh on my mind and well, I have decided in the past few weeks there is one word that starts with the letter "D" that I am struggling with.... And the word is........ 

DISCIPLINE

I am a teacher so I deal with discipline on a regular basis.  I am used to disciplining as needed and one thing I have always said is "If you do not follow through on discipline, it is pointless."  I see so many people (sorry if you are one of them) who says "On the count of three I am going to _____.  One, Two, Two and one quarter, Two and one half, Two and.... " and never ends up following through.  As a teacher I know that kids test their limits.  I WILL NOT be one of those who does not follow through.

However; my son Tyler is testing the waters right now. It is not as easy to discipline a one year old because you think that they do not know better.  Well, my son does.  You can see him do something and then when you correct him, he waits a minute and does it again with that mischievous little look on his face.  And let me tell you, he looks so stinkin adorable doing whatever it is that he is not supposed to be doing.

I do not mind getting on to him and correcting the behavior.  That part of discipline is not the part getting me.  The real challenge is when you do correct the behavior, he gets SO ANGRY.  I am talking about hitting, kicking, and his newest habit: head-butting. (Thank you Aunt Carrie who used to do this all the time when she was a baby- I blame you!)  

How do you correct this?  Well, with a one year old, we already have a "time out" chair.  I feel when he is this young he cannot fully grasp some sorts of discipline, but he definitely does not like the time out chair.  It was hard to determine where "time out" would be because we don't want him to hate his bed if that was time out or hate his chair in his play room.  So we chose the office.  It is a big brown leather chair right by the desk.  I can see in the future us having many "chats" here.  We make him sit there until he is done throwing his temper tantrum (which is usually only like 2 minutes tops). 



This is not a very good picture, I took it with the webcam on the laptop but it is not the clearest.



  Many people say things like "Oh, 9 months is my favorite" or "At 12 months it is so much fun!".  I would have to agree that these times are all great but I can say one thing for sure..... 14 months is not going to hit the books as my favorite time! I love my son so very much and I thank God for him daily, but this whole throwing a fit thing is getting VERY old! I can now look back and say parenting has been a breeze up until this point.  He slept through the night very early on, hardly ever cried, laughed all the time, would eat anything and everything, and the list goes on.  This is where the real challenge of parenting is starting for us.  Wish me luck! We are going to need it with this little strong willed boy!

P.S. I am sorry if you do not agree with my ways of disciplining my son, but I think every child is different and this is what is working for us at the current time.  :)  Don't judge please. :)

Elementary Days...

I will start out by saying that I loved teaching middle school.  South Seminole took great care of me and I gained some really great friendships and learned so much in my 3 years teaching there. However; it was very far from the babysitter and hours of middle school STINK!  School started at 9:15 but did not end until 4:00.  I would rather start very early and be out early.  In May the opportunity came up to make a switch to elementary (which is what I originally planned on teaching).  Getting a job anymore is all about who you know and I knew some people who informed me there was an opening and that I should try it out.  Not ever having a "real interview" before, I was very nervous.  I went to the interview one morning all dressed up, briefcase in hand with my working portfolio, high heels on, hair all done and shaking from head to toe.  About 10 minutes into the interview, they offered me the job!!!!  I am now the new 5th grade teacher at Idyllwilde Elementary.

5th Grade will be nice because it is not too big of a jump from 6th to 5th.  However; there is a lot of work ahead of me.  I went from teaching six math classes a day now to teaching reading, writing, science, social studies and math.  As excited as I am, I feel like I have done a cannon ball into a pool not knowing how to swim. 

Yesterday I met with my 5th grade team leader and she was wonderful!  I really enjoyed getting to talk to her. (Also, all of the 5th grade teachers have emailed hellos and invited me to a cookout already which is very nice.)  However; walking into the classroom that is empty I started to freak out a bit.  You mean I have to actually decorate my room to look like a 5th grade classroom and I do not even know what a 5th grade classroom looks like?  When I did student teaching in elementary it was in Kindergarten.  I cannot decorate it like that.  HELP?!?!?!   Here are some pictures of the empty classroom I saw yesterday.  (It was so super clean and I love the room though.)




This is when you walk into the classroom and see the front of the room.



From the door straight ahead.



Walk towards the front of the room and turn back and look at the doorway.Not sure what the teacher before did with this "fill your bucket" theme.




Oh my library so far.  These were books left for me.  I have quite a few more to add to the collection but no theme or anything for reading.  I need help! :)




The cute cubbies in the back of the room and backpack holders. 


I am getting excited to get started but Mike says I am wishing away my summer.  I am not trying to do that at all, just realizing I better get started on at least thinking through ideas of classroom set up etc before I get there the first day.  I do not want to be completely overwhelmed and crash the first week.  :)  Any ideas are helpful- PLEASE GIVE IDEAS!

I will keep you updated after with some pictures as well.  Thanks for joining me today in the nervous but excited new job beginnings.

-Katie

Cause Baby You're a Firework...

This 4th of July we decided to head down to Jupiter, Florida to visit my parents.  We planned on leaving Tuesday the 3rd to head down but decided on the 2nd we wanted to go surprise my dad when he got off work.  We packed the car up very quickly and called my mom to let her know.  Through texting and calling the whole trip to time it up perfectly for when my dad gets off work, we had it worked out perfectly.  Mom called and said dad just got home and we were about 5 minutes away.  Well, as my bad luck goes, dad did not like that someone had parked in my moms parking spot that day and decided to look out the window from their 3rd floor condo to see who parked in my moms spot at the exact second we drove up.  Mom quickly told him there are other red trucks and that it could not have been us but my persistent father walked out to the elevator just to make sure.  This ruined our surprise of having Tyler knock at the door, but was still fun!  He was very happy to see his "little buddy".

On the 4th, we went down to the pool at 9:30am and stayed there until about 1:30 pm.  Tyler swam non stop.  He loves the baby pool because he can walk around, but he trips every once in awhile and completely goes under.  Every time he comes up laughing and giggling and tries to do it again.  I, of course, was freaking out and hated it, but everyone else laughed and thought it was so cute!  Mom made ribs, cole slaw, baked beans, fruit, and strawberry pie. YUM!!! That evening we went to Abacoa which is a very cute little town area where they had a festival.  We walked up and down the streets of the festival and listened to live bands.  Then, home to watch fireworks from the balcony of their condo.  (How many people can sit and listen to the ocean and watch fireworks in the comfort of their own balcony- I LOVED it.)




Tyler and Mommy at 4th Festival



Happy 4th!



Thats My Balloon Daddy...




Crazy Kiddo



On the 5th, we rented a boat and went out on the ocean and inner-coastal.  This was a blast!  The weather could not have been more perfect!  Tyler was rocked to sleep within minutes of the ride but woke up for the last few hours.  We saw houses of famous people like Tiger Woods, Celine Dion, and many more.  It was a great day!!! :)



Captain Papa Jeff



At least Tyler is watching..

Like Mother, Like Daughter



Ladies.. Back Off



Sleepy

Now back home and busy cleaning, scrapbooking, cooking, etc.  Starting this week Mike has football camps, basketball camps, and defensive retreat.  In a few weeks I start going to trainings for my new school. (Oh, if I forgot to mention in earlier posts, I am moving to elementary school next year and will be teaching 5th grade!  Not too much of a change from 6th and 7th grade math but am excited to make the change!!!!) Busy life goes on and on... Just wanted to catch up from our trip away!