I'm gonna wait up for Daddy

That was what Wyatt kept saying last night. His daddy had been gone for a few days on a business trip. Wyatt missed him like crazy. It seemed like he made a million plans for "when Daddy comes home." "Daddy is gonna hang my poster on my wall." "Daddy is gonna mow the grass and I am gonna help him." "Daddy will watch Trick My Truck with me." "Daddy is going to go and buy me the Match Box car I want."

So last night Daddy was on his way home. He called from the airport in Atlanta to say he was on his way. I told Wyatt. Wyatt picked up his "cowboy blanket" and his pillow, and climbed up on "Daddy's chair." "I'm gonna wait up for Daddy. Then he can give me a hug and a kiss, and we can play a game." My poor baby.. he lasted until 10:00... then he crashed... at 11:30, I woke him and walked him to bed. He didn't argue, he never really woke up.

why I do the what I do...

I am a teacher. I have always wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. Now that I am doing exactly what I have always wanted to do, I ask myself "WTH were you thinking???" Others have asked me "why do you teach?" I have never really given it much thought. It is basically like any other job. You have good days and you have bad days. You work with some great people and others grate on your last nerve. But then there comes the times when I realize WHY I teach, why I put up with rude, disrespectful children and their parents. I realized what made all of the work that I bring home, all of the planning that I do, all of the stress and headache worthwhile.

Today I saw the light come on. If you are not a teacher, then you won't understand what I am talking about. But THE LIGHT is that look that a child gets when they have learned something new, or worked really hard at a problem and finally understand what they are doing. It's that "AH HA" moment. You see it in thier eyes first, then in their whole face. It's a shining in thier eyes, hence the term "THE LIGHT CAME ON".

Each month, I chose a book to read aloud to my class. Something to fill in 5 or 10 minutes at the end of the day. For February, we read a short picture book about the Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, adn then a series of short books about African Americans. For March, I chose "Number the Stars" by Lois Lowry. It's a hard book for 3rd graders to really "get into". I had to keep stopping and explain things to them about Hitler, Nazis, etc. I tried to keep it simple, but still give them a feeling of what was going on. I worried that for most of them, they wouldn't understand. I hoped that all of them enjoyed the story. Today we finished the book, just as the students were to go to PE. As they were walking out of the door, one of my students stopped and asked me if I had time to answer a question about the book. SO we sat on the steps to my t-building, and he said "In this book, I know why you read it to us. You wanted us to see that people can hate other people because of their religion, it's not always about Race." (Yes, we talked about that a little in class.).. and then he says something to me that I had never thought about before.. "Well, in this book, the way the people were helping the Jewish people get to safety.. it's kind of like the Underground Railroad in the slave days right?" (UMM... I hadn't never thought of it in those terms before, but I realized that he was right.).. We talked for a few more minutes, and then he walked out to PE. I sat there for a moment..thinking over our conversation, replaying it in my mind. I relished that look that I saw in his eyes.. that LIGHT that came on. He had learned something, and thought about it, and came up with a logical connection to something he had previously learned.

This was one of those days when I am so glad that I am a teacher. This is my job.

more conversations with wyatt

Let me start by saying that I love buying purses and tote bags! It's a girl thing. Steve doesn't understand. Wyatt doesn't either. A few months ago, we were walking through a store in the mall, and I saw a really cute purse, so I said "Oh, look purses are on sale." My cute little monkey, so much like his daddy already, said "You don't need another purse, you have one, just keep walking." Steve laughed.. (He would.) I laughed, too.

I have a tote bag that I really like. It's red and white striped, with a medium-ish blue anchor charm that dangles from one strap. It's cute. It's perfect for taking to the ball park with a magazine, my wallet, and various snacks tucked inside. It was sitting on the kitchen table this weekend. Here's the conversation that followed after WYatt noticed my tote bag:

Wyatt: Mom, is this your purse?
Me: It's not a purse, it's a tote bag. (not that he would know the difference.)
Wyatt: Mom, why does your purse have a hooker with it? (he was playing with the anchor charm.)
Me: (trying really hard not to burst out laughing): It came that way when I bought it.
WYatt: DAD, did you know Mom bought a hooker?

Steve and I both burst out laughing. Poor Wyatt, he had no clue why we were laughing. I couldn't tell him that it was called an ANCHOR because I was laughing too hard. When he asked why we were laughing, I gave my standard answer: "I was laughing at your daddy."

One Day Wyatt will really not be happy that I write all of these memories down will he?

I love baseball practice!

Those were the words that Wyatt told me last night as we were leaving practice. We arrived at practice about 10 minutes early. Wyatt grabs his glove and ball, and begins throwing balls at the fence and warming up. Then Coach arrives and practice begins. I love to watch him as he intently listens to what the coach tells him to do. I am amazed at how he has improved since last year. No more running to close the gates, or standing in one spot watching the ball roll by. This year he goes after the ball. Last night the coach pulled him aside and talked to him. Of course, I Couldn't hear what was being said, but I just watched as my baby walked to pitcher's mound. THe look on his face was priceless, and me without my camera for once (stupid camera battery was dead). As the coach is talking to the other kids, Wyatt yells at me "Hey Mom, look at me! I'm on Pitcher's Base just like Tiffy." The they start fielding balls. And I watch. He was doing so good at keeping his eye on the ball. I guess he only needs to be hit once to learn the importance of that lesson. As I sit and watch, I notice that he keeps dragging his feet across the dirt, and I realize what he is doing. He's clearing the dirt off of the "pitcher's rubber", well he would have been if there had been one there. In teeball, the pitcher just stands there, but he still moved his feet, and every now and then reached down and put some dirt in his hand. After practice I asked him why he did that,and he said "I don't know why, but I seen TIffy and the girl at the LSU game do it." (Time to take this boy to watch boys play ball.)

Let the tradition continue

We have a tradition in our family. It started when my sister married that...that... that... ALABAMA FAN!!! I like my brother in law, don't get me wrong. He's a good guy. BUT he's an ALABAMA FAN!! AND now of course my sister is one too. Our tradition is to watch THE football game together. When I say THE GAME.. I mean of course the LSU VS ALABAMA FOOTBALL GAME. IT's always held right around our birthday. (My sister and I were born on the same day, different years). SOO unless they go to the game, we get together to eat, watch the game, and tease each other. WEll, once a year is fun.. but wouldn't TWICE a year be twice as much fun??? TOday we find out. We are heading out again to the LSU softball game.. this weekend they play Alabama. We are of course wearing our required "purple and gold" colors. HOw much you wanna bet my sister and her husband were the dreaded "moronic maroon"? It will be a fun day. Warm weather, good friends,and a ball game.. what could be better?? Oh yeah, the best will be if.. (what if I mean when) LSU wins the game.

what an imagination...

It never ceases to amaze me, wyatt's imagination. Did I ever have an imagination that good? Seems too long ago to remember. He comes up with lots of ways to amuse himself. As I sat outside this evening, watching him play in the backyard, once again I was overwhelmed by his creativity. He had this elaborate plan laid out in the backyard. First he would kick his soccer ball into the goal and yell "score". Then he would turn around and hit a ball off of the tee-ball stand, which led him to run around an obstacle course of his toys, followed by walking the "balance bean" (a jump rope stretched out straight.) Over and over again he did this. Each yelling at me "Mom, Watch I can do it faster? Mom, Watch I am getting good at this game?" As the sun began to set, and the temperature began to drop, I was a little sad to call an end to the play time. Oh well, there's always tomorrow. I wonder what his little creative mind will come up with then?

Let's all HAPPY DANCE!!!!

I am so happy I could dance all over the place. What could cause me to be so happy??? Just the purchase of my DREAM CAMERA!!!.. Yes I am camera crazy as my blog title says. I now own a Canon Rebel XT EOS Digital SLR with a 75-300 mm zoom lens. I have wanted this camera for the longest time. FINALLY I was able to buy one. Granted I had to work a month of Sundays (literally and then some) to afford it. My first "installment" came from participating in a Math workshop for "professional development". (AT least I got something from the class besides a massive Math induced headache for the 18 days of the class.) But sadly, it was just an installment.. as my other source of income won't be due for a few more months. (Being on the instructional Management team at school will just about pay off the full price of the camera).BUT since the camera was on sale, along with the extra lens, My wonderful, Sweet, Loving husband helped me finish buying the camera. It will be my Mother's Day, and BIrthday gift as well. But's that is fine with me. I took the camera to the softball game today, and played with it. I am crazy about this camera. NOw to just learn how to REALLY use the thing!!!!

Softball Sunday

It was a beautiful day. Sun was shining. There was a nice breeze blowing, not too cool but not too hot. What a perfect day for a watching a softball game. Where better to do that than at LSU. When my niece called and invited wyatt and me to go to the game today, I accepted the offer. Even better was the price of admission "FREE". (Free is good.) I expected that it would be a fun way to spend a few hours.

There were a few "unexpected" things that happened today:
First: a list of "RULES TO FOLLOW AS ORDERED BY MY TEENAGED NIECE" e 1. NO "whoo-hooing"! You can clap, but you can not yell out in excitement.
2. No dancing to the music.
3. NO singing along to the music.
4. No butt scratching, no passing gas, and no picking your nose.
5. AND most importantly, no talking to anyone that she knew, talked to, or might want to know.

APparently doing any of these things could and would cause my niece great embarrassment. I am happy to say "I broke all of the rules." Well, okay.. I skipped over rule number 4 because that's just gross.

Next unexpected happening:

I didn't expect WYatt to have as much fun as he did. I thought that after a couple of innings, he would be ready to head home. He stayed the entire game.. waving his hat, cheering, yelling and clapping.. (apparently it's okay for a 5 year old to do these things with out embarrassing his cousin.) I think part of the fun for him was sitting 6 rows down from his mom, with my niece and her friends.

I also didn't expect to see my oldest niece at the game either. But I look up and there she was.. and she wasn't embarrassed to hug me in public either. (I always knew she was my favorite.)

I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. BUT I Had a blast. SO much so that I want to go back next home game as well. Geaux TIgers!!! (oh and they won the game by the way.)

My favorite time of the day

Snuggle time!!!! Snuggle time usually happens in the mornings. Wyatt has eaten his breakfast of choice, and then curls up next to me on the couch and asks me if I "wanna snuggle". Then he will settle down next to me, and watch cartoons. Regardless of whether we snuggle for 5 minutes before getting ready for school or work, or if we snuggle for 30 minutes, I will treasure my 'snuggle time'. For I know, that it won't be too long when the time will come when snuggle time will be gone forever.

Conversation with Wyatt

Every day when I Pick Wyatt up from preschool, he proudly shows me what "classwork" he has done that day. I ask him the usual questions "what did you learn today?" and he tells me all about his day. I love these drives from school to home, even if they do last less than 10 minutes.
One day in February, I picked Wyatt up. In with his "Classwork" was an enlarged photocopy of a $5 bill and a picture of Abraham Lincoln. Here's a snippet of our conversation:

Me: Wyatt, what did you learn in school today?
Wyatt: We learned about presinents. (presidents)
Me: Well, what did you learn about the presidents?
W: well... we learned about ATEAHAM LINKING..
Me: No wyatt, his name was ABRAHAM LINCOLN
W: Oh NO MOM! Miss Lynn said it was "Ateaham" Say it with me mom "ATE A HAM"
Me: Okay. Tell me about Ateaham? (trying the whole time to contain my laughter)
W: Ateaham was a presinent along time ago. But he's not a presinent anymore. He was a good presinent, but now he likes to put his pictures on the 5 dollar money.
Me: oh really.. well what does a president do?
W: I think he measures things like cows and horses because Miss Lynn said he was a good ruler in the country.

THe conversation dropped off after that. As I pulled into the driveway, and parked the car, I watched him hop out and run to let his dog out of the pen. I sat in the car a little longer, so I could laugh without him hearing me.

if it were always this way...

Boys are born to make noise. Wyatt is no exception. Each toy car, motorcycle, and construction machine MUST make noise. If the toy doesn't make it's own noise, then Wyatt is more than happy to make the noise for it. From the time he wakes up, until he goes to bed, he is just a bundle of noise. Some noises aren't so bad.. after all isn't it wonderful to hear the laughter of a small child? Other noises are more annoying... do we really need a myna bird who repeats everything his favorite character on the movie says?

Then there are times like this one... where you walk into a room, and realize that it's relatively quiet. And you glance down and see the image of your child and his dog enjoying a little nap. Upon seeing these two best friends, sleeping side by side, I instantly grabbed the camera and snapped a few pictures. After all one must have evidence of the quiet times to get them through the noisy ones.