Feliz Navidad

I wanted to leave you with a little Christmas story. For whatever reason, I really didn't like the song Feliz Navidad. I never have. Well, at my school's winter concert rehearsal (the whole school got to see their dress rehearsal) they sang this song. I was sitting next to Fun Times. He was being all affectionate for once, and once they started singing that, he started rocking back and forth and singing along. Now, Fun Times has this cute high little voice. He got the Feliz Navidad part, but he would start mumbling and it would go "Wannamnanyou merry Christmas". It was SO CUTE and it made me go awww. He's going to give me my first gray hair, I'm sure of it, but I do just love him. So I sang it quietly with him, and he rocked, and I sang in his ear, and we were happy.

Tricia and January

Lots has happened. I'll put things in different posts so you don't have to read a huge long one if you don't have the time. This post deals with my paras.

First of all, I feel much closer to Tricia, my other para. I don't know if it's because January is gone all the time and we spend more time together or what. I think the staff Christmas party helped. I was sitting with my people (my people being Ninja Stylist, who is a para in my good friend's room as well as the person who cuts my hair and I LOVE her, my closest teacher friend Olive, and her other para Chelle) and having a grand old time and I had been thinking how nice it would be to get Tricia to sit at our table. I feel bad, I don't spend enough time with her. In the mornings and at lunch, I spend a lot of time talking to Olive. We've gotten very close and we are on the same page about pretty much everything. Heck, she's even a Buddhist! So we're always talking, and since Ninja Stylist is so fun, it's great to be around them. Always laughing. But that leaves Tricia alone, especially with January gone. So I had Tricia come sit with us after people at her table started leaving, and we all seemed to get along quite nicely. We totally bonded over tequila (her) and rum (me).

I talked to my principal again this morning. I basically wanted to just whine about January being gone, this time for over a week (and she never bothered even emailing me, even though she emailed Tricia, I think she avoids me and apparently the principal too) and digging for info on what the plan would be. My principal said that she has been documenting and is very busy and has already sent her a letter. She told me she'd call HR to see what the next step would be. I really do like January as a para. She's absolutely wonderful. So energetic and dynamic. But you know what? That does me no good when she's at home. '

But anything's better than last year and that horrible woman who hated me and defied me. So I'm thankful for my people!

Frustrations

Today was an experiment with Fun Times. My support person told me to see what happened if I ignored him all day. I gave him directions and included him in activities, but if he decided to wander off to let him. He has a lot of attention-seeking behaviors and we wanted to see if he escalated or not if we weren't watching. It actually reduced my stress level a lot. He tried pretty hard to get our attention by making noise, going by my desk, etc. and we didn't budge. I don't know what will become of this. I'll just have to see. He's having accidents, and my support person also told me that because they only occur in the gym, to keep him in the classroom during recess AND gym to see if it's a gym thing, or a time of day thing. I'm not excited about having to keep him in the room that much, but it does seem like a good way to narrow things down. Sigh. He needs a place to run around, but I've had about enough of him and his accidents. He's not all tortured and abused, I'm 99% sure he's doing it on purpose. Not sure what to do about that.

My para (I'll call her January, an obvious pseudonym for her actual name) was gone AGAIN. My principal already told me she was going to talk to her. I think she has a s--t immune system, and she's not just skipping, but is simply sick a lot. And she misses a lot because her kids are sick. They're plenty old enough to stay home on their own to be honest. And I don't know, maybe her husband could stay home once in a while? They might be valid excuses, but I can't run my room when part of my team is missing so much. We are getting to know each other and the kids well enough so that we don't even have to always talk. We just know what to do. And January really brings the get up and go. She's wonderful when she's there, but she's missed probably a total of 4 weeks so far this year. It's ridiculous. That's half a quarter. My principal said she's doing an informal documentation and having a chat with January and telling her to make a commitment or she won't be able to stay. She's aware I'd like to keep my para, but I do think a talk is in order.

The good news is that I am finally stabilized on my medication. I hope to avoid taking this other one that is a wonderful pill, but it makes me hungry ALL the frickin time. All I do is eat. It also raises blood sugar and other bad things. If I stay stable and peaceful, I won't need it.

Time for bed. It's past my bedtime.

Introductions

Let me introduce you to my students.

Fun Times- The oldest kid I have, whose hormones are starting, and his autism has nothing to do with his being a brat these days and hitting and kicking. It is willful and a huge pain. Literally. But he has the cutest little high voice, and is great at memorizing. He likes to draw logos like WB and Looney Tunes.

Space Cadet- The kindergartner who I really shouldn't have (I have 2-4th grade) and I have him just because he has more language than the little kid class and my principal hates the other teacher and loves me. There must have been some alcohol or drug use during pregnancy. His mind is on a loop. Every 10 minutes it's like a new day. And he pulls out random answers for things and thinks they're right. I asked him what a pumpkin was and he said title page. Then he tried author. And gave me this big grin. I know I need to be loving and understanding. He's just sort of annoying. I have tried to pull up love for him, and nothing. No warm fuzzies for Space Cadet. Doesn't help that when he first came to my room, he spat on my face twice, and bit me. And was generally being a little snot. And still, he calls kids names behind everyone's back and makes people outside our room think he's a big teddy bear. Psh.

Cousin- She's a distant twice removed cousin maybe to me. She's ADORABLE and sweet and quiet. I'd like her to talk more spontaneously but she can repeat things if I ask her to. Every day she comes in from gym and comes up to my desk and takes my hand for a moment, then prances off. She has long hair that's always braided, and loves princesses.

Bubbles- A very bouncy third grader who has autism. She is very affectionate and touchy feely, as well as having quite a temper. When something doesn't go her way, she has a very loud cry. Sometimes it's an autism thing, and sometimes she's just pissed off at me because I don't let her do certain things. I am getting good at telling which is which. And sometimes, I just think she's in pain or something, because it's a pain cry. I believe she's starting puberty early so maybe mood swings too. Being nonverbal and having mixed results with communication makes for a frustrating situation for Bubbles. What melts my heart every day is when she goes to a picture I have taped to the wall of me with a former student, and she points to me in the picture
and walks right to me and looks deep into my eyes and grins.

Clouds- She's got her head in the clouds a lot. She's a sweet girl. She, like Space Cadet, seems to have a loop. It's there, it's there, and oh look. Now it's gone. But she is affectionate and kind and likes to take care of others.

Sassy- She's a tiny little thing who pretty much refuses to walk anywhere without holding an adult's hand. She can talk, but is very shy and hardly ever does. She isn't in school much. She's sick a lot and has seizures.

Pigtails- Pigtails is the cutest little thing. Unfortunately she takes so much seizure medication (one of which affects cognition and ambulation) that she is in a haze all day. She sleeps a lot and isn't always aware of what's going on. She uses a wheelchair but is capable of walking holding one hand unless she's had a recent seizure. But it makes me so happy when she smiles, and gives eye contact.

X- I couldn't figure out a name for him. He has Fragile X Syndrome so I went the easy route and stuck with X. He is half day in my room, and half day in my friend's autism resource room. He doesn't have autism but Fragile X has some similarities and he does well in there in her reading program.

Parrot- It's not just that he is echolalic. That would make this a sort of borderline rude nickname. But he DOES repeat a lot, and one day we had a parrot on his puzzle and we said, just like you, right? And he repeated parrot over and over and giggled. He giggles a lot. It gets chaotic sometimes, because when we laugh, he imitates us laughing which only makes us laugh more. This goes on and on. I love him and his little voice. He uses a walker and likes to get a running start and lift his legs up so he just coasts along.

First!

Welcome to my blog. This is primarily about what I do at school, since that seems to be all I do anymore, but it could include other non-controversial issues.

Names of students have been changed to protect the not so innocent. Even the location of my school is undisclosed, so I feel comfortable enough with my pseudonyms.