Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Back to School!

Todd and I have been back in school now for a few weeks and we are trying to get back into the swing of things. We are both dealing with large class sizes and other effects of the budget crunch. Todd's team of 7th graders has 100+ students and my group of 1st graders is at 24, the legal cap for 1st grade in North Carolina. It has been a hectic opening of school, but we are surviving! The hardest part is not being able to spend as much time with Abby and Tyler as we would like.
Our Abby is growing up so much! We have been practicing on her big girl bike, and she is finally getting the hang of pedaling. Now we just have to work on the steering part! She really seems to enjoy it and she's really cute with her little Ariel helmet. We are having a new challenge with her...sibling rivalry. Now that Tyler is mobile, he is finding her toys. We are trying to teach her constructive ways to deal with this rather than the typical 2 year old responses of snatching and pushing him away. We're working on it! We have also noticed that the more tired Abby gets...the more clumsy she gets! Just the other week she got a black eye from running into a table on my mom's deck. Thank goodness that has faded! She also made her singing debut at church on Sunday singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. She was able to sing a few lines before she realized she had an audience and got embarrassed!
Tyler is doing a lot of developing lately and will turn nine months on Thursday. He is becoming such a big boy, although he's starting to thin out some. I can't believe that in a few months we will have another toddler on our hands! He's been scooting on his belly across the floor for a while now, but just Sunday he starting crawling on all fours. He's pulling up on furniture and finding all sort of cool things he shouldn't have! My baby is now waving bye-bye and saying "da-da" when he does it. I really think he means bye bye! He also loves peek a boo and pat a cake!
The pictures on this post are from a variety of things. There are some of Abby playing on the McDonald's playground on the way to Sanford on Labor Day weekend. There are also a couple of Tyler taking in the mariachi band at a new Mexican restaurant in town. He was mesmerized! And of course, I put in a few of Abby riding her bike.
On a more serious note, I need all of you to add a little girl named Rachel Smith to your prayer list. She is the great-granddaughter of Abby and Tyler's babysitter. She is 4 years old and has been fighting a disease called Blackfan Diamond Anemia all of her life. She's had a bone marrow transplant to counteract this disease, but is now having complications and may not make it. Pray for a miracle, and also keep her parents in your prayers too. They really need strength during this difficult time. Here is a link to her website through the Children's Organ Transplant Association.

Rachel's COTA Site

3 comments:

  1. Interesting you mention the legal cap for first grade is 24. My niece's first grade class has 29 kids!!?!! There is an assistant. Does that make a difference? The first grade team at her school just hired a 75% teacher to rotate between all the classrooms to pull small groups for instructional purposes (in addition to the room assistant). Hmmm.... I'm sure they know what is/isn't legal, but it does make me wonder what is going on!

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  2. Well, that's what my principal says the legal cap is. I thought that was a statewide number, but maybe it is a Craven Co. Schools thing. At any rate, we had a few stressful days at the beginning of school because all four first grades were sitting at 24 kids apiece, and if even one more enrolled we were going to have to make a k-1 combination class for the overflow because we couldn't hire a new teacher. Luckily we didn't have to do that. If that is a statewide cap, then your neice's school probably got around it by hiring that 75% teacher. I'm sure on paper it shifts the ratios just enough! As far as I know, having an assistant doesn't figure into the equation.

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  3. Enjoyed the post. Tyler is changing so quickly that by the time we see him again, he will not be the same. Miss both of them so much. Give them our love.

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