Monday, September 7, 2009

ALL WORK AND NO PLAY MAKES ME . . . A TEACHER

It's the last weekend before school starts and although I wanted to spend the last weekend doing nothing, it ended up being a weekend jam-packed with everything. On Friday, I spent eight hours in my classroom doing my final preparations for Tuesday. I put up my bulletin board displays, labelled books, and laminated more posters. At night, my husband, Hannah, and I went to Promenade Mall to relax. Contemplated some winter coats for those cold yard duties in the near future...TNA or Community? Opinions, please.

On Saturday, we beat the weekend rush to get groceries. Time to think of healthy lunches to pack. Gone are the days of dining out and mall-walking during lunch hours. Yes, summer is over. I spent the rest of the day doing my day plans and finishing my printing books. Now I know why Grade 1's require much more preparation than Grade 2's...just laying out the letters to trace is enough to drive anyone nuts....or to push them to teach high school!

On Sunday, we went to mass and received an intention from our priest. It was a short but poignant moment as we looked around, knowing some of those faces looking back at us would be our students or parents of students. We spent the evening with family who were visiting from the States. We celebrated my youngest aunt's 50th birthday. Everyone commented on how much Hannah had grown since they last saw her in July and it's true. Since then, she has learned a couple more words and can now stand up with minimal assistance. They think she'll walk by Christmas. Time will tell.


It hit me hard on Sunday evening that I won't be with Hannah 24-7. In the past few months, all of my friends' babies have experienced some sort of separation anxiety. I waited anxiously for Hannah's nervousness, crabbiness, or fussiness to hit. It hadn't. However, during the past few days, Hannah has become extremely clingy and searched for me often. She now grabs onto me hard and wants to be held a lot...even Dada won't do. Perhaps this is her anxiety or sixth sense in knowing that Mama is going back to work. I hope to do most of my work at school so home time is QUALITY time. I am excited about returning to work after my year long hiatus, but I also know how much I'll miss witnessing every moment of Hannah's life.

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