Back to School

I have been back at school with my students since Monday. So far we have had a really good week. I am really enjoying the new way that Richard helped me arrange the furniture. I can sit at my U-table and see everywhere in my classroom. It makes it so much easier to stop any negative behaviors before they start. I cannot really tell if my kids have reached a stage in their development or if they are just glad to be back. So far this week I have not felt at all like an evil teacher. For the most part they are doing what I ask them to do the first time. They are also solving some of their own problems. I cannot believe it. I keep thinking that at any moment the crazy class from last semester is going to return and I am going to be driven crazy by having to repeat myself a million times.

I already had one group of students who are reading really well and now I have a second group of students who the light bulb seems to have gone on for. I love watching how they change. I need to focus more on writing with these students though. They are not academic risk takers. Some are too worried about getting it wrong to even try a word they do not know. We will see how that goes next week. We are going to do a full writing story. Writing process from start to finish. (ambitious I know.)

And now for an update on Caden. His movements aren't as dramatic as they were in the past weeks. Now it seems to be more like stretching and rolling rather than out right kicking and punching. It seems like maybe he is starting to get snug as a bug in there now. There is the weird thing he does that almost feels like he is tickling my insides with his fingers. It is very weird. When he has the hiccups now, I guess because he is bigger I can feel them with my hand on my stomach. I can see them too. Poor kid gets them sometimes as many as three times a day. I have an OB appointment tomorrow. I am going to ask her again how big he is and if she thinks I am going to make it to my due date or not.

I have decided that in the middle of the night when I can't get comfortable or I can't sleep because my hands have gone numb for the 12th time that evening, or my hip is hurting because Caden is sleeping on it, or because Caden just won't settle down is the only time I really wouldn't mind if he came a little earlier than his due date. When I get up and get moving in the morning and realize how many things there are still left to do I don't want him to even come on his due date. I'ld like him to stay longer. I guess in the long run it is totally his decision.