Tuesday, January 27, 2009

One Wish

This past weekend we went to the mall to walk around. While we were there we sat near the water fountain as Thing 1 loves to look at the water fountain. Thing 1 noticed that there was money in the fountain. So I gave him a penny and told him to make a wish. I had to explain what a wish was and asked what he would wish for. Here is what he said "I wish for money." And then he threw the penny into the fountain.

Me too, kid. I also wish for money.

Friday, January 16, 2009

9 Months

This past month Thing 2 has accomplished many feats. On Christmas, he began crawling. And now he does it like a pro. A few weeks ago we found him sitting up in his crib when we went to get him out of bed in the morning. He has also said his first words - mama and dada. He is now practicing other consonant sounds. Thing 2 has begun holding his own spoon and bottle. Throughout this past month, Thing 2 has decided that baby food is not his favorite thing. He would prefer sandwiches (jelly or cheese), pizza, noodles, and veggies. He is not a fan of bananas or mandarin oranges. We believe that he doesn't like the texture of these foods.

This month we are going to work on drinking out of a straw so we can, hopefully, be done with bottles by the time he is one.


Thursday, January 15, 2009

Interesting Report

The other day I picked the boys up from daycare as usual. When I arrived at Thing 1’s room the conversation went sort of like this:

Teacher: Do you watch a lot of Disney movies with kissing in them at home?
Me: Not that I know of, why?
Teacher: Because Thing 1 was kissing this little girl on the mouth during naptime.
Me: Oh!

So on the ride home, I asked Thing 1 about this kissing incident. I found out some very interesting preschool drama. For example, the little girl who I thought was Thing 1’s girlfriend is no longer his girlfriend. She is now the girlfriend of another little boy. I also found out that the little girl that Thing 1 kissed is also not his girlfriend. One of the new girls in his class is actually his girlfriend. I feel like this is a little soap opera or something.

I didn’t realize all of this started at age 3. I think I’m going to be in trouble when he is a teenager! The Mr. says we have a little Casanova.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Time Out

It may sound like I am going to write about time outs for my children, but I am not. I am actually going to write about spending time out with my husband. Alone.

A few weeks ago we received an invitation in the mail to a wedding for one of my co-workers. I was excited to receive the invitation as I never thought that I may actually be invited. I was also excited to find that The Mr. and I might actually get to spend an evening out together without children. I promptly (well, maybe not so promptly as it didn’t arrive on the designated return by date – it was a day late) returned the RSVP card stating that we would indeed be attending. I then began looking for a babysitter. Since we live many, many miles away from any family that would be willing to watch our children for free without a second thought, I began what ended up being a long journey of asking multiple people to watch my 2 children. I didn’t realize this would be such an ordeal. Thing 1 has had a babysitter twice in his life (and he will be 4 in April) and Thing 2 has never been with a babysitter.

Over the course of the past two weeks I have asked multiple people if they would be available or knew someone who would be available to watch my boys for approximately 8 hours on a Sunday as we are attempting to attend a wedding and reception. The first 2 people I asked had other plans (one had a family birthday and the other already had a babysitting job that day). The next group of 3 I had asked requested what I thought was way too much money. I didn’t realize that babysitters were requesting $15-$20 per hour to watch 2 children. I quickly and politely told them this was not in my budget and it wouldn’t be happening. I had to ask 8 people before I found someone who was available and would babysit for the amount I was willing to pay. I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to find a babysitter and how lucrative the business was. If I could consistently make $15-$20 per hour in cash for babysitting, I may have to think about quitting my current job.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Did he really just say that?

The other day I was trying to get out of the house to take the kids to daycare and myself to work. I was hoping to actually get there on time for a change. I had repeatedly told Thing 1 to get his coat on. I was getting quite annoyed that he continued to play instead of listening to me. While I was getting Thing 2 ready to go outside, I told Thing 1 again to get his coat on. He looked up at me and said "Are you asking me for my opinion?"

After I told him "No, I'm not asking you for your opinion. Get your coat on," I then went into the other room to chuckle without him seeing me.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Opportunity

So, there are some of you out there who read my blog that I actually know and who know that I have a job interview this week – tomorrow to be exact. People have asked me questions regarding the type of job, location, etc. I thought I would post a little about the job and the circumstances under which I am applying.

For those of you who do not know me, I have worked in the mental health field for 10 years now (Really? Can it be that long?). I have mostly done direct care work, case management, treatment planning, and assessments to determine if potential clients may be appropriate for whatever program I happen to be working for at the time. I haven’t really had any experience in managing a program or supervising others. With that being said, the position that I applied for is within the same agency I currently work for and is the manager for the day program. The woman who had the job put in her notice back in October. She was having some family issues that she needed to resolve, which required her to move to a different state. Upper management of the agency convinced her to take family medical leave instead of quitting; therefore, making the position no longer available. Throughout the 12 weeks of her leave, she wasn’t communicating with the agency, most importantly her supervisor, regarding her plans of returning to work.

So, for the past couple weeks, the supervisor, who knew I had applied for the job, kept telling me what was happening within the day program in regards to staffing as well as her plans to hire me for the position if the other woman did not return. I have been patiently waiting to find out if the woman was going to come back to her job. I didn’t want to get my hopes up for something that may not happen. I also like this particular woman and would be sad to see her leave.

On Monday, I was told that the woman officially e-mailed in her letter of resignation (her FMLA was up on 1/2/09) and that the position was now available. The person who is supervising the program manager position immediately contacted me to schedule an interview for this week. She then proceeded to tell me the other two people who applied and that one of them decided she was no longer interested. She informed me that the other person has not said anything to her regarding his continued interest in the position. She kept telling me her plans to hire me for the day program manager position.

Now with all that information (probably more than you really need), you are all probably thinking, “That’s great!” I am more of a skeptic, constantly thinking that I don’t know for sure what is going to happen until it actually happens. I am also afraid of failure. Or, as my husband would say, I am afraid of success. I am concerned, that since I haven’t managed a program before that I will do a horrible job and fall flat on my face. I have this vision of all these people that I am supposed to manage standing all around me, looking up at me, awaiting guidance and some profound statements to help them be better workers and better able to help our clients. I find that if I am actually in that, somewhat unrealistic, position that I will just stand there with a dumb look on my face, not knowing what to say. At which point, everyone will think I am horrible and fire me.

As you can see, I don’t have much faith in myself. I have had a lot of different job responsibilities within this field and have mastered most of them. This job is not one I have had. It is unfamiliar to me and therefore very scary. I do believe that I need to attempt this responsibility and I need to gain and master this skill. I keep taking jobs that I know I can do and that do not challenge me. This position will definitely challenge me. I know I need that. Please wish me luck, if it does indeed happen that I get this job.