Accomplishments

In 2006, a good friend of ours Matts and my "brother from another mother, asked me what my 5 year plan was........very seriously I looked him in the eye and said, "I AM going to graduated with my teaching degree, get a full time job, marry my high school sweetheart, get my masters degree, have two children (hopefully a boy then a girl) and buy a house............well, as soon as Paige Kathryn Wilcox was born....I did it. All in 5 years and before I was 30 :-)

I don't know who taught me about goal setting, but I do know thanks to my family, failure was never an option or a word my family uses. My parents never expected me to get straight A's or a 4.0, but they ALWAYS wanted me to do my best in what ever I decided to start......thank you Mom and Dad....I did achieve some 4.0's along the way :-) and I ALWAYS do my best.

Today as a parent and a teacher I talk to my students about doing "their" best. Which I say may not be their neighbors best and as long as they completed something to the best of their ability, I approve. With Riley and Paige, I will say what my parents said to me, "Do YOUR best work and don't you dare put your name on anything that is not your best work". Really these words are words I wish more adults would live by....imagine.....what it would be like...if EVERYONE......did their best work............

Where did you learn that?!?!?

Over the past few months 2 1/2 years, Riley has been a learning machine!! This makes both the Mommy and teacher me very happy and excited that I have a child who just loves to learn. Since I found out  he was a boy, I have been making sure he learns a lot of things before he goes to kindergarten (studies say that boys take longer to learn new things because they "don't act their age"). So together, Matt and I taught Riley his colors (by the age of 1) with M & M's (he wasn't allowed to eat the M& M until he told us the right color ), Then onto shapes (by the age of 1 1/2) with the help of Mickey Mouse Club house. Then 3D shapes but the age of 3, and now we have 15/26 letters known (with the use of a scrapbook of family members pictures. 

I also give credit to the teachers Riley has had. Riley has been in school since he turned one and comes home with new learned knowledge everyday.  When he was 13 months old he kept doing theses weird things with his hands. Matt and I didn't know what he was doing, so we talked to his teacher about what he was doing to see if he was doing it at school......he was......the teacher told us he's using sign language to get what he wants :-). Un announced to us they were teaching him and his classmates sign language and Riley had picked it up!! So what did Matt and I do???? Go to the nearest book store and get a sign language book so we could learn with Riley how to use American Sign language!!!!

There is a saying in education that I absolutely love, "You believe half of what you hear about my classroom and I will believe half of what I hear about your home"......SOOOOOO True!!! Sometimes Riley comes home and says, "You need to just give me a minute" (nothing against his teacher but you need to know that he has no idea what a minute is and you better be ready for him to ask you again). Or, "You need to be a good friend", "Let's use our patience", "let's be nice to our friends", "You're a big boy/girl". I have really enjoyed 3/4 of Riley's teachers (unfortunately one called him a baby and he believed her and so he thought he needed to stay in diapers because he knows that babies must wear diapers....trust me...Im a non violent person......but this lady obviously had no clue how to be a "GOOD" teacher and would have gotten an ear full and my foot in her mouth).

Another thing that is very.....endearing and not yet annoying about Riley and his eagerness to learn is all his questioning..........I have learned that if he asks a question I need to find the answer even if Matt or I don't know the answer......the latest question Riley asked was,  "How is snow born?"

So the next time your child asks you a question or they say something and you don't quite hear them....ask them to say it again. You may find that they just solved world piece in a sentence :-)

Family First

For the last few months, Matt and I make sure that every Saturday we go out and spend the day as a family. During the week is hard to get all 4 of us together and with us being tired from working all day, Riley being tired from school, and Paige excited to see us after she has been with her sitter all day. So Saturday is the day. We don't sleep in, we get up at around 7 am and get moving!! After a morning snack, its Gymnastics class for Riley, Then out breakfast! After breakfast it is already time for Paige's swim lessons! WE really enjoy teaching our kids how to swim sooner then later (Rye has been swimming on his own since he was 2). Then showers for all and out to lunch and then on to our family adventure!!!

Todays adventure was the Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center. Typically this would not be a February event.....but when its 50 outside and sunny you go! It was sooooo beautiful and I got a lot or real nice pictures of Matt and Riley (Matt has been wanting to take Rye hiking since we found out at our 20 week ultrasound appt he was a boy!).  We hiked 2 MILES with a 3 yr old and a 6 almost 7 month old in a stroller!!! No one complained!!! Not even mommy!

Since our Saturday adventures have been happening, I make sure we always stop to take a family of 4 picture. Which is very hard to do unless I get a complete stranger to take it.......which means I am making a lot of new, friendly people who hopefully don't mind stopping to help us take our picture.

The man who took this picture actually lives 5 mins away from the center and was with his son who was about 12 and he actually showed us where a really good place was to take a family picture. He then told us they have been going there every week for the last 12 years!!! (See  :-) we're meeting some real nice people when we ask them to take our picture).

Stay tuned to next weeks adventure!!! Who knows where life will lead us!!!

Glad I saved.......

If you know me, you know that I am a freakishly unsaving, throw away everything that is not special not a pack rat saver of things. I am very organized and try to make sure my family and I live in the least amount of clutter as possible. With this said, there are a few things I am very glad that I saved from "baby Riley" for "baby Paige".
First:

Baby Riley loved the Boppy to sleep with.....






 Baby Paige loves the Boppy to sleep with.

Second: The "Bumbo"

           Riley                                 Paige                        

 

Third.........Baby Tub..........Riley

Baby Tub..................Paige

 

Fourth.........Bouncer...........Top Paige.....botttom Riley

Fifth............Activity Gym.....Riley

Activity Gym......Paige

Many of these things were very expensive.....however, well worth the money :-) Especially since BOTH our children will have used each of them :-)

Other items we love and were able to use for both:

1. Graco Car seat/stroller combination

2. Pack-N-Play with changing pad attached

3. Dresser changing pad and cover (we have the Sealy brand one with the buckle strap)

Parenthood

When the adults in the house are finally allowed to unwind and watch tv our children are in bed, Matt and I finally get to unwind with a few shows we watch. One show we find very amusing is  "How I Met Your Mother". We started to watch this show because of two reasons, 1. The main character is the guy who played Dougie Houser M.D and 2. That is one of the questions we have yet to know how we are going to tell our kids how we met (how many people marry the person they dated before they could drive a car?!?!).

Back to my reason for this post........So we were watching the show and one of the main characters Lilly (the band geek from American Pie) is prego and she's running around and says, "Every time I put one fire out another one begins.....oh god......this must be what it's like to be a parent!!!!"...For those of you who have more then one child or are someone who works with kids you know that statement is right on the money. As soon as you think you solved one problem with one child another child has an issue and it seems like it doesn't end until the students are gone for the day or the kids are all in bed. Matt and I are very fortunate in the fact that Riley knows Paige is a baby and needs our help and is very patient with getting his turn of attention (having 22 kids to yourself is another story).

So the next time you find yourself "relaxing" take a deep breathe and enjoy because chances are it wont last long :-)

What did he say?!?!?!?

Often times when we are talking/playing with Riley he says something that makes us ask each other, "What did he say?" Today when I was getting him dressed, I really had to work to get him dressed got some much needed exercise. He is a very busy three year old boy :-) I said to him, "Rye, some times you drive me crazy!!!" He then replied, "Well mommy, sometimes you drive me crazy!!!" ........I looked at him and said,  "what did you say".

While getting all the snacks out for the Superbowl on the table, Rye looks at the table full of snacks and said, "This is the life".......... Matt and I looked at each other and asked, "what did he say???"

We have a friend of ours that is really funny to watch when she interacts with Rye. When he talks to her she looks at us and says, "what did he just say?" It's not that he doesn't have speech, it's that she isn't paying attention to him listening hard enough to hear what he is saying.

One thing I wish I did from my first year teaching and when Riley starting speaking, was to write down every silly, odd, beautiful, tender thing they ever said.........I hear some really interesting things from my students (so parents beware what you say in front of your kids......chances are your kids teachers know all about it) and some beautiful tender things from Riley.

So the next time you listen to a child talk to you or talking to their parent, listen closely, it may put a smile on your face :-)

live in the moment, remember the past, and to embrace the future when it arrives :-)

Have you ever said out loud, "I wish is was summer", "I hope the next few days, months, years, go by really fast"? I have and yesterday really made me realize that I need to live in the moment, remember the past, and to embrace the future when it arrives :-)

The reason for this post, is yesterday we went to the mall for our usually exercise of walking the Lehigh Valley Mall (No we are not the 8 am walkers, we are the, it's a little chilly outside to have our kids out walking around so we are going to go for an "indoor" walk).

Lately everything I have been putting Riley in is getting small....he is 3 and 3T is starting to not fit anymore (he's been like this since he was a baby) so we decided to start looking into some 4T shirts........well....we didn't go to Children's Place........We went to PS Twenty 09 by AEROPOSTALE!!!! I couldn't believe when I asked them what size they started at and the sales person said 4T......MATT AND I SHOP AT AERO........not our sweet little baby boy.......well I we realized at that moment, I we don't have a baby boy anymore, we have a boy.......a boy that in 2 years I will no longer miss while he's at school because he will be attending the same elementary school I teach in. He will have the same principal that when he was 1 1/2, he was visiting me at school one day and she spun him around in her office chair (that better be the only time he is ever in her office).

So even though at times, I want the future to come, I will live in the moment, remember the past, and to embrace the future when it arrives :-)

Then................................

Now............................

Mommy/Teacher

Ever since I found out I was pregnant with Riley, I make sure that I read to him (and now Paige) as often as I can. As a child, I was read to and sung to a lot....so much in fact that I still remember the book titles and the words to the songs that my mother, grandmother and father all read and sung to me. This had such an impact on me as a child, that I want to make sure my kids know as many stories as they can and even more songs and nursery rhymes then I know now......Matt and I grew up very differently and often times when Rye and I are singing a song from Raffy's greatest hits, Matt doesn't know the words (some of students don't know simple nursery rhymes or toddler songs either) and is hearing the song for the first time. Parents parent differently and sometimes its the easy and free things in life you remember the most.

I heard a lot when I was pregnant with Paige, "just wait........ having two children is sooooo much harder then one".....well duh.......but me being a super amazing pretty good at multitasking, I make sure both my children get what they need......often times, at the same time.

I often thought being a mommy would help me be a better teacher but I think being a teacher before I had children has helped me with patience and knowing what is truly important for my children to have embedded into them long before they start kindergarten.

Story Time

Language Arts: Letter and letter sounds recognition

Thanks to www.starfall.com computer skills/letter sound and sight word practice

You don't have to be a teacher to do these activities, just a mommy with some know how on what materials are out their that will help your children succeed........remember...you're their first teacher :-)

Glad we didn't listen..........

When Matt and I were in high school, we did a lot of the same activities. I was a soccer cheerleader, he was a soccer fan.....when I was a basketball cheerleader, he was a basketball player, the we both participated in track and field. While doing all these activities and spending so much time together we really got to know each other and I thought he would be a perfect match for my younger sister me. We dated and hung out at practice and after practice and even even on the bus rides to and from the games. and the rest they say, "is history".

We did't get a lot of support from a lot of friends about our relationship because I was a senior and he was a sophomore in high school, but we didn't listen.

When college letters were coming back I picked somewhere to go close enough that he could visit or I could go home........."Long distance relationships don't work" we heard....but we didn't listen.

Then 5 years and 1 day (started dating feb 2, 2001) of dating later and no one "rooting" for our relationship to last, Matt proposed Feb 3, 2006........ and I once again said yes :-).

Now after being together for 11 years, married for almost 5, 2 children, 2 busy careers and owning a house together........................................................... We're glad we didn't listen :-)