Subbing

Life today is good. It's moving along at a steady pace. I have been subbing at the school a lot this year and it has given me a new perspective on working moms. It's so hard to work outside of the home. I hope my daughters are given the opportunity to stay home with their young children like I did. It was really the most wonderful gift that Jon Mark could have ever given me. Working has given me so much gratitude for my sweet and wonderful husband! I love him so much and I don't have enough "thankful" words to communicate my appreciation for his ability and willingness to provide. He's such a good provider. I don't "need" the job. I do it for spending money and to stay involved in the schools amid this pandemic. It's difficult to keep up with my daily chores when I work most of the week (which is not my preference and I try really hard not to, I'd prefer to only work 1 or 2 days a week). Sometimes my weeks are fine and I enjoy subbing, sometimes it's a lot. It gives me peace knowing that I don't have to go to work outside of the home if it ever becomes too stressful. 

It has become a little more stressful. I had an accidental run-in with the principal. I covered for a teacher unexpectedly one morning. Because of the short notice, the teacher did not leave me any lesson plans. I took a few moments that morning, while the students were silently reading, to create my own lesson plans for the day. The day went really well. I was feeling really good about how the day went. It was fun, engaging, educational and I was proud of myself for taking a difficult situation and making it a pleasant one. 

At the end of the day, the principal found me and asked me how the day went. I smiled and said that it had gone really well especially since I wasn't given any lesson plans. That was the wrong thing to say. He got upset with me for not telling him earlier in the day. I told him that I had had everything under control and didn't say anything because it turned out to be a great day as we went along. He really chastised me for it, and basically told me that he absolutely did not want me to handle it in the future because he cannot have the day filled with "activities". He didn't even really let me explain about what the activities were, he was very short with me. I wanted to tell him how I felt the more professional thing to do was to handle it the way I had. I wanted to tell him that the "activities" were all very educational and fun and went along with what the students were learning in their classes. He also got upset with the teacher who failed to leave sub plans even though I explained that it was very short notice and she was very sick. Anyway, it's a long drawn-out story, but I somehow found myself on some sort of mental list that the principal needs to check off daily. 

He now checks on me multiple times a day and asks me if I have lesson plans. He also undermined my authority in front of the students. Twice he had me tell him a list of names of disruptive students from the class the day before (after the situation was handled and the students were forgiven). It's not been very fun. He makes me feel anxious and nervous. I want to tell him that I don't need this job, but he does in fact need me. I could work every day if I wanted to, I am requested daily by teachers at the school. Of course, I never say those things. But, it does help me if I say those things to myself. Really and truly, I have the option to quit if I wanted to, with Jon Mark's full support. 

Anyway, I'm not even sure why I wrote this post, it seems rather long and negative. My point was to record how thankful I am for Jon Mark. ;)

Funny Cubby

 Cubby did a couple of things recently that were funny. Our family got the dreaded Covid this past month, but it didn't seem to affect us hardly at all. Some of us lost our sense of smell for a few weeks, and we had a minor stuffing nose, and hot flashes, but I would say that it was very mild. It was so mild, in fact, that I exercised every day during quarantine. I had to be careful to hit the hiking trails when no one else really goes hiking, and I had to be sure that the trail accounted for social distancing. I took the kids hiking one day, when they were actually done with quarantine, and were allowed back at school. There was a miscommunication with the school and I decided to not send them because they freaked out and it was obvious that they needed a warning. 

Cub isn't a fan of hiking. He gets into the mommy bubble and decides that he's done before the hike is actually done, which is a problem because I can't carry him down the mountain. He tested my patience so much that day. He decided that he was done when there was still a good 1.5 miles left to go. Joshua was kind enough to stay back with me, Hannah, and Caleb. Mercedes and Luke ditched us and headed for the car. 

On this hike, Caleb liked to dramatically stop, kick off his shoes, and then sit down and cry about his shoes falling off. Feeling frustrated, I turned to Joshua and told him that he should call Mrs. Maher and tell her that she could expect Caleb to come to school that day because he was giving his mother a difficult time on the hike. Joshua didn't even have a phone, but he put his hand to his ear and pretended to call Caleb's teacher. Caleb believed him and increased his pace and was obviously distressed at the thought of going back to school. This worked off and on several times until Cub basically shut down and refused to move any further. That's when I got on my "bad dog" voice and told him that if he didn't beat Hannah to the parking lot, then he'd definitely be dropped off at school on the way home from the hike. That worked better than I could have thought! He TOOK OFF! Hannah (not knowing the deal) felt like her own speed was being questioned so she also took off, which angered Caleb because he is still not faster than Hannah. So, Joshua raced up to Hannah and explained the situation and told her to let Caleb win. She wasn't happy about it, but she did. Caleb was so fast that Joshua had a difficult time catching up to him when I began to worry about the busy parking lot. Hannah had to bite her tongue once we were in the car and Caleb began bragging about beating his older sister. Sheesh!

The other story involves the watching of Strawberry Shortcake, a show that Hannah picked out to the dismay of her younger brother. Caleb was very unhappy about having to watch a girl show, but he watched it anyway. The plot climaxed when Strawberry Shortcake and Blueberry were trapped in a cave under ground with a large corn on the cob. They were distressed because they did not know how they could possibly escape through the hole in the top because they were so little. I heard Caleb say to the tv, in a rather annoyed fashion, "move the corn on the cob to the hole and use it as a ladder!" Then, without missing a beat, almost as if Strawberry Shortcake could hear Caleb, the TV answered, "I know! Let's move the corn on the cob to the hole and climb it like a ladder!" Caleb threw his hands in the air, and said to no one, "they are SO stupid!"