Saturday, October 17, 2009

Eleven Months Old Today!



Nick has been chattering away lately. No distinct words yet, but he has full out conversations with his toys. This was early this morning, when he was playing with his frisbee. Tonight he stood up holding on to the table and kept begging for bites of our turkey tacos. I was impressed; my little boy ate turkey, red and yellow peppers, onions, black beans, and avocadoes. I think he has trouble getting food to his mouth when he eats with his hands. We fed him today from our forks, and he did great. Like a little bird, he kept opening his mouth wide for more, while slamming his fists down on the table and screeching.

Whatever evil stomach virus Nick had last week, Greg caught this week. He was miserable from Wednesday until today. He's still pretty weak. No sign of it yet in me (knock on wood). But I have had a ton of little kid viruses, because I spent years working in day care centers when I was in high school and college. I believe you're decently immune once you've had a particular illness. At least I hope so.


When I bought Nick this kitchen set back in July from www.napervilleyardsales.com, I wasn't sure he'd like it. Mostly it just sat in the corner. But lately he's been
loving it. The faucet makes noises, you can set the toaster, and there's a light switch to turn on and off. In the picture above, he's picking up the frying pan. The stove makes sizzling noises when you pick up or put down the pan. Nick thinks that's pretty cool. Perhaps he'll be a chef. He certainly loves his kitchen. He likes our kitchen as well; it's very hard to tear him away from the cabinets and pots and pans.
Nick has also been standing extremely well. I've seen him holding on with only one hand lots of times. Once I even saw him let go until he realized what he was doing. Then, he slowly sat down. I believe that means walking isn't far off. I can't believe he's 11 months old.

I've been struggling lately with the whole working mom thing. I feel like I'm in a great place in my job, and I truly love my school and my kids. I believe that I have the best job I could have because I honestly look forward to work. (At least the part of work where I'm teaching kids.) But I've also been taking a ton of work home, which I hadn't usually had to do the last few years. I'm actually doing as much "homework" now as I did when I was a classroom teacher. I think it's because I have 42 kids on my caseload, and I want to feel like I'm giving every one of them the right kind of supports and lessons.
I feel guilty sometimes that I have so much work to do and I can't play with Nick as much. I do spend a decent amount of time each day playing with him, and we read books together every night without fail. But I have schoolwork, and dinner, and laundry, and I can't pay attention to him every minute. I suppose all working moms struggle with this.
Speaking of which, I'm going to play blocks with him right now. :) I'd better do it quickly, before he grows up some more.

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