Open House 2013

Open House is my favorite day of the school year.  I love to visit all the classrooms, read the essays hung up around the rooms, and read the letters my little ones have stuck in their desks for me.  

My favorite this year was Alice's description of her favorite place in our community. 

She loves gymnastics as much as her big sister.

The kids wrote descriptions of themselves on the front of these fish.  We needed to guess who was who and then fish to find out.

It wasn't too hard.  Alice is the only one with five sisters, two brothers, who loves gymnastics in her class!

The first graders were learning about volcanoes.

  They worked hard to create their volcanoes out of papier mache.  How exciting to watch it erupt!

We are big Eric Carle fans at our house.  I hope to be able to bring the kids to the Eric Carle Museum this summer.  I love the lesson Lucie learned - sometimes you have to search for good friends, but it's worth it when you find them."  I know that Lucie has found some very good friends at school.  I hope all my children learn this valuable lesson.

Evan's favorite subject is art and he talks about becoming an art teacher like Mr. Lumia.

I am already looking forward to next year's Open House!

Honorable Mention

Do you think children should receive an trophy just for showing up?  I cannot tell you how many medals, trophies, and ribbons adorn my home, but how many of those awards were deserved?  Is it really worth celebrating 10th place or giving an Honorable Mention to everyone who shows up?

Two weeks ago, Evan attended the district-wide science fair.  He had an amazing project about Roller Coasters.  He worked for weeks with Pierre discussing the physics behind roller coasters.  Together, they built a roller coaster model to run marbles through while Evan learned how to calculate different mathematical formulas.

At the award ceremony, his name was called for "Honorable Mention."  I could see the excitement in his face as he went up to get his gold ribbon.  After he sat down, I could see his mind starting to figure things out.  There were countless 3rd Place, 2nd Place, and 1st Place projects.  By the time the award ceremony was over, everyone was either holding a gold Honorable Mention" or a medal with a slip of paper allowing them to go on to the Dutchess County Science Fair.  The smile was no longer there.  He was not proud of himself anymore.

As we left the ceremony, he looked at me and demanded an honest answer to his question.  "Did everyone get an award?"

With my answer, his gold ribbon turned into a consolation prize.  It didn't mean anything to him.  Just looking at his ribbon made him feel like it should have said, "Sorry, better luck next time" instead of "Honorable Mention."

I understand that they want to get the kids excited about being in the science fair, but what happened to having one winner in each grouping - 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place?  Why does each kid need to walk out of the science fair with a ribbon?

Maybe most kids don't look too much into it.  They proudly display their ribbon and feel a sense of pride.

I explained to Evan that the ribbon was to honor his hard work.  He deserved recognition of a job well done.    None of that worked.  In his mind, all the ribbon represented was that he showed up that day, and he was right.

After looking at the judges' comments, I saw that he became a little nervous under pressure.  He stumbled a bit on his words and forgot the formulas.  He's ten.  It happens.

Not every kid needs an trophy to say they played soccer, showed up for a dance competition, or ran a race.  Not everyone who goes to the Olympics receives a medal.  Doesn't that 1st Place award mean more when only one person wins?  

My son is an amazing young man and he doesn't need a ribbon to prove it.

Facebook Giveaway!

Did you know that Beyond the Crib is on Facebook?  Beyond the Crib is slowly evolving  and branching out to also become a community resource for parents, bringing together my experiences with those of my peers.  I hope you will find it useful and become and active participant.

Now, not only can you find me here and on Facebook, but look for me on Twitter and Pinterest too!  I can't wait to share more of my thoughts and ideas with you.

Come LIKE Beyond The Crib's Facebook page and join in the conversation.  Once I receive 100 likes, everyone who has liked the page is automatically entered in to win a $10 gift card to Target.  If you refer a friend, please let me know.  Each referral earns you one extra chance to win.  I have many more exciting giveaways lined up in the coming months.

Stay tuned for more exciting news from Beyond the Crib!

Parents of Preemies Day 2013

Everyone knows about Linus, my micropreemie, and the inspiration for this blog, but Linus was not my first experience with the NICU.  Evan was born in June 2002 at 34 weeks and 5 days at a hospital not equipped with a NICU.  After 2 days in labor at 8 centimeters dilated, all it took was 10 minutes of Pitocin to jump start my labor.  My obstetrician, who thought he could run to grab a bite to eat was called before he even made it to the parking lot.

I knew there was an issue as the ob was closely watching the rise and fall of my baby's chest as he was being measured in the baby warmer.  I heard something about grunting and calling a pediatrician.  Soon, my little guy was whisked down the hall to wait for a consult with the pediatrician on call.  I wanted to get on down to where the baby was.  After a quick shower and a very large ice pack, I waddled myself down the hallway to a little room off of the nursery where my baby was surrounded by nurses and a pediatrician I did not know.  She told my husband and I that our baby was having difficulty breathing and that they had tried, unsuccessfully to give him an IV.  They had even tried inserting it in his little head.  I just wanted to pick him up and snuggle.  Instead, I sat next to his bed waiting for transport to come take my baby to another hospital.

The pediatrician wanted to know the baby's name.  We hadn't decided yet.  I knew his middle name would be Dean.  We were waiting to name him until we saw him.  He was either going to be Nathaniel or Evan.  The pediatrician put in her vote for Nathaniel.  We also shared the name our children had voted on: John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt!  The transport nurse had a good chuckle.  Soon it was time to watch my baby being transported out of the hospital while I waddled back to my room.

I kept asking when I would be allowed to leave.  I was not staying at this hospital if my baby was across town at another.  My ob told me that the minimum was 6 hours, BUT my swelling needed to subside considerably before he would discharge me.

I love those gloves filled with water and frozen after I give birth.  They make the perfect ice packs.  I iced and rested and tried to pretend that my baby was just down the hall and not miles away.  Soon, my 6 hours were up and I was allowed to leave, but not until I filled out the birth certificate papers and named our son.  We finally decided on Evan, which means young warrior.

It was now after 10pm and we were in our car, on our way to see our boy.  We arrived at the NICU and scrubbed in.  Our lovely transport nurse was there taking care of him.  I was able to nurse Evan and help give him his first bath.  There was a room that we could stay in, reserved for situations like this.  I didn't leave the NICU for 3 days.  Evan had a few ups and downs and he was discharged with an apnea monitor after 10 days.

We are very blessed.

Happy Parents of Preemies Day 2013.

Neighbors

Earlier this week Evan took Mattie, our very exuberant Labrador Retriever, out for a walk.  He set off before school, filled with responsibility and pride, with the leash and a bag for waste.  As he walked down our road, he saw another man walking his dog.  Mattie must have become very excited.  She pulled and ran, thinking she had found a new friend.  Evan held tight to the leash as they approached our neighbor and his dog, probably with a big smile on his face.  With just a few words, that smile was wiped clear away.  Our neighbor looked at my 10 year old son and said, "Keep your filthy dog away from me."  Evan came home with his head hung low.  He no longer had a spring in his step.  How dare this man talk that way to my boy?  I can't understand why people treat their neighbors this way.

When we were planning on buying a house, I couldn't wait to become a part of a neighborhood.  I had candy coated dreams of sipping lemonade on the front lawn with my neighbors as we watched our children play from dawn to dusk.  We would drop cookies and casseroles off at each others doorsteps to celebrate babies and to bring comfort during hard times.  There would always be someone to help out a few steps away.  There would be block parties and community Easter egg hunts.  We would never be alone because we were surrounded by friends.

I guess I didn't do enough research, because that does not exist, at least not in my neighborhood.  Where are Lorelai and Rory Gilmore?  I want to live in Stars Hollow.  Everyone is in each others business, sometimes a little too much, but always in a good way.

I have birthed babies, buried babies, gone through good times and bad without much acknowledgement from my neighbors.  Every time someone new moves in, I try my hardest.  I bring over cookies and try to strike up conversation.  I have made a few friends, but there doesn't seem to be a sense of neighborhood.  Maybe I live on the wrong side of our horseshoe shaped lane.  There are more families with small children around the horseshoe.  I guess the grass always looks greener on the other side.

Don't get me wrong, there are some great families in my neighborhood.  There are the neighbors from up the block who brought over a huge tray of Penne ala Vodka when Linus was in the NICU and the neighbors further up who are very generous with their hand-me-downs.  There is the boy up the block who is one of Katie's best friends and a bunch of little girls on the other side of the horseshoe who are playmates of Alice and Lucie.

I am still looking for Stars Hollow.  If you find it, let me know.