In case you were saying to yourselves, "wait a gosh darn minute...didn't he already write about this?" I would like to call your attention to the double capital I that you see following adventures. Roman numerals just seem cooler on paper and, well I guess in this case, robot paper.
Anyways, I could seriously write many, many posts about the crazy world of kindergarten. For a while I have had a few blog post ideas running through my head but, since I have been working unhuman hours, I have been unable to get them down and out to the masses (i.e. the 5 people who read this blog.)
I will start today's rant with....Ironman, Batman, Spiderman...basically superheros in general. I, I must admit, am a fan of superheros. The whole having super cool powers and takin' care of bad guys has, I guess, always appealed to me. I have a feeling this is more of a guy thing than a girl thing (no offense to you girls/women out there who enjoy superheros/comic books. I have a sister-in-law who just looooooooves graphic novels...so I know you are out there. I just mean that the whole concept of aggression and toughness with a tint of rightousness seems to appeal more to the male population than the female population. Here's the problem though. While, as a parent, it may be funny to see your child run around pretending to be Ironman, it loses it's hilarity when "Ironchild" punches another four year old in the face. Then, since "Ironchild" is a robot who simply doesn't understand why hitting the girls playing barbies was a bad thing, he goes and does it again...and again...and again. Now, not all children have this same problem. There are many, myself included, who were, and are, capable of differentiating between reality and play. Clearly, if your child already has a tendency to pick up and imitate fight scenes from a movie at the age of 4, you need to be concerned. One, how was this behaviour not curbed before it got to this, and two, what do you think is going to happen when you show your young children violent movies? Sure it may be cute the parents right now but it certainly isn't cute for the parents of the children that come home with storys of how the same kids hit them again.
This annoys me in so many ways that I lost count. It is further complicated by the fact that, for these types of kids, there seems to be a lack of both consequences and supports. Without a proper chain of conseqences (i.e. if you do this...this will happen...if you do it again...then this will happen...etc) these kids never learn how to behave properly. And the thing is, it really isn't their fault. Someone's dropping the ball and when you have both the school administration and the parents asleep at the wheel the people that suffer are the kids and their teachers. The classroom teacher can only do so much without the support from the administration and the parents. Is it really any wonder why some teachers burn out so quickly?
Anyways, I digress. Here is some actual news. Christine is now in her 35th week (picture to follow) and she has once again become friends with Mr. Flushy the porcelin pony. For the second time in her life she had to leave church during a service because she was feeling cruddy. She tried very, very hard to use mind over nausea but, as per usual, nausea won. I think she frightened some eleven year olds in the bathroom with her sounds from the sea. On tuesday we will be doing a tour of the birthing centre part of the Stratford hospital. We are both looking forward to this.
This is my last week at the Daycare/school. I decided to take a job with the Waterloo region school board on the E.A. sublist. The hours I was working between the two jobs were proving to be too much. Also, the money left a lot to be desired not to mention the fact that I want to enjoy the last few weeks before the baby with Christine. I am still hoping to do some substitute teaching with the school and hopefully in the other 2 French schools in the area as well. I am still waiting on that part to come through. Next Saturday I have an interview at York university (yes the infamous York university) for the one year education program. I would start in September and would be studying to teach French. Since I like interviews and talking about my experiences in education I am looking forward to it.
One last thing...we had our first baby shower yesterday and it we had a great time. My cousin Vickie did an absolutely amazing job. We will do a specific baby shower post once the pictures are uploaded.
I will leave you with a conversation I have nearly everyday with one of my kindergarten friends.
Kindergarten Kid (shouting very loudly): Monsieur!!! Monsieur!!!
Me: Yes, black tuque (names have been altered for privacy reasons)
Kindergarten Kid: She called me poop!
Me: Ummmm...she called you what?
Kindergarten kid: Poop! She called me poop!
Me (not knowing quite how to resolve this conundrum): Okay black tuque. I will talk to her.
(2 mins later)
Kindergarten Kid (shouting loudly once again): Monsieur!!! Monsieur!!!
Me: Yes, what is it black tuque.
Kindergarten Kid: He called me pee!
And this is how it continues. Seriously who calls someone poo or pee?
Our little opera singer...
A rare thing, believe it or not...
A rare thing, believe it or not...
Looking around
Papa & Mateo
Okay guys, any time you're ready you can get me out of here.
New generation of Oma & Opa Albrecht
King of Awesome
Mami & Mateo
