A Brief Glimpse of Professional Life

I purposely don't blog about my work--it isn't very interesting and it is probably in my best interest not to do it. But today I had a moment that begs to be shared.

I teach 7th grade English for one hour of the day. Each day I write a quote on the board for the students to journal about. We do this to practice higher-level thinking skills and work on their ability to express complex thoughts in writing.

Tuesday's quote was the classic "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime." Pretty easy to drum up a few sentences on what this means, right?

Wrong, apparently, for one student, who wrote: I think this means fish need to eat more than we do.

That thud you hear? That's the sound of my forehead hitting my desk.

It finally happened...

...after nearly 3 years of marriage and countless dinners together, I have made something that Sam did not like. I never thought I'd see the day.

My cooking abilities have grown in the last few years and I am enjoying trying to find recipes that are affordable and easy to make. I frequently read $5 Dinners (link on the right) and have tried some of those recipes. Last week I saw this egg bake that looked pretty good. I decided to try it since we have some bread that we need to use up.

So last night I get it all prepped and into the oven.

It smells amazing.

We dish it up and sit down.

I take a bite.

"Wow, this is pretty good!" I say

I look up to see Sam making the classic "What the #^@*#$ am I eating?" face. I'm pretty sure he would've spit it out if he'd had a napkin.

I was not offended--I started laughing! All these years he's eaten whatever I've put in front of him, even if I have not liked it (remember those turkey tacos? Inedible!) Yet here he was, unable to clear his plate. I really never thought I would see this day...

I said "Really? You don't like it? I think it's really good." His reply? "Good. I hope you like the leftovers, too."

I guess this particular dish will not be making another appearance in the Westphall house.

SIX months!

The official day was yesterday, but there was no blogging time yesterday. So today we recognize that Samuel Roman is 6 months old!

He has been alternating between super happy and super crabby since Friday night. We thought it was teeth, since he was happy with a cold washcloth to chew on. However, today's doctor appointment revealed that he's nowhere near getting any teeth, but he does have an ear infection! I never would have guessed that. Not in a million years. Bad, inattentive mother!

So he saw the doc this morning. He weighs 15 lbs, 13 oz and is 26 inches long. He falls a little below average for height, weight, and head size, but he's doing just fine. We had lots of questions today about his eating and spitting up, his teeth and his motor skills. All in all he is doing just fine.

Sammy was born just a little tongue-tied, meaning his tongue is attached to the bottom of his mouth more than the average person. We've just been watching his development, and he's fine so far. The nurses said if he could eat, we could leave it alone. I asked the doc today what the next "milestone" would be, and he said we'd have to watch his speech when he gets older, and if we need to "clip it" we can. Maybe it's the mom in me, but that sounds HORRIBLE!!!! Imagine, for a moment, someone snipping that tendon that holds your tongue to the bottom of your mouth. AAAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!! Let us hope that Sammy's speech develops just fine so that we can all be spared the horror of that procedure.

Last, but not least, the poor boy received 5 shots today! He drank the rotovirus medicine, then got 3 scheduled vaccines, a seasonal flu shot, and an H1N1 shot. He came out with a scream I had never heard before. Painful for all involved. I also made the mistake of actually watching one needle go into his leg. All I could think was "Don't puncture his perfect, soft, smooth baby skin!" I must remember in the future to look at his face, not his legs.

Randoms

A few random Annie stories:

First of all, here's what it looks like at our house when Daddy comes home. Both Anne and Mikey scale the couch to look out the window.Earlier Anne was singing, to the tune of "BINGO": S-A-M-M-Y, S-A-M-M-Y, S-A-M-M-Y, and Sambo is asleep.

Tonight I was telling Anne a "story" about a girl who did all her homework and read any book she could find and became a doctor. She looked at me and said "You be a doctor. I'm going shopping." I will have to try a little bit harder to get through to her...

Annie's Speech

The girl talks constantly. I mean CONSTANTLY. It can be both annoying and adorable at the same time. In either case, it has helped her hone her verbal skills. Today as we left daycare I asked "Where's Opa?" Annie's response: "He might be at a meeting. We need to gotta go find him." Last week I asked the same question and she (correctly) responded: "Opa's at the hockey game. Minnesota Wild and the Thrashers."

Genius!

Sitting: A Progression in Photos

Here's the boy last Monday, halfway sitting on the couch. Pretty good for 5.5 months!On Thursday at dinnertime, I came around the corner to see this:
He had pulled himself up in his chair! Those are some strong abs, boy. So to the floor we went, where Sam demonstrated his sitting prowess. What a guy.

Way to go, Sambo!

A Cute Baby to Brighten Your Day

Isn't he a sweetheart? If your day was as rough as mine, you need a little smile to pick you up. All I will say is that my day started with a kindergartener telling me I look pregnant, and it only went downhill from there...

So I'm out of here and off to get my kids! Thanks to Auntie Sarah for bringing us some homemade soup for dinner--one less thing I have to do tonight :)

Age is just a number, right?

My 7th grade English class had a lively discussion today, and somehow we were talking about different teachers and their ages, and I said "I'm 26." and I swear there was an audible gasp in the room. The responses I got were varied; some said "Really?" and others were more blunt "I thought you were, like, 40!"

I guess being married and having 2 kids puts me, in the mind of 7th graders, out of the twenties and into the forties.

Just for the record, I won't be 40 until Annie is 16...

And if I'm 40, I look dang good.