Fussy babytude

Shane's been fussy at feeding for the past several days.  He's not eating as much and he's getting royally pissed if we try to keep offering him the bottle. He moves throughout the feedings, arches his back, and tries to suck his own thumb and play with the bottle. He's strong too!  He'll grab on to the bottle and start pushing it every which way and break the seal. This pisses him off and he gives me the WTFD look.  It'll be nice when he's old enough to realize when he's the one ripping the bottle out. In the mean time, the little tyrant has assigned me the role of "blame taker."

I was going to go to church today, but looking at the time it ain't gonna happen. Shane had me hopping at his bidding when I should have been showering and loading the diaper bag. He's been a super-baby up until this point, so maybe he's just trying to get me prepared for his teenage years. Shane's thoughtful like that!

To follow up on the 'dramatic email' my Thursday ended with, here's how my Friday began.


I got to work later than usual because I had to take care of Shane until my mother could arrive to take care of him (letting Carrie enter a medicine-induced haze for the rest of the day). I walk into my classroom, and head straight to the sub-note. Some excerpts:

"We did everything in math except the graphing and coordinates." - HUH? How's that possible? The entire lesson plan I left was on graphing. There was a warm-up, review, note-sheets with a pre-filled answer key, and then the kids played battleship on coordinate planes.

"Science we watch Bill Nye."  - Grammar aside, the Bill Nye episode I left was only around 25 minutes long. The class is twice that length. What about starting class with the vocabulary handbooks, the notesheets I was going to grade, and then the crayfish homework the kids were supposed to finish from what I'd started the day before?

Of course, I happened to be saying "...you mean that's ALL they did?" as the AP walks in the room. Thankfully, I don't think she knew I was complaining about her friends performance, but then I started to wonder when she asked the IA I share my room with to leave so she could talk to me alone.

Then, she shut the door.

"Mike, there was something that happened yesterday that I need to talk to you about..."  My spider-sense was tingling at this point.

"One of the kids (name ommitted) said something to the sub (name also omitted) while you were out. He asked if the rumor was true that [the AP] was firing [me] to hire [the sub]."

100% NOT what I was expecting.  The AP had been upset and wanted to make sure I knew that the rumor was NOT true and she'd gone to the principal to ask what to do, etc.  In retrospect, it made perfect sense. I have one kid that is obsessed with the sub I had Thursday. He thinks she hates him and it out to get him (He told me Friday he had a dream she was coming, and apparently asked my IA "How could [I] do this to him?" He's also told the history teacher that the reading teacher is trying to control his thoughts among other things). Two of the other kids in the class, were enjoying teasing the one kid about the sub. They've done this before, and I had to squash it. They were telling him that a new long-term sub in the building was going to be the one he hates/fears/obsesses about or whatever it is he thinks....this ruined his productivity for the next several days because he wouldn't believe me that it wasn't her (which is funny when you consider that the sub was for a teacher WHO DIDN'T TEACH HIM).  Anyway, it looks like the teasing escalated and got out of hand until the AP came to my class to assure me that there was no such thing going to happen!  The principal saw me in the hall later and asked as well. His comment was "maybe we shouldn't hire that sub for that student!"

Really, the whole situation is kind of sad, because I know the sub was trying extra hard to help the student who thinks she's the devil. However, trying to make him turn in assignments and not fail is apparently the epitome of evil...which is funny because I do the same thing to him. He's even told me that I've "threatened" him (funny/sad story). My sub seemed like a nice enough lady, but the kid seems to A) have something against women (no lie) and B) she doesn't know any math. Plotting points is supposed to be easy-mode for the kids and apparently my 3rd period class had to try and teach her how to do it (they gave up or she did, I forget what they said). Whatever I think about how much she knows math, the sub is still on "the same team" as me when it comes to the kids and I'm not about to say anything in front of them to undermine her authority.  Kids were asking me all day "Why did you pick HER to sub for you?" to which I replied "I had to leave for an emergency and I'm THANKFUL she was willing to come in for me on such short notice. I hope you were good!"

This week is going to be a blitzkrieg of work before spring break. I have three IEP meetings, progress reports, and kids who're going to be mentally on Spring Break from Monday on forward. I won't be able to do too much at home if Carrie is still out of commission, so say a quick prayer for her to heal quickly if you read this.

I should probably go find something productive to do now, before the little tyrant wakes up and commands me to do something else.