So, we're in our new place and taking our time to get settled. We have a functional kitchen (minor readjustments to make), we can relax in the front room with the couch and entertainment unit set up and George's toys and books there. We've got a ton of laundry (both clothes and stuff used in packing ). Next step is to get the office rearranged (the closet in the had been painted/sealed shut, so that just got fixed this morning).
I now teach primary (4 year olds). I second lesson. First one didn't go awesome. I had simple stuff to dress up and act out going to get the plates but my class is either too shy for that our didn't want to do it for a new teacher. But I think they got the main idea. I got a Co teacher assigned to me yesterday, she just got back from serving on temple square. Yesterday's lesson was about prayer and Nephi and his family on the boat. I brought a blue Sarong (with dolphins on it ) to be the ocean and a bath toy boat of George's. We talked about a few different things and then went into the story. I laid the Sarong on the ground and told them to imagine it was the ocean, then I placed the boat down and started moving it. Then I stopped to say what happened next and a little boy asked why the boat wasn't moving and I was just like, cause we're talking about what happened on the boat when it got here. Anyways, Laman and lemuel tied up Nephi, the Liahona stopped working and a storm started. So I had them all get on the ground and pick up part of the blanket and shake it and watch the boat get thrown off course (and out of the ocean a few times). Anyways, this lesson went much better. We talked about how they let Nephi go because they were afraid they would drown and then Nephi prayed for help. I shared a few examples of prayer in my life, two goofier ones (losing my cat and keys) and a more serious one- one I witnessed- a prayer of a 4 year old girl. Then we finished off with coloring and paper airplanes for the last ten minutes.
George went to nursery with dad this last week. Jon had a test this morning and feels pretty good about it. And we're just working. George is starting to take a few independent steps. (Like a total of 3?) When we went for grandma Ann 's funeral he was a favorite. His girl cousins loved him. He has a second cousin whose name is Cal-el. He loves electrical sockets and climbing stairs (crawling up stairs is new too). He also loves eating whatever I'm eating. If he's upset (he gets upset a lot with learning to walk and climb) he calms down with nursing, reading books or singing "five little ducks" or "five little monkeys". Sometimes snuggling will work. Oh, and one BIG scare. We were packing up the kitchen and could see George. In practically no time at all though he got ahold of the thermometer that had been in the fish tank, whacked it against a shelf, broke the glass and stuck the broken glass side in his mouth. We called 911, who then gave us the number for poison control. We talked to them about the thermometer (not knowing if there was mercury or anything in there ). The lady didn't seem concerned, so I asked her what symptoms I should look for if there was a problem. He was fine. He never cried even when we were panicked.
On Saturday we went to a ward activity where jon provided the music. He's been thinking about putting together a solo kid's act and Saturday was our trial run. The kids seemed to like it alright, but they didn't know some of the songs and got bored, not bad, but we decided we need some type of visual aid or hand movements to get them more involved in the new songs. The song line up started with "if you're happy (and you know it)" and then:
2. Field mouse (old poem that Jon put to music)
3. Down by the bay (Raffi -older song)
4. Skinnamarinkidinkidink (old song some of the parents knew)
5. Little sheep (old poem jon put to music)
6. Poisoning pigeons (Tom lehrer- more for the adults)
7. Do as I'm doing
8. De colores (Raffi )
9. Guinea pig (old poem jon put to music)
10. Twinkle, twinkle little star (with a second verse with higher vocabulary: "scintillate, scintillate, globule lucific. .."
11. Baby beluga (Raffi)
12. Head, shoulders, knees and toes (normal, slow, fast and faster)
13. Bear snores on (a book George likes that jon turned into a song)
14. Banana phone (Raffi )
Ideally, I think jon and I would like for him to teach at a university during the school year and then do the children's performance in the summer for fun.
Anyways, life is pretty good, just settling into our new place. I can't wait til he gets a permanent, or semi permanent job and we can settle in, knowing we won't be moving in about a year.
