Maternity leave is over. Today we returned to the new normal. And it went pretty well.
It took nearly an hour last night to get everything ready for today – make lunch, put together Spartacus’ clothes and bottles, everything I needed to pump at school, my clothes, start the coffee pot, shower, dry my hair…but we made it! The morning was a breeze.
Spartacus slept 9:15-5:15 and woke up nice and cheery. He nursed, I had breakfast and coffee, we even had time to give Spartacus a quick bath so he could start his first day of school nice and clean. We got to daycare a little after 7; the nice before-care lady took him out of his car seat and snuggled him. He woke up, looked around at her with a bemused expression, and then went back to sleep. I drove to school.
I met all my students; we chatted about various things like homework and the plan for the year, then read for the rest of the period. I think the sub in a fit of frustration told them that when Mrs. H returned, “Everything would be different.” She tried to set me up as super-mean and strict, which confused my students because I’m definitely not those things. I told them I was consistent; this is what I expect, and this is what will happen if the expectations are not met; easy enough. They seemed to accept that. I told my freshmen world history kids I would try to get some toy swords to act out the fall of Rome. “This is the best class ever!” was the response. It was nice to get such a vote of confidence.
After school, I chatted with a student and a few English teachers, and then returned to daycare. Spartacus was getting his afternoon bottle. The nice teacher said he took two naps – one over two hours – had some good poops and ate well.
So, it was a pretty uneventful day. Which is successful in my book.
Leave a Reply