Relationship

Now my boy is 5 months old. In the last few weeks, he and I have developed a rapport. We had a last-minute trip to Pennsylvania to visit my grandpa, one of Baby's namesakes, and spent all kinds of time together in close physical contact. In the midst of routine-free days, his only 'routine' was to be with me.

I am amazed that he knows me and loves me. Not that I feel unlovable, but that someone who wasn't even in existance a year and a half ago, who wasn't even outside me just six months ago has grown into someone who knows "Mamma" and is comforted by her presence. He has a personality. He has emotions. What a delight!

7 Quick Takes Volume 2

Go to Conversion Diary for more 7QT.

====================================================================

So, last week I was frenetically preparing for a northward weekend journey, the museum's annual not-so-scary members-only Halloween event, and fighting bad allergies that have since mutated into a cold and sinusitis.

1. I am thankful for doctors who take action. At the doctor's office, I received several prescriptions--antibiotics, cortisone for the swelling, cough suppressant that's not codeine-based so I don't have to deal with the OTC cough-syrup side effect of stupidity--AND a cortisone shot right then and there. Woo. I haven't taken any pills and I feel better already. It's the cortisone. I can finally breathe through my nose well.

2. Today, during Story Time, I read to two 6-year-olds. We did some Early Childhood Games (can you guess if the pumpkin inside the smaller box will be bigger or smaller than the first pumpkin? it's called prediction of volume) and they enjoyed the games...a little...and I could see they were relieved to learn that the Early Childhood Games were designed for kids who are TWO YEARS OLD and that it's OK that they were BORED by them.

3. Those 6-year-olds from Story Time enjoyed a book that was a little scary, The Little Old Lady Who Was not Afraid of Anything. They liked knowing that the scariness is in the anticipation of the reader saying "BOO!" They were cute!

4. My husband is at a high school football game tonight. That means I am at home alone to rest and rest and to rest. I usually hate being alone but tonight I'm ok.

5. My bum hurts from the cortisone shot.

6. Our northward journey took us on a 12-hour drive (one way!) to visit my grandparents. I am thankful to have seen them...and thankful that Grandma knew who I was...and thankful for the hope of heaven where God will wipe all the tears away from our eyes. Oh, how I grieve. Aging stinks! Sure, they have the wisdom of experience and all that....but when their brains start imploding and they stop being themselves....it hurts. Oh, for heaven! Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

7. I can't think of anything else.

Jumbo Tour Group Part I

Lots of people have been asking me, "What do you do at a children's museum all day? What does a Museum Educator do?"

It's different every day. Lately, I've been leading tour groups. We have a temporary exhibit that gives guests (especially the kiddles) a chance to simulate everyday tasks with some disability or another. Mainly, the kids can try out school tasks or climbing a climbing wall with vision-disability goggles on, try out wheelchair basketball, or try communicating while pretending to have a verbal communication disability. It's pretty neat. It's "a day in the life of a child with a disability."

So, with lots of corporate sponsorship and community volunteers, kids from our area can come have the Kids Like You, Kids Like Me Tour for free. That makes it a pretty big draw!

(Sorry this is reading like a brochure/pamphlet. I'm totally confident in your ability to deal with it.)

The tour usually consists of four parts: (1) time in the actual exhibit to simulate a day in the life of a child with a disability, (2) a tactile art lesson, (3) up close and personal time to talk with and ask questions of a local person with a disability, and (4) a puppet show. It's a pretty cool tour! I've enjoyed it the most with 3rd-4th graders, but 1st-2nd grades do pretty well; the kindergartners don't. They just don't quite get the point...almost, but not quite.

Today, we had a tour group of 155 kids. (Yes, 155 kids. That's a lot.) I'll tell about the ins and outs tomorrow!

Educating. Magic.

When I was in college, learning about being a secondary (not elementary!) teacher, I sneered at the Elementary Education majors. Then, I taught 5th grade for a while. I learned a bit of respect, but didn't really want to teach the little kids full-time.

I took a college class last year: Developmental Psychology. Learning all sorts of intricacies about how people grow and develop through all the stages of their young lives...awesome. Our Creator-God is so wise and gracious to us!

But I still never thought I'd want to teach the little guys. But last week, I got to do something new. I was a classroom assistant in a little-kids' classroom. Yes, there were 17 kindergarten-2nd graders.

I thought I would be irrelevant and stodgy to them, but I really got to like them. They were so cute. They thought new things were adventuresome instead of tedious. They attempted (and succeeded!) most of the crafts and activities we threw at them. They thought I was the coolest. They drew me pictures. They gave me goodbye hugs. They gave me good-morning hugs. Aaaaaaw. (Hugs make me melt.)

I sat with one boy on the bus after our field trip. He is a kindergartener. He told me all about his school, his teacher, his classmates. We talked about what we had done on the field trip (we saw sheep! we learned about spinning wool! we got koolaid packets to dye the wool they gave us!).

Here's the best part: he recently learned to read (he learned the letters and how to sound-out words, at least), and I helped him read the word "LEMON"...then I showed him the picture of lemons on his koolaid packet. His eyes lit up and he read the word again, and again, and pointed to the picture. "They're the same thing!" he said.

Magic. I love little kiddles now.

Linguistics and its effect on my Friday

First, let me tell you about the events of the day:
*Ian took me to Covenant for my class. (He's got a Winter Long-Weekend-Break right now, so he didn't have to be dropped off at his school first.)
*I went to class. There, Hellen asked me to tell her more about English grammar. (She's from Kenya and speaks 4 languages besides English--Swahili is her native tongue.)
*Hellen and I had a grammar session and set up another one for next Friday.
*We all (Ian, Hellen, and I) went to chapel.
*I stopped by my British professor-friend's office.
*We went home, and went on from there to do errands and other grownup responsible things.

Now, let me elaborate on a couple neat things for today:

I'm really, really enjoying my class! It's been really interesting, and fun, and challenging, too. Last semester's Developmental Psychology was challenging in terms of (1) the amount of material I needed to learn and (2) the volume of assignments we had to turn in. (The professor called it 'unrelenting'--one project/test/assignment every week! Whew!) This semester is challenging in terms of the intricacy of the subject matter. It's pushing me and making me work hard intellectually, and I'm liking that. I've missed that sort of challenge.

I have a classmate (H) this semester who was also in Dev Psych with me last semester. H is also married, and so we have that in common. H is African and because English is not her mother tongue, she finds other challenges in this class. (The professor may talk for 5+ minutes about how other languages organize their sentences, and if H can't remember as easily as the rest of us the difference between an adjective and an adverb, it challenges her.) She and I spent some time together talking about English grammar, and we have another session next Friday morning after class to fine-tune her adjective/adverb understanding. Ian was at the table with me and H, and once she left, Ian told me that my ability to understand my material and to explain it to H seemed intuitive, and that I ought to more seriously consider the 'dream of ESL.' Yay.

Ian and I spent the entire day together, and we haven't done that for a long time. It was one of those days where a list of activities would bore you, but which was invigorating and necessary for both of us. You know, adventures and activities make compelling stories that are fun to read, but not as much fun to experience. This day was the opposite: wonderful and restful to experience, but not at all compelling or interesting as a story.

One Quick Post on the Front End of This Week

...though I will be updating you on the Songs du Jour, of course.

Number of shifts this week: 6.
Number of papers to finish by Wednesday: 2.
Number of papers to make better (if time permits) by Wednesday: 1.
Number of Dev Psych classes left this semester: 0.
Number of tests left to study for: 0. (I'm going to opt out of the exam because I am awesome.)

Whew.

Coming, sooner or later: a post (or a series of posts) concluding for myself my time in Dev Psych, and a post about the Madrigal Dinner (our 4th in a row together! yay!) which rocked as always.

See ya...

Duh, thanks for the advice

Another enlightening quote from the textbook:

How do parents motivate children to achieve? Some use extrinsic (external) means -- giving money or treats for good grades or punishment for bad ones. Others encourage intrinsic (internal) motivation by praising ability and hard work. Intrinsic motivation seems more effective. In a study of 77 third and fourth graders, those who were interested in the work itself did better in school than those who mainly sought grades or parents' approval (Miserandino, 1996).

Papalia, Diane, Sally Wendkos Olds, and Ruth Duskin Feldman. A Child's World: Infancy Through Adolescence. 10th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2006.

Don't get me wrong! I'm enjoying this class and the learning that I'm accomplishing. I just can't help but share the inanity with you all.

Enlightening Reading from my Studies

I'm so glad this recommendation includes an exhaustive list.

Protective headgear also is vital for baseball and softball, football, roller skating, rollerblading, skateboarding, scooter riding, horseback riding, hockey, speed sledding, and tobogganing. For soccer, pretective goggles and mouthguards may help reduce head and facial injuries.

Papalia, Diane, Sally Wendkos Olds, and Ruth Duskin Feldman. A Child's World: Infancy Through Adolescence. 10th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2006.

Attic Cleaning

One of my assignments for this class is to write an autobiography, incorporating all the aspects of children and children's development we are learning in class. It is surprisingly hard for even a talker like me to conscientiously sort through my past and account for my memories and how I think they've formed me for how I am.

It's like sorting through an attic full of stuff (you know what kind of stuff can accumulate after 30 years!), examining every thing, deciding to throw some stuff away, but in the end re-sorting it all, dusting and sweeping everything, getting rid of cobwebs and moth-eaten stuff that's ruined, and refolding and re-packing what doesn't get thrown away.

Sheesh. No wonder it's hard.

Regarding Reaction Range

The studies are getting better. I have an exam on Friday, so I have been barreling through pages and pages of textbook. In fact, I have a funny quote:

In societies in which nutrition has dramatically improved, an entire generation has grown up to tower over the generation before.... Ultimately, height has genetic limits; we do not see people who are only a foot tall or who are 10 feet tall.

I guess it's funny in context. The book works so hard to be factual and specific and scientific. And here's a little bit of silliness in the midst of all the professionalism. Hah.

Scintillating Studies

This is what I have been reading lately. Let this quote also serve as a shout-out to Mr. Morton, my high school statistics teacher.

A correlational study is an attempt to find a correlation, or statistical relationship, between variables, phenomena that change or vary among people or can be varied for purposes of research. Correlations are expressed in terms of direction (positive or negative) and magnitude (degree). Two variables that are related positively increase or decrease together....Two variables have a negative, or inverse, correltion if, as one increases, the other decreases.

Here's another brain-suckingly boring quote ripped from context:

A research design is a plan for conducting a scientific investigation: what questions are to be answered, how participants are to be selected, how data are to be collected and interpreted, and how valid conclusions can be drawn. For of the basic designs used in developmental research are case studies, ethonographic studies, correlational studies, and experiments. Each design has advantages and drawbacks, and each is appropriate for certain kinds of research problems.

Registering

Registered my car for on-campus parking.

Went to the Tuck Shoppe, bought my book, and started driving down the mountain.

Saw Dr. H on her walk, so I looped around and chatted with her.

Found that the Class was not being offered through Covenant, so Dr. H called the Office of Records and had a registrar put me in Developmental Psychology. Then she called the Tuck Shoppe and asked about exchanging my textbook for the DevPsych text. It would be another $30.

I did not have another $30. So Dr. H loaned me cash so I could drive back to Covenant, return Textbook A, and buy Textbook B.

So there you go. MWF 7:45-8:50 Dr. R.