As far as the New Year goes, I know we always come up with "New Year's Resolutions." I have thought about it, and I can't decide what the one thing is that I really WANT to change. So, rather than coming up with an empty resolution, I'll wait a while to see if anything just comes to me. At school/work, though, we are accountability buddies for patience and kindness. That's our motto in my class. When the going gets tough, and we even had our moments today, we simply repeat...."Patience and Kindness." Of course we have patience and kindness on a daily basis, but there are moments that it just seems like nothing else could possibly go wrong.
*****As a background, in case some of you don't know, I work in a class of students with autism spectrum disorder that are in kindergarten and first grade. All of my students are mostly, if not all, self-contained, meaning that they are academically and developmentally unable to function appropriately with their same-age peers in the general classroom. We work on academics, behavior, motor skills, and self-help skills. Last year we potty trained three students; this year we have potty-trained two, and we are working with two more. I know it may not seem like a big deal, but if you've ever potty-trained a child, you know that it is hard work, and there are many messes before there are successes. Also, as with most children with autism, the language delay causes frustration for the students that often morphs into screaming and yelling, sometimes hitting, kicking, and even biting. Overall, there are a lot of difficulties in my classroom...BUT, when there are successes, there are BIG successes. Hearing a child's first meaningful words and requests, realizing that the potty-training has finally paid off, watching a child complete a task for the first time that you seem to have worked on forever...all of these things help to make the difficult moments worth the hard work.*****
That being said, we are patient and kind everyday, but sometimes it takes a true effort to remain patient and kind. So, you can see why we've chosen that to be our motto in my classroom for 2012.
"Patience and Kindness"
Speaking of school and colleagues,, I got a little crafty for Christmas. Rather than paying for everyone a gift, I decided to make everyone a gift. Time, effort, and love went into each gift, and I think they turned out pretty good. Take a look...
Having gone off on a tangent it seems, I'll get back to the Bowling Bliss side of things. Bentley had a pretty uneventful New Year celebration, but he did help me un-decorate our home. :) He was so good while I took down the tree and all the other decoration. He took a nap part of the time, and the rest of the time he seemed a little concerned and interested in what I was doing. Here's a few pictures of my little fella...moving and grooving!!
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| Hey, Mommy! These ornament boxes are way cool! |
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| Beautiful baby blues |
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| Going... |
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| Going... |
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| Still going... |
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| Nearly there... |
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| Ahhhh...that was hard work! |
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| This is face that screams...SUCCESS! |
This is a quick pic of Bentley on New Year's! He was counting down at about 7:00!
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| Happy New Year! |
Finally...there are many updates from the eighth month of Bentley's life, but we are less that one week away from him being nine months old, so I'll save those updates for then. I know you must be on the edge of your seat with anticipation. :) (ha ha ha)
I'll give you a hint as to what Bentley's latest milestone is.....
G.I. JOE
:)
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