Baylee is Mobile

Baylee isn't walking yet, but she sure can get where she wants to get, using her own little brand of crawl. A couple of weeks ago, she started with what I call her "baby crab crawl", that is a little sideways shuffle. About a week later, she was using the "right knee, left" foot method, which is quite a speedy little mode of transport. One morning, when she woke up at 5:00 AM, I made her a bottle, laid her on the floor on a blanket, and went into the kitchen to make coffee. Moments later, I turned around, and nearly tripped over a grinning little girl, who seemed to be saying, "See, Grandma, here I am, ready to be with you."

Andrew's Cars

The other night, Andrew stayed home with grandpa, while his mom, sister and I went to do some shopping. He amused himself by playing with his cars. He took each one out of the bucket, and using a system known only to himself, carefully placed them on the TV tray.

School Kids

I like my class this year. I know I say that every year, but I really do, even the ones who may turn out to be difficult.

There are 18 of them, originally my list contained 19, but one moved away before school even started, and nobody new moved in. Well, that's not true. There was a new one, but he got put into one of the other rooms, and one of that teacher's students got moved into a different room. This means of course, that I get anybody new who moves into the district during the year, but I love having 18 students.

Another neat thing is that there are 11 girls and 7 boys, for the first time in a number of years, the ratio is reversed. While girls are chattier (and cattier), boys are louder and more active, so things are a little calmer. That is a nice switch.

Anyway, we are starting to settle in. Fourth grade is a big transition. We don't do much hand-holding or coddling, and the students expect us to. We are very big on routines and responsibility, and that is hard for them to get used to, especially after a summer of doing almost nothing academic. Each day gets a little easier, though, and before we know it, time will have marched on.