Parlez-vous français?

I survived my first week ... day ... hour? ... of teaching French to that adorable age we call "elementary."

This past May when I was sitting pool-side in Florida, I got a text from a friend of mine saying that the place she's working for -- providing after school Spanish class to kids -- is looking for a French teacher. Since they're a Spanish-only group, they would need a teacher who's fluent in French and can adapt the Spanish curriculum. I agreed to the job and 4 months later had my first class. Not before having a panic attack in the car in the school parking lot beforehand though.

Seriously, I had never taught before and the idea of 8 kids staring at me gave me an attack of the jitters. I lesson-planned all week, and even gave a practice class to my family. They all told me, "Talk slow!" That was the worst advice ever. I went to watch another teacher in action and saw that the class was face-paced, fun, active, and not slow. I quickly changed my game plan.

I feel like I did good my first week considering it was my first week. I had some fun games, but my class is 7-10 year old and the 10-year olds are ... well 10. So I think no matter what I did would bore the older kids, while the younger ones had a good time (again... I think). No complaints so far.

Getting ready to teach Class #2 of 19 on Wednesday. (Yes, it's a countdown!)

14 months

Wesley is officially a toddler, and I'm amazed at the little person he's becoming everyday! Two of my good friends had babies in July, and seeing the newborns again just reminded me that Wesley is really a big boy now.

Walking
He officially started walking Monday, Sept 12th -- at 13-1/2 months. Before that he was cruising, standing on his own, and take a few steps here and there - but mainly he just wanted to hold your hand.

Books
Wesley has an infatuation with books. He brings you books to read, and we have a stack of them in our bedroom to read at night. He loves turning the pages, and he definitely has his favorites.

This book infatuation all happened around the 1-year mark when I took a book out from the library called Hard at Work by Ant Parker. He would pick up this book and hand it to you, and we had to read it to him again and again. As he got more coordinated, he would pick it up and crawl to you with it in his hand. He loved just sitting in our lap while we read it to him (and this expanded to the other books on his shelf). I've been reading to him since he was born, so this could be the reason he's so enamored with books. We take lots of trips to the library, and we have books all over the house -- and I have a lot of late fines.

Talking
Wesley is just a big blabbermouth (like his mom). All he does his blab. We can't understand anything but it sounds a lot like words -- just not English. He says Mama and Dada, and Tat for the cats. And he repeats sounds, for instance Matt was going "Beeeep - beep beep" (Long, short short), and Wesley repeated making a sound that was Long, short-short. And a month ago, he was by the stove and I said, "HOT!" and he repeated "HOT" -- now he's actually getting the gist of it because he says it by the stove, by my cup of coffee, and to his food when it's hot.

He also understands a lot too. If you ask him where his ball is, he'll point to it. If you ask him where his socks are, he'll stare at his feet. It's too cute.

Playing with the cats

 Wesley has finally figured out that you can play with the cats. He knows which toys are theirs and he'll purposely get them, bring them to the cats, and he'll try and play with them. Usually it's his toys on a string, which is easy for Wesley to manipulate.  He likes to shake the feather and Guinness paws at it, which makes Wesley scream happy. And then of course he likes to lay on Guinness - who actually lets him. Mini? Well, she'll have nothing to do with Wesley.

Labor Day

A year ago, Labor Day was our big "coming out" party. It was the first time we took a 6 week old Wesley to the Arboretum, then to lake Geneva, and to the Walworth County Fair -- all in his little bassinet asleep.

This year, Labor Day was so different.

2010

2011

2011

2011: would you trust this make-shift swing?

New FLOR

Once we removed all the carpeting in the family room and put in hardwood (really engineered wood), we realized that we needed some ... well ... carpet.

In my quest to find duplicate carpets -- for both the TV area and the play area -- something durable, easy to clean, and different sizes, I found FLOR. I picked these cool multicolored squares that attach together, it says it's for heavy use, and to clean I remove a square and spot clean it. So far so good and we really like the way it looks.   What do you think?

We have a walker!

A year ago, he looked like this ...

And now he's like this! A walker!

Wesley's walking timetable
He's been cruising around since he started crawling at 10 months (he cruised and crawled all at the same time). Many people made a bet that he wouldn't crawl long and go straight to walking. But no, he was enjoying being on all fours and cruising the furniture. Around 1-year, he did start to stand on his own but no real steps. Finally, on August 26th, we were visiting a good friend who had just had a baby and at her house he started taking a few steps -- he even took 7 in a row (but that was when I ran out for lunch so I have my friends word he did it). After that, he'd take a few steps here and there. Then on  Monday Sept 12th, he took a lot of steps and then he just didn't stop.  He's officially walking!

Then and now ...

When I look at these photos I crack up ...

Here I am pregnant at Einstein Bagels June 2010 ... I may be 8 months pregnant and as big as a house, but damn if I'm going out looking like a slob.

 Fast forward March 2011 ... Baby is about 8 months old ... Once again at Einstein bagels (holding up my coffee cup again as if I'm toasting the photographer) and ... did I even brush my hair or look in the mirror before leaving the house? What is that birds nest of crazy hair? Ha!!!!

Co-Sleeping

Most of you know that we co-sleep with Wesley  -- this means that he sleeps in bed with us.

We've been co-sleeping since he was 4 months old.  Before that, he was in a cradle in our room (0-8 weeks) and then in his crib (8 weeks - 4 months).  We brought him into our bed temporarily because he had a cold. I liked the idea of co-sleeping but didn't think it was for us -- I needed my space and Matt moves a lot in his sleep. However, once we brought him into our bed at night, we didn't want to sleep without him. We tried -- once at 6 months and again at 8 months-- we put him back in his crib where he slept fine but ... we brought him back to our bed. We never thought we'd enjoy co-sleeping so much; when I first heard about it from a friend, I thought it was weird. I thought,  I  could never have my kids sleep with us. That's what happens when you say 'never.'

This is what co-sleeping looks like. (Ignore Wesley's pink diaper).

 Our only concern now is that when I get pregnant again, I'll need more space (my body pillow doesn't even allow Matt room in bed). So we've been toying around with some ideas for transitioning ...

1) I could go sleep in the spare room -- my and my pillow. That doesn't sound half bad really. As I progressed in my last pregnancy, I really wanted my own space.

2) Put the crib mattress in our room on the floor -- and then move it into his room. Lately it's been hard to get him to even take a nap in his crib -- the movement of dropping him into the crib wakes him. We've been napping him on the couch cushion on the floor in the family room. Sounds crazy but when I told the doctor, he thought it was normal and fine and to do what works. He's the one who suggested putting his crib mattress on the floor.

I figure around 15 months, we'll start the transition, although I'll miss him. (There's no way to describe the sweetness of having him roll over and put his arm around you and his face close to yours).