Colin is 6 months old!  Big changes!  He can sit up, unassisted. That is to say, he still wobbles every once and a while but it's a controlled descent and he hasn't faceplanted in a while.  In tummy time, he can hold his whole torso up with his arms straight under him.  He's in no hurry to crawl or roll over during playtime, but never wakes up the same way in the crib.  (e.g. He's currently asleep on his tummy with his legs sticking out of the slats on the front of the crib though Robert put him face up and lengthwise.) He can take a nap easily , usually with a pacifier, without any fuss and often naps for an hour or more at a time.  He is getting vocal with sounds such as "di" "dja" "guh" "huh" and "eeEEEEEEeeee"  .  He thinks it is funny when we make those sounds to him, especially hard consonant sounds, and when we "woof" like a dog.  He likes sitting outside in the grass and looking at trees.  He likes grabbing glasses and jumping up and down in his jumperoo.  He can turn off the light switch when I hold him up to it. Colin spent his first hour in the church nursery this week.  It was the first time we'd left him with anyone and he did pretty well.  Minimal fussing.

I'm looking forward to getting back into teaching.  I've sent off all the paperwork for my AZ teacher certificate and I'm perfecting my resume.  I'm overly excited about the big summer visit to the office supply store and teacher store to stock up on notecards, my favorite gel pens, organizational supplies, and educational decorations.  I'm ready to "lay down the law" with a new set of kiddos and then spend a year showing them how discipline can beget fun and creativity.

But diving back in is a little stressful too.  It recently dawned on me that Arizona schools start back much earlier than Connecticut schools, with some districts' first day for students landing in the third week of July!  I need to get my applications and resumes out there asap, but I'm feeling a bit better about getting hired that I was for previous job searches.  My resume is chock full of experience.  I value myself much higher now and I won't be shy in getting what I want out of a job.  [RANT WARNING] Of course i will do duties above and beyond teaching music (lunch duty, chaperone dances, tutoring, detention duty) but I am NOT OK with teaching a non-music class with no syllabus to an overstuffed classroom of troubled preteens for a whole semester.  I am NOT OK giving up my prep period at the last second to act as substitute science teacher because the district doesn't want to pay for subs.  I'm sure every teacher feels like they are getting the short end of the stick at one point or another, but the weak unions and strong politics of AZ school districts often devalue teachers more than anywhere else I've seen.  It's been in the news around here a lot lately.  It's paradoxical really, it seems that the general public respects teachers and trusts them with their children, but then ties their hands and criticizes them for not being able to constantly improve performance with less resources.  I just want to do my best without living in constant fear that an impulsive dim-wit administrator will make my life hell. [ok, i'm done]
 
Anyway, though the districts in my area are going through some tough times, music is really great out here and parents are generally very involved.
Of course, the other big stress about going back to work is leaving Colin in daycare.  Some districts have discounted daycare for employees, but that doesn't really make me feel better about leaving my son with strangers for 9 or 10 hours a day.  Most of his waking hours will be spent with people who cannot possibly love him like we love him.  :(  They will treat all the kids the same, regardless of the decisions we make about how we want to parent our son.  I guess most moms go through this at some point.  Why can't we just be all places at once and do everything???  So, I'm prioritizing my life and trying to accept that some areas of my life where I've always done above and beyond might just have to be "okay".