Photography Challenge day 4

This is Eliana, possibly one of the cutest little girls ever. I love her curls and enormous smile, and you should hear her talk. It is so cute, it will make you melt.

Photography Challenge day 3

This is one of my favorite people in the world and her family. They asked me to take their photo for holiday cards and in 500 shots this was the only one where they were all smiling at the same time. Phew. Who knew this photography thing would be so difficult?

Photography Challenge

A blog that I enjoy reading has challenged its readers to post a new picture everyday in December and, in an effort to take even more pictures, I've accepted. In all fairness, I didn't read about the challenge until today (the 2nd) so I will have no picture on the 1st, but here is today's photo. This is my little girl swinging on her swing in 30 degree weather with no coat and a Hawaiian lei. Just because.

PEPS

When Ilya was born, Adam and I joined a PEPS group - a parent support group. Ilya was just a few weeks old when we attended our first meeting and we met fairly regularly for the first year.
After that, people started to move away and it got harder to find a time when we were all available. We have, however, managed to meet once a year for the past three years, and every time we meet, we take a picture of all the kidos. We had our annual reunion last weekend and here is what you missed:

This is Ilya's best friend, Eleanor. We did date night swaps with her family for years until they moved away last summer. Once Ilya saw Eleanore she never left her side, and Ilya, I'm afraid to say, was not the greatest influence. Observe my child encouraging her friend to climb around the OUTSIDE of the play structure.Eleanor had a new baby sister, Ingrid. Have I mentioned how much I love babies right now?

Meet Hazel. Hazel was the baby that took the longest to sleep through the night, and she is still taking it to extremes.
This next one is Maddy. Maddy is 10 days younger than Ilya, but she is 3 going on 13.And last, but not least, is Zach. The token boy who is so sweet and shy I just want to give him a big hug.I wish I had the digital images of these kids sitting on the couch. It would be so much fun to create a montage showing their development, but I don't, so here it is!

Photography

I have a really good excuse for not updating regularly this time! I have found my passion in life - something which excites me. Something I want to spend every free minute on: Photography. So, I've started a photography blog and I really hope you will all go look at it and leave me comments. I love comments. Every time I see I have a comment, my heart just lights up. Please light up my heart. I post pictures there regularly (about once a week), and to prove it, here is a sneak peek at what I am going to be posting on Monday or Tuesday.

The Torrential Threes

I never thought that I would say this, but what happened to my sweet little two year old and who replaced her with this bi-polar screeching child?

One moment we are sitting on the couch cuddling and the next she is screaming in my ear at the top of her lungs to get up and make her food NOW!!! When I ask her to use kind words, I am rewarded with a burst of fury and flailing limbs that would make the Tasmanian devil proud. This interaction usually leads to a time out with banging and massive destruction. When she calms down and the door is opened, she flings herself in my arms as if she hadn't seen me in months, cries for a minutes, and then calmly gets up to start playing with a toy she noticed in the middle of her floor. The entire interaction couldn't have taken more than five minutes, but I am completely exhausted by it. If this is what it is like to parent a teen with their violent mood swings, I honestly don't think that I'm going to make it.

First Day Of School

Today was Ilya's first day of school. Kinda. It was the official first day of school for the classroom, but new students were only supposed to go to an open house in the afternoon rather than start with the regular class in the morning. Whatever. It still counts. She got nervous. I got nervous. We brushed her hair (probably should do that more often), washed her face (ditto), and showed up right on time. I'm not going to spend time describing how wonderful I think her classroom is or how great the teachers seam to be. Rather, I'd like to talk about what it is like being a parent on the first day of school.

Having taught for so many years, I have had more first days than I can remember. I'd get nervous at every one of them. The same kind of nervous I'd get when I interview. I have this weird perception that parents were looking for reasons to dislike me and it was my job to prove to them how likable and competent I am. I still feel that way sometimes when I tutor. While its true that I walked into Ilya's classroom looking for the signs of bad teaching (TVs in the corner, hypodermic needles on the shelves), I was much more concerned about whether or not the teachers liked my child. I'm pleased to announced that they all passed the test (really, who wouldn't like Ilya?) and so did their teaching - no TVs or needles in sight.

I guess my point is that while it is a pain as a teacher to have a parent who is constantly looking over your shoulder, it is absolutely terrifying as a parent to leave your child in the hands of someone you've just met. I truly believe that teaching is a partnership and that parents and teachers MUST work together, not just so that the child can be successful, but so that trust can exist and both the parent and teacher can feel supported and safe.

Speaking of something that has absolutely nothing to do with what I've just been talking about - I am now a photographer. Truly. I've made money. Some. But I really love it. I'm making a website to showcase my work and I'll post the link for you once its ready.

Also, its 6:30 and my child has not woken up from her nap yet. This is probably a bad thing. Or, it could be a really good thing. Regardless, I'm going to let her sleep because I am just that (lazy) caring.