The Tooth Fairy

This week has been one long blur. I have attended numerous trainings that have begun to blend together in my mind. The district I work in offers a sort of new teacher academy that is three days of trainings, tours, and other miscellaneous things. Whenever possible, I've been stealing spare hours anywhere I can to get into my classroom to set it up. They are precious and few right now, so there's much to be done. I think I'm finally just about done with the physical aspect of it...just some finishing touches here and there. I was nearly in panic mode yesterday after discovering that I was gonna have to share the teacher edition textbooks with the other 6th grade teacher who is across the building. We were both quite frustrated by this and worried how we were going to handle everything. Her classroom stores all the books, so I've been carting them all to my class little by little. It is quite the endeavor, but good exercise I suppose.

Well, today I met my Mentor Teacher and she bestowed the missing books...much to my delight. That was such a huge relief. It's getting really close to the fist day of school and I am nowhere near ready at this point. I'm digging in my heels and plowing through the best I can though. It's hard to explain to other people just how much planning and effort goes into this whole process. I am a primary teacher at heart, so working 6th graders is not only a stretch for me, but it is like trying to navigate my way through a foreign country. I am trying hard not to stress too much, but it is definitely a challenge.

On another note, after work I went grocery shopping and ran into a good friend of mine (Rosie) and her daughter. We shopped together and did a little catching up. By the time I got home, it was already 7pm and I was exhausted. However, I was greeted by my son's toothy grin, or rather toothless grin. As it turns out, he lost his tooth while eating his sandwich for dinner that daddy had made him. It fell into his bread and he almost ate it. What's ironic is that we hadn't even known this particular tooth was loose. He had been wiggling the one right next to it for months and it is still attached. This one hadn't felt the least bit loose, so go figure. I double-checked his other teeth for good measure and discovered that one of his top teeth in the front is also wiggly. He is approaching seven years old, so it's that time. N kept sticking his tongue in the new gap between his teeth...very cute. We put his tooth inside an envelope (only thing I could find) and he wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy. I'm sure his tooth heartfelt message will earn him a very special surprise under his pillow.

I am struggling to let go of my little baby boy and now he's starting to lose even his baby teeth at long last. This summer he learned to cross the monkey bars all the way, balance on his Razor for the first time (and zips around on it), learned some basic swimming strokes, and is finally gathering the courage to remove the training wheels off of his bike. His reading has really soared these past months to the point where we are excited for his upcoming year in first grade. My little man isn't so little anymore, eh?