My last "century" post was the 600th. It seems like quite a long while ago. We were not yet moved into our house and the fall semester hadn't started yet. I feel like an old woman compared to that naive young lady starting out on the tenure-track. What a lot has happened in 100 posts - five whole months.
So where are we right now?
School: Things are going well this semester, except the grading. Oh, the grading. It's killer with all those intro students. I have managed to scare at least one, if not two, people into dropping the class. Happily! Each person who drops means far less grading to do. It's not that I don't want students. It's just that I want a reasonable number. My colleague across the hall has four classes, just like me, but she has 32 students this semester, and I have over 60. I've lost count of how many, frankly. Thppt! The best part of the semester is that the prep is a piece of cake right now. I'm teaching The Hunger Games in the intro class, and then will get back to shorter pieces for a long stretch until we hit Shakespeare. I'll be teaching Merchant of Venice, which I quite enjoy teaching. If I have to teach a comedy, I usually teach a problem comedy. I'm just not a big fan of the comedies, to be honest. If it were up to me, I'd teach the histories full time. And The Hunger Games, of course.
Family: My sister is still being weird, unfriended me on FB, and I haven't talked to my other sister or mom for days. Our own little family, though, is doing all right. I talked to my therapist today about some strategies for handling eldest's discipline. He is just SO oppositional these days. It's hard to handle. She had some good suggestions. But she also wonders if he might not need some therapy himself - as far as getting his behavior in line. I'm not sure. It's worth a shot, I guess. I just worry about having him in constant therapies. He's in speech and OT at school, as well as a group "social therapy" kind of thing that is supposed to help him learn how to handle social situations better. I get ZERO information about these therapies at school, though, so I don't even know what's going on. To be honest, I feel very helpless when it comes to eldest. Thank god that Hubby and baby are easy and mainly happy.
Me in general: I was on top of the world today. The weather was perfect - about 55-60 degrees and sunny. In February!! I didn't need a jacket at all, and I practically skipped around campus. I have a ton of work to do, and I'm stressed out, but at least I feel like there's time to fit it all in. I just need to stay organized.
I'm starting to feel like things are working out for me. I almost feel like I belong where I am, which is not a feeling I'm used to at all. I had grave reservations about moving back home, but I feel like the things I was worried about aren't so bad - even my crazy sister and external family. If I can ignore it and focus on my own family and my own work, I'm good. I'm able to manage better than I thought I would. Finally, I'm feeling a little bit of peace.
Peace. Man, I've come a long way.
3 comments:
"oppositional" GOD YES I swear fMhson ends up in his room every single day after school because he is just defiant and the mornings are a nightmare.
My therapist told me about something called "oppositional defiant disorder," which is often co-diagnosed with kids with ADHD. Here's a link for more info if you're interested in checking it out: http://aacap.org/page.ww?name=Children+with+Oppositional+Defiant+Disorder§ion=Facts+for+Families
To me, this disorder sounds just like my kid, except that he's not mean spirited. He's usually nice with his peers instead of malicious and hateful. He just refuses to do what authority figures say, particularly me and hubby.
yes we looked at this one along the way, but like your kid, the ODD is pretty much only with us!
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