The abandoned blog

I was just reading some blogs and realized that it has almost been a month since I blogged on my own! K and A are off at school these past two weeks, and you would think I'd have more time now, but seems busier than ever. I guess the older two kind of occupy I and M when they are home. They are the brains for the elaborate imaginative games that go on around here. Like, "Robots and Dinosaurs from Outerspace" and "Movie Stars Turned Russian Caregivers." Which strangely enough, the only one ostracized from that game is the child who actually spent the first year of her life in a Russian orphanage. Go figure.
But after a year of teaching Kindergarten, I'm glad to be getting reacquainted with my OWN young impressionable minds. I've taught K off and on for six years. I have taken a solemn vow never to send a child off to Kindergarten in the state that many of my students were in. Not so much for their sake, but for the sake of that poor woman. Prior to the first day of K my children must be:
1) Able to put on their own coat--I know it sounds crazy, but honestly I had five kids last year who had never put on their own coat!
2) Self wipers--ie, they should not have to be told to get a tissue when snot is dripping down their chin. This rule also applies to other areas of personal hygiene, but I won't go in to that.
3) confident with the 26 letters of the alphabet and their sounds, plus ch, sh, and th and that old bossy letter r.
4)thoroughly trained in basic German shepherd (come, go, sit, stay, etc.)
5) Uses scissors and glue appropriately. I mean, really, if your child comes home without the "uses scissors and glue appropriately" box checked, you should just pull them out and try again next year. You are wasting their time. They will not be able to keep up, and secretly, oh so secretly, the teacher will loathe them. (I hope no schoolboard ever gets a link to my blog. May have a tough time getting hired).
I used to have "be able to tie shoes" on that list. But, God forgive me, A can still not tie her shoes. I've tried, but she has a bad case of CBT. She is quite handicapped with it. Don't know where she gets it. I make her wear sandals or slip ons most of the time.
That's a tall order for I, and we are getting a late start. I only have two more years to whip him into shape. M is getting an even later start on account of the aforementioned "lost" year. I have only three more years with her. SO, in addition to the regular cleaning, washing, cooking, I try to squeeze in some developmentally appropriate, intellectually challenging, gross and fine motor, vocabulary building, adult scafolded play. You see, Mr. or Mrs. Elementary School Administrator, I'm a good teacher!