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In other news…

A Reading Endorsement is a rider a teacher in Florida can earn and add to their certifications. It is required for all reading teachers and now that most schools have the pick of the best during the job shortage, anyone who teaches English really needs to have it.

I decided to go ahead and begin working on mine this spring. It has 5 competency areas and a practicum, and is at least 300 credit hours of work. I recently signed up for one of the competencies in an online cours4e,.

In the meantime, a friend of mine who already has her Reading Endorsement asked me if any of the coursework I did at St. Pete College when I was doing my teacher certification could be applied to the endorsement. I heard back today that I do not have to take competencies 3, 4, and 5 – just 1 and 2, as well as the practicum. I can get all of the coursework out of the way early this summer and all I will have to do this fall is the practicum.

That’s some great news to offset my anxiety about yesterday’s exam results.

Holy cow. I have been reviewing study materials this week for an additional subject area exam I took this afternoon. It is in my area of passion. I have more than one college degree associated with the subject. I have taken class after class on how to teach it. I am in the subject classes daily at the high school. I’m well-read and associate with others who are well-read in the subject.

Even so, I came out of the exam feeling like a simpleton. Since there was an essay involved, I did not get my score immediately and have to wait about three weeks for the results. If I did not pass, I cannot re-take the exam for at least 31 days, not to mention that it was pricey to take it in the first place.

*sigh*

I know the high school is going to be thinking about new hires soon. I need to get my little resume packet together and was hoping I could say with all honesty that all of my desired certifications were up and running.

Cross your fingers for me, or better yet say a pray. Of course, that prayer is not for me to do well on the test, since what is done is done. Those prayers would be for my wrecked nerves!

It’s been a rough couple of weeks. My daughter was sick for abut a week and then she faithfully passed her illness along to me. Of course, said illness mutated when it hit my system and was worse even than when my daughter had it. A stiff round of antibiotics for both of us seems to be clearing it up enough to go on with life. However, I worked myself through the illness all week and finally had to admit defeat yesterday at about 10:30 am. Gratefully, where I work that means half my day is already over, so I only had to take half a day’s sick leave. Being a mom means saving sick days to be home when my daughter is sick. I have to strike a balance.

I’ve been seeing messages for the last couple of days on Facebook from several of my friends about the death of someone I knew long ago. Back when I lived in Maryland, there was a family at my church who I spent a lot of time with. I babysat for the younger three of their four children often, helped them out around the house, and in return had a comfortable place to call home when I was weary of apartment living. Their youngest passed away this week at age 17.

I ache when I think about losing my own daughter. She is my heart. I do not think having four children takes even an ounce of the pain way for this family. One child, four children – losing your child is probably the hardest thing anyone has to go through. I know my divorce was emotionally the hardest thing I have encountered so far, but if something were to happen to my daughter it would be far worse.

Motherhood is indeed the most amazing thing to have ever happened to me. It bring out of me the best, and the worst. I am taught new lessons daily – by my daughter and by the world around me. I am forever learning, and rewarded over and over with boundless love. I did nothing to deserve my daughter’s love, except give birth to her. It’s so simple that it makes me cry some days.

An appropriate start to an ominous day. I woke up at 4 a.m. to the sound of my daughter’s voice. She told me she was too hot to sleep and her skin hut. In my half asleep twilight state of mind, I simply turned on her ceiling fan and told her to go back to sleep. When we woke up at 5:30, she was hot to the touch. I took her temperature and found she was 102.4ºF.

I found some flu medicine and fever reducer and talked my mother into staying home with her so that I could still go to work. While the fever reducers kept her temperature down, it shot back up every time the meds were ready to wear off. By the time I got home from work, I could tell I needed to get Gigi in with our pediatrician. It’s never good to start out sick on Friday and have to risk the walk in clinic over the weekend.

When we reached the peds office, my daughter’s temperature was up to 104.4 ºF. The first order of business was to get the temperature down. Once we accomplished that, we were able to rule out a lot of things and settle on either the flu or a sinus infection. I walked out with a lot of good advice and a prescription for a heavy antibiotic.

Also, even though we always use a saline mist before blowing our noses in the morning, the doctor talked to us about full our sinus irrigating. It’s a good idea, really, and I have considered it a lot in the past. We take on a lot of illness that we would not have had to if we could all just maintain a healthy sinus cavity.

Wish us well. On top of the fact that my daughter and I are already pretty physically taxed from fighting off the severe pollen level sin Florida right now; the flu is making rounds in our area. I have a sneaking suspicion that the rest of the family will be sick by Monday.

My daughter has been after me for a long time to sign her up for dance. A LONG time. A couple of years ago I tried a combo tap-ballet-tumbling class, but she cried through most it and I stopped taking her after a few weeks. I signed her up last summer for a little princess ballet camp, but I was more than unimpressed with the teachers at that dance school – even though a lot of people say it is one of the best in the area.

Besides, it seems like every little girl takes ballet. It almost seems trite.

I started looking around for something unique for my daughter. Most of the studios around her offer ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, and all of the other mainstream styles. I was bored just listening to the pitches. One city over in Dunedin, there is a strong Scottish tradition and a lot of places teacher Highland dancing. It seemed to me to be more suited for my daughter. However, when I showed her videos of people performing in the style, she was uninterested.

This week, though, a friend at school mentioned that her daughter takes Irish dance here in the area. I did a little research and found some great video clips online of the kids in that particular program competing. My daughter was enraptured. There was just enough precision, athleticism, and vigor to catch her fancy.

And so, I’m not pursuing Irish dance lesson for my daughter. For the first time, she and I both agree on an extracurricular.

Heading into March is such a conflicted time for me here in Florida. This is when our spring allergy season begins and I know that the next month or so is going to be rough on me, and my daughter. We both feel sick for weeks, though it’s not a contagious sort of sick. Sneezing, cough, wheezing, itching, red eyes, and pretty much every other typical seasonal allergy symptom – these are all my fulltime companions for at least the next month. Pretty soon I will need to stop wearing my contact lenses on a daily basis and resort to my glasses. And while my glasses are decidedly cute, I lose all depth perception while wearing them – and that alone is enough to make me ponder laser surgery year after year.

On the other hand, forever green and flowery Florida becomes even more green and flowery beginning in late February and early March. Trees all over the place have pink and blue and purple blossoms. The oak trees and the maples are putting out astounding amounts of pollen, and new baby leaves. It is, in a word, breath-taking. The overall beauty of Florida increases a hundred-fold in the spring.

As I said, I’m conflicted. I’m miserable, and in awe. I’m achy and tired and bleary-eyes, but my mood is elevated by all of the color and light and fresh outdoor smells. And, I keep reminding myself that before I moved to Florida I suffered through two allergy seasons a year – spring and fall. I was born and raised in the Washington, DC suburbs. Four seasons are nice, but with those additional seasons come additional allergy seasons. I miss autumn, but being able to breath effortlessly throughout the autumn is a more than fair tradeoff.