Leave, Conference, Playroom

So far... So good...

My leave is progressing well so far.  I've gotten a few things done.  More importantly, the kids seem to be acting better.  Jayson and Maya were having quite a lot of arguments throughout each day and those have actually seemed to dissipate somewhat.  They were really trying to make each others' lives difficult, just picking on each other and  always disagreeing with what the other had to say.  Lucky me; I was given the opportunity on quite a few occasions over the past couple of weeks to practice my disciplinary skills. Since this was not something that I did very often while Lisa was alive, I've had very little practice, but I think Lisa schooled me well on this "raising kids" thing and I might actually have it somewhat figured out!  Wishful thinking...

My sister and I went to a parent/teacher conference for Jayson last Thursday and we heard from one teacher that Jayson had shown a new side of himself this past week.  She said that he was waving at her in the hallways, saying "hi" and smiling a lot more often than he has in a while.  She said she only had just begun to see this manifest itself in the past week.  She didn't have any idea up until that time that I had begun my leave earlier that same week.  I'm pretty sure this is another positive result of my decision to take time away from work.

I've gotten a ton of help over the past three weeks in putting together an area in the basement for the kids to play.  My sisters and parents have done a bunch to clean and organize everything in the basement, sort the toys upstairs into bins to bring downstairs, put up new shelves to store the bins on, and lay carpet on the floor so that they can play without it feeling cold.  We're not done yet!  We've completed the girls' room, but Jayson's is yet to be started.  All three kids really seem to love it!  Lisa and I did this years ago, but it got away from us pretty soon after.  This time I'm determined to keep on each of them and especially their friends to keep it clean!  It will really be nice to have all of the toys out of the kid's rooms and downstairs so that the rooms stay straightened!  I recommend to everyone that they get all of the toys out of the bedrooms and into a single, unseen location in the house, it has made a big difference here already!

Until next time, take care of yourself and each other...

J