Joyful Noise Day Care -- 2016 Archives

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Back to the weblog at last!

Most of you who read this know that Ben passed away on September 14, just six short weeks after my last entry.   It was mercifully and cruelly quick for both of us and so packed with emotions, tasks and people that it has taken me this long to have a weekend free enough to get back to the website.   One more time, and probably not the last time, I'd like to thank everyone for the enormous support we recieved during his illness and that I continue to recieve afterward.   Love made visible is amazing and truly upholds us and helps us through the hardest times.

So now we find ourselves in winter, in a new year!   One of my favorite gurus, The Fly Lady says, " You are not behind!   I don't want you to try to catch up; I just want you to jump in where we are.   O.K.?"   So jumping in where we are, there's a huge pile of snow!   Everyone has been great about getting snow gear here more or less daily and it's a good thing too, because most of our little ones LOVE to go out in it.   The forecast looks like the snow is here to stay for awhile now and the temperatures will be low.   Know that when it gets below 15 degrees wind chill the outside time for anyone in diapers is limited to just a few minutes.   I can't tell when their feet get cold and few of them can move enough to keep warm enough in those temperatures.   Fear not, though.   They get plenty of exercise indoors on those days and we'll make up that outside time when the weather is kinder.

As my license is up for renewal on the 29th of this month, I'm expecting my surprise inspection from my LARA (Licensing and Regulatory Affairs) worker any day now.   If this comes during a time when you are dropping off or picking up your child, thank you in advance for your patience and cooperation.   Visits from agency workers are disruptive but necessary to maintain the quality of child care here; I am very distracted when the workers are here, but since child care is their business too they understand completely and are very kind and sympathetic.

Looking forward to the New Year I'm planning some maintenance around the house; replacing some VERY worn out furniture, getting some overdue painting done and ....drum roll... a new roof in the spring.   My building crew assures me that I won't have to shut down the daycare when the roof comes off and goes on so I'm taking them at their word.   It WILL be a major event in the life of this old house though and one that will provide a lot of interesting lessons.   But first, we have a lot of snow to shovel!

A nice busy week and a busy weekend!   The best news is that I had my surprise inspection for my license renewal on Friday, so we no longer have to wonder when that will happen.   My licensing worker paid me a very high compliment that day by making mine the last home visit of her career.   She is retiring in a couple of weeks and while she still has a couple more centers to visit and some paperwork to do, I was her last home.   She said that she purposely saved me for last so that she could go out with confidence that there are great places for kids and that day care homes are wonderful places for kids to be.   I felt truly honored.

Right now we're getting a LOT of snow outside.   My neighbor walked his snowblower across the street and voluntarily cleared my whole driveway and front walk a couple of hours ago.   I hope in the morning it still shows!   The street plows haven't been by yet and I have a feeling they're waiting for morning...so my driveway may be impassable once they get started; beware!   Monday's forecast is frigid temperatures but later this week we may get the little ones out as they rise back up to safe levels.   Remember, if you decide to stay home, call and let us know so we don't worry that you're in a ditch!

The public schools have some time off this week on Monday, Thursday and Friday, so we'll have some big kids here to liven it up and lend some helping hands.   If the roads are passable we may have some visitors from downstate too!   Yipee!

This last week was a busy one again, this time with extra older kids filling up the table and the days.   Licensing allows me to have related children age 7 and older and not count them as part of my caregiver to child ratio, which is why my older grandchildren are allowed to come when there's no school or, like this past week, come up and visit from down state.   Both in one week is a bonus for all.   The cousins get to visit with each other at Grandma's house and the younger children get the benefit of being around some older (hopefully positive) role models.   The older children provide more book readers, sled pullers, argument settlers and hand washers as well as more silliness, more laughter, more hugs and more rowdiness.   We all enjoy these unique times and now we enjoy getting back to our normal routines.

This is the time of year when parents start forgetting to bring essential outdoor wear.   How is this possible, you may ask, when the weather is below freezing?   Well, most of you know how easy it is to just bundle your little one up in your coat, put them in the warm car and then carry them into my house leaving boots, coat or snowpants behind.   As we all get acclimated to the cold it isn't as harsh as it sounds to have a little cold blast for a moment in order to avoid a tantrum or an inconvenience.   The problem arises when it's time for us to go outside, mid morning, and one or more little persons don't have all their parts and pieces.   I have some spares, but sometimes not enough.   So sometimes if I seem to have a lame excuse for not getting the gang outside on a day when all conditions seem perfect, know that it may be just because I didn't want to embarrass a parent (which one day might be YOU) by revealing that we all had to stay in because "little so and so didn't have their boots today."

There ARE some days in the middle of winter when I just make an executive decision to stay in because the flow of the children's play seems so perfect and productive that interrupting it for fifteen or twenty minutes of outdoor play in the cold just doesn't seem right.   This is never the case once springtime comes, but it's part of honoring the inward gesture of the coldest season and how the children embrace the creativity that happens in these smaller, enclosed spaces.   It can really be amazing to observe the imaginative scenarios they concoct and how their play and cooperation flows from room to room and moment to moment.   These are those days you hope for, where the group "percolates" with peaceful activity that is almost magic, and in the winter that's a wonderful skill to be learning.

Well, my blog writing time in the month of February just dissolved in a flurry of snow shoveling, visits to elders, tax preparation, poetry judging and an Odyessy of the Mind tournament!   The weekends on my calendar for March are pretty full as well so I'm here today, catching up.   The recipe for March is posted and the calendar page is up to date so I feel like maybe I'm starting to get back into my rhythm again.

The Licensing Study Report from my renewal visit is available online for you to read if any of you are interested in what one of these looks like.   I thought it was so kind of her to mention that the house smelled like fresh baked bread.

While this winter has been mild and the snow is disappearing, we still need our snowpants and boots here until the yard is back to mud again.   Especially in the warmer weather we must have coverings over our clothes so that in the slush we stay somewhat dry when we're outdoors.   With so many coughs, fevers, sniffles and ear infections I've been especially cautious about going out in the cold the last couple of weeks.   While I place a high value on outdoor play here at Joyful Noise, I am not a fanatic about going out every day.   Many child care settings have an "outdoors every day" policy but I feel that's too rigid for real life and that sometimes keeping the children warm is the healthiest thing I can do for them when I consider a larger picture.   Many factors weigh into my daily decision to go out in extreme weather: I consider the group as a whole, the weakest link in the chain and the flow of the day as well as the current temperature (not the predicted one,) the wind chill temperature, the recent health of each child as well as the current health of each child and if everyone has proper clothing.   This last week there were many reasons to stay in but I'm hoping this week we'll get out more.   While in the winter months the littlest ones actually get more large muscle play inside the house because the snow and ice make movement so hard for them, it's still good to get out into the larger world and see some of the lessons nature, our best teacher, has for us.

Some know and some don't that a mammogram found a tiny, pea-sized lump in my breast in February.   A biopsy has determined that (whew!) it's not cancer, but surgery is still recommended, so there will be a bit of vacation time scheduled in the near future to get this little (pea-sized) pest taken care of.   Thanks to all who have been concerned, supportive and flexible during these tests and apointments this last month, and for any future inconvience that this causes.

Looking ahead, I have some vacation time coming up this week, starting Thursday.   I have some fun things planned as well as some child care maintenance duties to take care of that can't be done when the children are around.   I'll also visit the surgeon for a consultation during this vacation so when we all come back I should have the surgery date as well as answers to questions some of you (and I) had about my diagnosis and procedure.   First and foremost, I hope to be rested and renewed so that the care provided here can continue be the most conscientious, loving care possible!   And after a little break from each other, the children are always so happy to see each other and get back to business again.

Happy March, everyone!   Spring is just around the corner, but lets's not rush Winter out the door.   Remember that soon we'll be complaining about the heat and how we have to mow the lawn AGAIN!   Savor this last little bit of hibernating time.

I can't even begin to figure out where March and April went, but they're gone.   Since I last wrote here I was advised by a surgeon to hold off on the surgery (yippee!) and I managed to replace five pieces of long worn out furniture with wonderful, comfortable, durable, practical, economical choices that we're all super-happy with (yippee again!)   There's finally no more snow to shovel, but there were leaves to rake, branches to bundle and a clothesline to put up.   We finally sent all the snowpants and boots home, but those winter jackets are still helpful as the temperatures in the morning are sometimes still in the 40's.   It is, after all, spring, not summer.

Many of you are asking when the new roof will go on and the answer is, I have no idea.   As soon as I have a date, you'll be the first to know!   As always, the workers are the boss and I'm just waiting to find out when I fit into their 2016 schedule.   I also am not sure about all of my summer vacation dates; some of that depends on the roofing schedule and some of it depends on other family members.   I hope to get it all settled by the end of June.

We've moved all the big furniture boxes outside and they're getting wet and flat, turning into stages instead of houses.   One by one they'll disappear into our dumpsters as we can fit them in, but they've been fun while they lasted.   The pansies are on the porch, the daffodils are blooming and we're ready for the second half of spring!

I know that you're tired of all my old excuses for not keeping current with this weblog, but unfortunately I don't have any new ones.   It's a crazy year, life is full and busy, the website is something I do in my spare time which for me is rare.   And yet, I love being able to communicate in this way with anyone who's out there caring, so when I can, like today, I pop in.

Those of you here in the trenches with me know what a crazy year it's been and I appreciate your patience and solidarity through it all.   (Those of you who don't have a clue, you can read back through the sparse entries here, then read between the lines and get up to speed.) Furniture has moved in and out, paint cans have gone up and down the stairs, company has come and gone (and is still coming through September,) the heat and humidity robbed us of our energy and the house has been in constant upheaval and disarray.   Because of the painting upstairs and preparation for the new roof (yes, yes, it WILL happen, I promise) everything that would usually be stored on the second floor has had to find a niche somewhere else while still keeping the main floor safe and kid proof.   So the naptime bedding is currently stored in the front entryway, my bed is stored in the garage, family heirlooms are hung on the wall of the children's play space.....you get the idea.   Somewhat organized chaos and a work in progress to be sure.

Through it all though, the children are bubbling along, healthy and beautiful as always.   Over the summer Aaron and Mason enriched our numbers, reading to the little ones, nurturing them like big brothers and introducing them to wonderful big-kids activities like a lemonade stand, paper airplanes and those little teeny legos.   Now they've gone back to school and we miss them terribly, along with Kailer who for two days a week now goes to Eastern pre-school.   This week though, Emerson Mead's cousin, Baby Evie, will come visit us and see if she wants to step in for those two days.   We're all hoping she says yes!

Also this week Annamay's Uncle George will be working upstairs making sure that some of our wiring is safe before the roof work gets done.   Last week we had tree trimmers making sure the wires outside of the house were clear and safe in preparation for the icy weather to come.   And with an eye to the changing seasons, I think it's time that all the swimsuits can go home now, while we may have a little bit of water play after a rain, I think it's safe to say we won't be getting out the sprinklers anymore this year.

I spent a lot of time today dusting off some neglected corners and links of the website; time spent that doesn't show much but still needs to be done.   I know there's a lot more to do so if you're poking around and find a dead link be sure to let me know.   Some of them are gone forever, but some have just been shifted and can easily be fixed.   In my spare time....