Headaches and Laughs

So I guess I never updated people with my employment status. I've been working part-time since December and it's... interesting. It's a nannying/tutoring gig but for the sake of my resume and my ego I like to just say I'm tutoring.

Let me start off by saying that this family is phenomenal and completely bonkers all at once. The parents (who shall be referred to as Mr. and Mrs. S) are both very kind and easy to talk to. They also realize that they are running a zoo and have a good sense of humor about it. There are two boys in 2nd and 5th grade who have their very own manny (male nanny, for those of you unfamiliar with the term) named Bill. And yes, they do require their own separate chaperone because they are quite the handful. Meanwhile, I am in charge of two girls who are in preschool (4 years old) and kindergarten (5). I'll call them SS and AS, respectively. The girls are biological sisters who were adopted from Kazakhstan nearly 3 years ago. And boy, do they have issues!

SS is cute as a button but VERY high maintenance, always demanding your full attention. I think she's a bit young to be diagnosed just yet, but I would say she has severe ADHD with emphasis on the H. I mean, this girl is constantly on the move and she has countless amounts of energy. She just doesn't stop for one second! She is also underweight (wears a size 2), doubtlessly because she burns more calories than she consumes. Her constant energy is also an issue for her educational development because she just can't sit still or pay attention long enough to retain information. Getting her to count from 1-10 is a struggle and she has yet to learn her colors. She also wears a weighted vest to "help keep her grounded." She doesn't have full control of her body movements and the vest helps keep her from spazzing out-- it gives her better balance and slows down her movements a bit. It's difficult to explain really, but it definitely makes a difference! She is also in the ESE program (exceptional student education... she "rides the short bus") at her preschool and works with an occupational therapist twice a week.

AS is an even bigger handful, believe it or not. As opposed to her sister, she is overweight (though not by much) and would rather play board games than run around outside, which can get very boring. She is extremely uncooperative and is prone to throwing ridiculous fits. They sometimes literally last for hours. When she is at school she gets stressed out or something and often has accidents so she wears pull-ups to school. That's right-- she's 5 years old and wears diapers. So the first thing we do when we get home from school is go upstairs so she can change clothes. And that's when the trouble starts. If she's in the mood for it (and she often is), AS will start screaming bloody murder about hating panties or how she can't dress herself. For fear of going deaf or developing a migraine, every day I tell her the same thing: "Here are your clothes. Please put them on and once you are changed and have calmed down, you may come downstairs with the rest of us. We'll be waiting for you." Then I go downstairs with the other kids and Bill, closing two doors in the process and we are still able to hear her clearly. I've timed her a few times and the best time (that is, the shortest amount of time it has taken her to stop screaming and change clothes) is 26 minutes. The LEAST amount of time she has spent screaming and crying at the top of her lungs is 26 minutes. The worst so far? 1 hour and 17 minutes. And according to her parents, that is nowhere near the record. I have no clue how a child can sit in a room by herself and scream for that amount of time. Yes, she is seeing a therapist. And yes, of course I sometimes go in there and try to soothe her but that only makes her scream harder so I've found it to be a fruitless effort. I swear I've started finding gray hairs ever since I took this job.

Besides her emotional problems and appointments with a therapist, AS also sees the occupational therapist and a speech therapist. She is also in ESE and additional speech therapy at her school. Alongside all of this, she is working below level on most of the subjects at school. This is where I come in. My primary job is to work with AS and bring her up to speed in reading and math. Every afternoon we'll do blending and decoding exercises for beginning readers. There is a list of 100 words kids should know by the end of Kindergarten. So far AS knows 17 of them and the school year is halfway over. Regardless of all of the above, I am very proud to report that I (and more importantly her parents and teacher) have noticed considerable progress! So yay me! Now if only her principal would take notice and offer me a job...

Aside from the above, this job can be quite enjoyable! The house is spacious and gorgeous in a quiet and affluent neighborhood in South Tampa, and one set of grandparents live at the end of the street right on the water. They (the grandparents) have an enormous yard so I often take the kids there to play football or frisbee and play in the sand. When it's playtime the job is awesome. The girls (alright, mostly just SS) can be a lot of fun and say ridiculously funny things. One of the boys (who has his own set of issues) often comes out to play with us and we'll throw the football around and talk about our favorite teams. He's just old enough that I can use sarcasm and tease him without feeling bad about it.

So that's my employment status. Not ideal but at least it's somewhat related to my field of expertise. And it's certainly better than nothing! I'm still continuing my search for a full-time teaching gig though... Keep your fingers crossed!

Homelessness

I wrote the following in a "life update" email to a friend and decided to share it on here. Sorry kids, I didn't spruce it up for you. I've simply copy/pasted bc I am incredibly lazy, as evidenced by my blogging neglect. Enjoy my misery:

Whilst watching television, a message scrolled along the bottom of the screen asking people to phone in to the Homeless Hotline or whatever in the county bc they were trying to count the amount of homeless people. Ignoring the fact that they advertised this on TV (seriously, if someone is without a home how can they still have a TV? Furthermore, how can they also be expected to make said phone call?), according to their classifications of someone who is "homeless" I should have been making a phone call. I QUALIFY AS HOMELESS IN HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA. How incredibly depressing.