How things have changed

Hello!

Recently Scott and I formally "changed roles".
I am now working full time (well almost) and he is officially the house husband.

It is only fair for him to spend that extra time with Amelia while she is with us.
(unfortunately sounds harsh, but it is the truth).
It means a drop in pay by tens of thousands (literally) but one that needs to happen in our complicated and unusual life.

I have had tantrums about going back, internally (and possibly outwardly!) but now I am getting used to it.

Scott is getting used to the role of being at home.
Surprisingly, I am trying to teach him about "what is important and what isn't".
One evening last week he had severe chest pains.
The cause was stress.
He began saying comments like "doing half the job you did" and "stuffing up the kids lives".
He was putting so much pressure on himself to succeed at his new role, he was forgetting to enjoy it and "go with the flow".
He wants to do well and he already is.

The kids are loving the role reversal.
Amelia is extremely comfortable with it, especially after daddy had to stick up for her and "handle" a difficult situation concerning someone else's treatment of her this week.
It has made her feel safe and secure in his permanent care.

Tom is testing the boundaries (surprise, surprise) and Scott needs to learn the fast, firm "nip it in the bud, straight away" approach.
He will learn his own way of doing this.
Unfortunately at the moment it means lots of "butting heads" between Scott and Tom.

I am flattered that Scott asks my advise and uses me as a sounding board.

I am occasionally being called DAD now and I am getting used to it.

I made the bold move last week of letting the Kindergarten teaching agency know that I am available permanently now.
It meant leaving the full time position I had settled into at endota.
I was only helping out anyone who needed it from 9-5 and it was never going to be permanent.
I was really liking it, but for financial security, I needed to make the move.

To say I was petrified to go back to teaching is an understatement.
The first call to relieve was on the Sunday afternoon.
I had to work 12:45-3:45 the following day.
A nice, easy 3 hour shift to remind myself of the career I used to have so much passion for.

For some reason I thought it was child care and had to recover when I arrived that it was a government Kindergarten.
I asked too many questions and assessed the room too nervously but no child were injured or lost.
Success!!!!!

The day after consisted of a phone call at 6:20am.
Half asleep, I did not catch the address properly OR the time!
It was much easier to work though......but was much longer.
(Kindergarten teachers get NO morning tea or lunch break).

Wednesday I went to the Kinder of my dreams.
Perfecting planned and set up the way I used to dream of.
The staff here started to give me advice on getting a permanent position in this area.
It was a long day and I came home slightly excited about the information they gave me, but also nauseous from exhaustion.

My position for Thursday hit the jackpot.
I not only received a phone call the afternoon before, I also fit in perfectly.
The agency employee and I now get along extremely well!
The assistant was similar to me and suggested I needed to get a permanent position in the area.
I was honest about needing to "catch up" on all of the formal changes and she instantly began photocopying me document after document!
My excitement when I got home to research more information created a very late night for me.
This particular Kinder requested me back for the following day, which was a major compliment.
I was able to reduce the 45 minute travel time with a more appropriate route and not feel so much like "a fish out of water" !!!
It was also awesome to hear about the emails and phone calls, not only to my agency but also the particular management, about my style of teaching from this Kindergarten.

(NOTE: Permanent full time would be good in this area. It is full time hours and includes sick and holiday pay. Very European style environments for the children. The children's interests come first and your hours, admin and planning come last. It is all about the kids and no extra pressure or stress on you as the teacher. No committee to over rule you and undermine you).

Anyway......it ended up being a GREAT week!

Lets go back to Scott........

I decided to reactivate his Facebook account.....now he is a house husband and all!
Between him posting inappropriate faces of my apparent "pleasure face" and him getting inbox messages from MY friends, I would say all is going well!
He will not get off it, likes and comments frequently and even puts the occasional status and/or photo.
Just like an at home mum!

He has friends come for a "chat" (I assume this is the equivalent of someone coming for a cuppa!) and expects praise for the clean smelling house!
Dinner is on the table at a reasonable time, lunch boxes are organised and house is reasonably tidy.

Last night he talked about a visit to our local chemist/pharmacy.
He spoke of the employees by NICKNAME!
Today when I entered this particular pharmacy, the owner mentioned that "Scott is no longer able to enter here" while laughing.
"Why" I asked very interested in the answer.
" Because there is too much laughter and inappropriate behaviour from the staff members, including me!" was his answer !!!!!

Anyone else think that being the house husband is the best thing to ever happen to Scott   ????????

xxx