The Calm One

It came out at work this week that I have six children. That revelation was quite astounding and impressive to my co-workers in the Special Ed. Department, the most any of them have is three. One of them commented, “No wonder you’re so calm, you’ve seen it all!” Perhaps that is why they appreciate me so much; calmness helps to diffuse The Angry one, compensate for The Lazy one, and tolerate The Know-it-All. It even helps secure The Quiet One and gives The Happy One an ally. Perhaps having six children also explains the wells of patience and compassion I have found within myself to adapt to the needs and limitations of the sped children. And so, thank-you, my own sweet children, for all the growing pains and learning curves we’ve been through together that have helped me become The Calm One.

tel-tale sign

The holidays are now behind us and everything is put away for another year. We spent yesterday organizing and packing away decorations from outside lights to 30-year old ornaments, poinsettias to Christmas music. Hannah cleaned her Christmas greeting off the picture window with the help of her brothers’ snowball barrage (to dissolve the paint). While I had the help of my children to move furniture, I also cleaned the living room from chandeliers to baseboards, bookshelves to piano bench, organizing and cleaning. It is a good way to start the year. I noticed last night a tell-tale sign of Christmas we had forgotten: the “blood” Hannah painted on our door Christmas Eve so that the “destroying angel” would pass by us and not “sleigh” us…

Happy Old Year

2010 will always be remembered as
The year that…

• Nate’s first book (The Missionary Journals of Joseph F. Smith) was accepted for publication by the Smith-Pettit foundation.
• Eli earned his masters’ degree in psychology and moved his family to Cañon City to take a job at the prison.
• Jesse moved back home and began his graduate studies at Denver University, studying to become a school psychologist.
• Aaron graduated from BYU with a degree in Communication Disorders and moved back home until graduate school.
• Hannah got her wisdom teeth out, and made her debut on you-tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4LZtgkO6QU
• Isaac got his braces off, got his drivers’ license, and had nose surgery (to correct a life-long breathing problem).
• Dallin went from kindergarten to third grade.

As well as the year that…
• I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and type II diabetes (which isn’t all bad, I’ve lost 12 pounds already on the diabetic diet).
• Nate and Eli didn’t get accepted into doctorate programs; they’ve both reapplied for 2011.
• Jesse got two traffic tickets, one for a missing front license plate and one for not completely stopping before turning right on a red light…
• Hannah was dumped by her first boyfriend.
• Hannah perfected the skill of putting tire chains on her car (due to a rather treacherous trip home for thanksgiving).
• Aaron had knee trouble from jogging and Hannah sprained her ankle.
• Missy the cat perfected the art of catching mice unharmed and freeing them in the house…
• Jesse perfected the art of re-catching mice unharmed and freeing them in a field down the street.
• The kids met their dad’s new wife.

This year has been marked with an abundance of God’s tender mercies, much love, joy and laughter. I am happier than I ever have been; blessed to have fulfilling work, my amazing children around me, the support of extended family and faithful friends, and a bright hope for the coming year.

Marco

I loved Marco the instant I met him, a month ago. He is one of my special ed students, a kindergartener in a fourth-grade body. What’s not to love: his angelic smile, his eagerness to please, his willingness to work hard. I look forward to my one-on-one time with him, the highlights of my day, really. I have an hour with him first thing in the morning for math, teaching him his numbers to 100 and one-digit addition and subtraction. Then later in the morning I have 45 minutes for reading, helping him learn sight words and write sentences. I can tell he loves me, too, for his face lights up when he sees me and he takes my hand as we walk together through the hall. Yesterday he looked at me and said, “Who are you?” I was surprised, had I never introduced myself? Perhaps he had forgotten. I told him my name and he smiled, glad to know. He took my hand and held it tight, then gazing right into my eyes, he smiled and said, “I love Miss Ricks.” “I love you, too, Marco!” He hugged me tight. And that makes it all worthwhile!

Veterans' Day

We celebrated Veterans' Day this week and I was impressed with the nice job the elementary school did in teaching the children about it; even the gym teacher gave a lesson about it and showed the children the dog tags he wears from his brother and father. At the daily morning assembly on Monday, the principal asked "What is a veteran?". One child raised his hand and said, "A morning person?"

And so, to all you veterans:

Thank you for getting up so early and working so hard to keep our country safe and free these many years.

Mr. Saturn

Special request for Jacob in Washington

goals

One of the students I work with is the most frustrating child I’ve ever had to deal with. He is in fifth grade and is EXTREMELY lazy. For 45 minutes a day I help him with his reading and writing, which is like pulling teeth, for he really couldn’t care less. For his latest writing assignment I tried to help him correct the spelling of a few words, “number”, “still”, “write”, but he insisted he didn’t have to spell correctly (nubr, sil, and rieat would be just fine). I tried my little “reading is important” speech that I use quite often, which begins with my asking the child what he wants to be when he grows up (from there I basically go into how you can’t be a such-and-such if you can’t read). But this boy responded, “My mom said I can’t get a job when I grow up because then the government won’t give us the money we get now.” Good Grief!

I mentioned the conversation to another aide and she had a story that topped mine. The second-grade teacher asked the children what they’d like to be when they grow up. One little boy said, “I want to be one of those bank guys.” The teacher said, “You mean a teller?” “No, one of those guys that has a gun.” “Oh, you mean the guard.” “No, not a guard, I wanna be the guy that wears a mask.” The teacher ventured to ask, “Do you mean a robber?” “Yea, yea, that’s it. I wanna be a bank robber.”

That night at supper I told my boys about it. Jesse said, “Well, at least he has goals.” Yea, and if you’re in prison, the government takes care of you…