and... B R E A T H E

1 week of OT school down, 14* more until end of the semester...

which if I had thought about that after the first day, maybe I wouldn't have panicked as much. The first day is usually going over the syllabus, setting expectations in the class - but couple that with trying to understand the structure of the program itself, getting used to the school computer systems - well it can understandably be overwhelming. After going through the schedules for the year (which I am so grateful that all the professors have planned out for the duration of the semester) and listing all the projects / readings / assignments /etc., the schedule is more digestible. See? when I just say 14 weeks left, it's not so bad. Lesson to learn: if there's anything overwhelming to the point you don't even know where to start, break it down to more manageable chunks. This way, when you meet your mini-goals, you can at least see some progress. Works for many things: school planning, projects, laundry (though I'm not quite sure about the laundry, at least for us...)

So one of the objectives this semester is setting up the foundation of OT: its history, frameworks, etc. One thing I've noticed is there is a lot of mention of "Reflection". Reflect on this, Reflect on that. I am not that comfortable thinking that way. Well, I am - but had never been obligated to commit my thoughts down on paper. I think that may also be part of the reason why I never journaled very much; I have this need to perFECT my thoughts. Not that my thoughts are PERfect - from far it. It's more like I'll jot something down and it would be fine - for that day. But if I come back to it weeks or even years and I disagree with what I wrote down at that time, I want to delete it. I need to just let it go, at the very least witness my own ever evolving thought process - however scatter-brained it may be.

On the kid front, they have been coping. My daughter is very excited that she gets go to the after school program they have because her friend from last year (who is not in her class this year and she is sad about that) is also in the same program. In fact, last year she kept begging to join because it sounded so much fun. All I could think of was I am working nights from home so I can spend more time with the kids and she would rather hang out at school longer. shEEsh! Actually, I am glad she feels confident in herself to go off on her own. Even when she started preschool, she never had separation anxiety. At the time, it made me kind of sad that she would leave my side so easily. But the boys - OH THE BOYS! - they have a hard time letting go. They started preschool last year and it would almost always take me 20-30 mins to leave the classroom. I think it's harder with twins: with one, you can distract long enough to sneak away but with two, it's like they serve as each other's lookout. Oh, and they can each grab a leg. They'll be starting school next week so we'll see how that goes.

My daughter had come home one day this week with a dollar that her friend had given to her. I asked her what is was for. She said she helped her friend with her math - took me a while to figure out that my daughter got paid for doing her friend's homework. Is it wrong to feel a bit proud? I did tell her to give the dollar back, you know, cuz it's the right thing to do. At least wait until 2nd grade. :D

So other than working this weekend, I'll be reading the various chapters from the vast array of books. I can't wait to read that APA Publication Manual!! Just kidding of course - I mean, I do have to read that Manual but I am looking forward to the OT textbooks themselves. Not that I'm anti-proper use of parenthesis or anything. Maybe I should start blogging in APA style? nah - I like my liberal use of run-on sentences and dashes for no-apparent-reason.

Just for fun: check out the anatomical socks and t-shirts. ALMOST makes me want to take A&P again. Well, no it doesn't but it's still neat. [via boing boing]

*No, I didn't count the weeks. I am using a teacher's planner that just so happens to list the week by numbers so when I looked at my calendar, I knew it right away. It also lists how many days into the school year we've been in. Makes me wonder - are teachers also counting down the school year as much as the students? Probably so.