heartland hall and other updates

rick is gone now. he went back to school. we're all a little bit down. even nate medders. last night medders told me, out of the blue-not talking about rick or anything rick-related- that ideally he'd like to see rick start dating me. nate said rick was really dorky (which he is, but not in a bad way) but that the same time totally cool (which i guess he is, i'll admit it) and that he'd like to see rick around more often. i think nate's funny. i told nate how discouraged i was about my man-situ, and he said "don't you worry, susan. we'll get you a man. we'll find you a good one." nate's such a good guy.

i was telling joe v. how i want to be nate's secretary someday, and out of the blue i thought of a really good reason to tell him why. i told him it's because the secretary is the one the wife is always a little bit nervous about. joe thought that was excellent.

jon schaller -- holy crap. i got the first voicemail at like 4:15 today after i got off work at HH, and i was like "oh MAN. jon's DEAD. DEAD. i'll never see him again. oh MAN. well, i guess that means i get to take as long as i want with Ulysses." and then i thought about calling you to see if you really did die but i thought to myself "no, dont. we both know (both? there's two of me in here?) that he won't be able to talk coz of the gauze and blood and pain and grogginess and junk." then when i left PH at 9:35 i got the second voicemail and you were like, perfectly fine. i almost thought they changed their minds and let you keep your wisdom teeth (ha, everyone else reading this probably had no idea what was going on til then). you loser.

speaking of wisdom teeth, since i'm not covered my PH for dental insurance, i asked my dad if for my birthdayslashchristmas present he wanted to pay for wisdom teeth removal. i think he's biting the bait.

how sad is that. "susan, what did you get for christmas this year?" "my wisdom teeth removed." ".........oh. no really? what did you get?" "shut up. i just told you. i was serious." "..........right."

i've completed my first week at heartland hall....a week which was actually only three days, because i'm only working wednesday, thursday, and friday each week from 8 am - 4 pm there.

my first day i was put in Eaton (yes, every classroom is named after a prestigious university), which is one of the infant rooms. i got to help Luann and Gaile (both were older women) with the five babies in their room -- Paige, Jacklyn, Gavin, Neil, and Sydney. eventually they closed one of the other rooms and Reed joined us. Sydney was a very stubborn little kid and made lots of noise with everything she did. aaron baker would call her "willful." i spent the most time with Paige, who was itty bitty, blonde, blue-eyed, and so freaking cute.

thursday i was sent to Princeton (2-year-olds) and helped Miss Brie with Grant, Jacob, Jace, Jackson, Sanjana, Jacklyn, Colton, and one other child whom i cannot for the life of me remember. Sanjana was funny to watch...a little indian girl who ran around with her arms above her head and apologised every time she fell down - "I'm sorry. I fell down." Grant, Jacob, and Colton were an 'onrey bunch. Jace was an accident-prone little redhead who had to get an ice pack for his head twice (he kept running into things) which he generally ended up chewing on in order to relieve the pain in his gums. i think my favorites in here were Sanjana and Colton.

friday (today) i was sent to Dartmouth (toddlers - 1-year-olds) to work with Amber. In here were Aiden, Hayden, Abbie, Gibson, Clare, Jetson, Miles, Adelaide, and Wesley.

***side note: something i've observed is the great creativity carmel parents are using in naming their children these days. seriously -- Jetson? Gibson? and yes, Adelaide...my first thought was of dignal, though the little runny-nosed nature-loving girl sporting the name didn't remind me in the least of dignal. she was too quiet and anti-social. and Wesley. oh, sweet Wesley. i didn't even have to nickname him that. he came that way.***

by far, i've loved the toddlers the most. Abbie joined us late, and i immediately pegged her as the most popular kid in class among her peers. everyone could say her name, and frequently they erupted into a chorus of "ah!-bee, ah!-bee, ah!-bee." she also played well with everyone. adelaide was very quiet, subdued, and could usually be found off in a corner by herself. she spent a lot of time looking out the window and when we went outside picked weeds. she always chose toys that were plant-oriented. Hayden was bigger and pretty cute. Aiden was little and blonde, rather whiny, and often would stand still, close his eyes, wobble for a moment, and then come back to reality all of the sudden and seem startled. i wondered if he was having petite-mal seizures. hmmm. Gibson was one of the older ones, and a little flirt. he made eyes at us. he was also something of a behavior problem. Miles was grumpy and randomly cried off and on all day for no reason. Clare was the youngest, still unable to walk, not too exciting. Jetson has some sort of Asian heritage and is currently sporting a baby mullet.

and my favorite -- Wesley Adams. oh gosh. the moment i walked into the classroom he decided we were best friends. all day he followed me around with an impish little grin i could've sworn he was Paige's older brother but i asked Amber and she said he was an only child. he had white-blond hair that was just given a buzz cut, and blue eyes that drooped down a bit on the sides. every time i focused on another child he'd start whining and run up to me and beg for me to pick him up. if i didn't, he'd start scaling my leg. if another child was sitting in my lap he'd sit on one of my legs and scooch in until the other kid was pushed out. and if i was alone he'd come barreling to me and give me a great big bear-hug and bury his face in my neck, laughing the whole time. oh man. oh man. i decided i don't need my own kids, i just need him. i'm stealing him. and maybe Paige. but yeah. i got off at 4, came back to my apartment for a 45-minute power nap, and then went in to work at PH at 6. and the entire time i've been a little bit sad inside because i miss that kid. i told joe vermilya that his being named Wesley was a sign from God that he's destined to be my kid. he laughed at me. ok, enough gushing.