Child Development Center Orientation Week 2009

As most of you know by now, my job description has changed a bit now that I'm the director of the Child Development Center. One of the things that I'm now responsible for is the annual orientation for Child Development Center staff. This orientation is one week chock full of ice breakers, team building, safety and health training, learning about CDC policies, learning about licensing requirements, as well as academic preparation for curricular and lesson planning activities. Each day the teachers are required to attend from 8-5 with an hour lunch break. This means that Chris, my assistant director, and I were working days even longer than that to prepare and to organize such an event!

We managed to pull it off, although I did amass a good amount of notes on things to change for next year. I don't think I did too bad for my first orientation though. I managed to add a Dean's welcome and a 1/2 day of icebreakers and team-building to the usual fare. What I am most proud of though was my makeshift spiderweb. Those readers of our blog who went to Challenge Camp will know what I'm talking about, but for the rest of you, it's a series of ropes fashioned into a people sized spider web. The goal is to get the whole group THROUGH the spiderweb to the other side without touching any of the edges. My big goal for the orientation was to establish whole-center teamwork amongst the administration, the office staff, and the teacher-interns. The best way that I know to establish this is to do a series of activities that push people out of their comfort zone, build trust with one another, and then work together to solve a problem. So my dad (who was RJ's babysitter for the week) and I stretched out yarn all over the living room to build a spiderweb that could be attached to our playground structures the next day. Lance initially thought I was insane for trying to do this, but it ended up working out quite well. My dad and RJ secured the web between the swings and a tree and voila! a people-sized spiderweb was created! I even submitted a picture of the activity for the College newsletter. Next year, I hope to actually purchase the rope and webbing professional version rather than doing it with yarn.

RJ also had an interesting week during orientation. He had been sharing a babysitter with his good friends Daisy and Alison over the summer, but since his summer babysitter is one of my teachers, and thus required to be at orientation, we clearly weren't going to be able to use our normal care. So...lucky for us, Grandpa was able to come for the week and help with RJ duty. This meant that RJ and Grandpa were pulling long hours just like Mommy! I think that Grandpa was quite exhausted by chasing RJ around all day, but definitely enjoyed getting to spend all that time with him.

RJ benefited as well by learning some new vocabulary words and phrases such as:

"Ready Spaghetti?" - to which RJ responded, "I no spaghetti, I RJ!!"

"Nudnik" - Grandpa defined this as a term of endearment he learned from his grandparents, meaning goofball, but Merriam & Webster seems to think that he was calling RJ a pest all week. I think I'll stick to Grandpa's definition since its nicer and RJ likes to use the term (he now calls Grandpa a nudnik over the phone).

RJ really enjoyed showing Grandpa his school and the many waterfowl on campus. One day they brought crackers on their walk and got swarmed by ducks and geese. RJ is STILL fearful of the ducks!

AND, Grandpa figured out what was wrong with the adult toilet at the center (you have to hold it down to flush it for longer than anyone wants to - and the facilities people kept telling us that "that's just the way the toilet is" and wouldn't fix it).

It was a hectic week, but I think a great start to the semester for the teachers.

RJ goes to Yosemite

Finally!

Three and a half years ago on our first trip to California for a conference, we had planned a trip to Yosemite. That trip got derailed when Cheryl was diverted to Turlock to interview for some sorta teaching gig at a state school. At long last we chose a weekend for a camping trip to Yosemite National Park. It is only a 3 hour drive after all and was a free weekend to boot.

We considered this trip more of an orientation to Yosemite since we weren't really ready to do any hard core hiking. Even with the little we tried to do, RJ wanted to be held rather than walk himself and he's getting rather heavy for the backpack we have.

Camping was a big hit with RJ. He got a kick out of sleeping in a tent in a sleeping bag, at least at night. Naps were a complete mess because the tent was too hot and because he thought the sleeping bags were more fun to get in and out of and roll around on, which basically meant that we did a lot of driving in Yosemite so he would get a nap and not be a complete brat all afternoon and evening. He entirely loved playing in the dirt and sand with his digger and dumptruck. I think he also appreciated the lack of bathing involved too! For most of the trip, he had dirt everywhere.

On Friday, we mostly just drove there and set up camp just outside Yosemite at the Summerdale Campground in the Sierra National Forest.

On Saturday, we explored the Southern portion of Yosemite until dinner time.

We took a short hike through the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees until RJ declared that he needed to go potty just before we got to see the California Tunnel Tree. At that point, going back to see it wasn't happening. Maybe next time we'll get farther and get to see more of the big trees.

Afterward, we visited the Pioneer Yosemite History Center in Wawona, where we saw some historical pioneer buildings and most notably watched a blacksmith making stuff. I think RJ's favorite part was peeking into the houses and seeing the horses in their yard though.

Then after lunch from the Wawona General Store, we drove (after an aborted tent nap back at the campsite) to Glacier Point for some site seeing of Half Dome. Someday we'll be in shape enough to hike it to the summit, but for now seeing it will have to do.

On Sunday, we spent the morning packing up the campsite and then drove North to Yosemite Valley to see what all the hype was about (since that's where most people go when they visit Yosemite). What we discovered is that it's generally where the civilization portion of Yosemite is, as well home to some pretty incredible scenery, which gave poor pregnant Cheryl the itch to climb again. I think she's already picked out RJ's climbing gear for next summer. El Capitan has some incredible sheer walls of rock that jut out from the valley floor, which also contains the Merced River. We ate lunch at the Yosemite Lodge Food court and then took a nice dip in the Merced River at Sentinel Beach. RJ was a little afraid of the water after he tripped and fell face first into it, all while holding Cheryl's hand, but we quickly got him back in to enjoy the gold-flecked water.




In the future, we're thinking that we'll need more of a specific plan to include some hikes and that perhaps group camping is a better option for camping with kids. Setting up the tent can be mostly done by one person, except for one step, which requires 2. Cooking dinner over a fire also sort of requires 2 people - one to prepare the food and the other to start the fire. Neither activity leaves an extra person to help occupy the toddler in a brand new and exciting environment, which would keep him out of the street, woods, or neighboring campsites.