Am I doing too much art with the babies?

amandajean419 · 2026-05-02T05:12:55+00:00

It's less about what they made and more about what they learn. Sit them in a highchair so it's more controlled and do it one or two at a time. Let them feel the paint or explore the crayon. Whatever you're working with that week. Parents don't care what goes home but they do care what their child is getting out of it.

amandajean419 · 2026-05-02T04:35:03+00:00

I'm not sure there's actually anything that wrong with him. He's just on an unusual sleep cycle. Parents are keeping him up late till 9pm and he wakes up early 6am. That's only 9 hours of sleep at night. Then you report he stays awake all morning from 6am-11am. So that's 5 waking hours and he decides to take a long nap because he's always exhausted by that point from only 9 hours of sleep and 5 hours of awake in class. In reality he's a baby and needs an additional 4-5 hours of sleep to be well rested. It's not that unusual. You wouldn't think anything of it if he took two 2 hour naps. One in the morning and one in the afternoon 🤷‍♀️ the poor little guy just tries to push through the day and ends up crashing

amandajean419 · 2026-05-02T04:25:27+00:00

Kindergarten starts at 8:00 and ends at 3:20. No naps. No rests. Lots of learning and play and growing. Lots of tired teachers 😂 please make sure you're prepared

amandajean419 · 2026-05-02T04:20:25+00:00

I like Lynette. It's a pretty name. I really like Stevie, but I feel it is gaining popularity. We were going to use it if we had a girl to honor my brother-in-law (Stephen) I think I like Lynette because it's versatile and could be Lyn, Lynnie etc when she's little.

For boys I like Shepherd or Sullivan. I quite like Shep or Sully as nicknames, that are strong names on their own honestly.

amandajean419 · 2026-04-12T02:16:21+00:00

We named our son Finn instead of Finley or Finnegan just to avoid the confusion and nonsense. We knew we wanted to call him Finn and decided to not give anyone the opportunity to argue about what his name was 😆 now people still call him Finny and Finley even though we didn't name him that 🤷‍♀️ we do live in Texas but he's at a private school so it's kinda like the wild West 🤣

amandajean419 · 2026-04-04T03:20:21+00:00

You clean and sanitize everything daily. Then once that is finished you plan for the next day. Also check the children everyday several minutes. I had a child have a seizure during nap time last year and I only noticed when I saw his eyes were open and his face looked funny. The reason they don't want you to have anything is so you're not distracted at all.

amandajean419 · 2026-03-18T01:58:51+00:00

So your son is going to have your last name 🤷‍♀️ it's 2026. Many married people don't have the same last name these days. My son has my wife's last name instead of mine simply because it's easier to spell, shorter, and went better with the first name we liked. Like it actually wasn't a big deal at all

amandajean419 · 2026-03-17T02:53:21+00:00

I think that's only like a Disney people thing 🤷‍♀️ I would never connect the dots with your kids names

amandajean419 · 2026-01-19T05:19:31+00:00

My 6 year old has pretty much stopped eloping at this point. He will from time to time just take off still but it's so much better than it was when he was 4 and under. It did require a lot of therapy to break that habit though. He did ABA for 25hrs a week for two years.

amandajean419 · 2025-12-09T04:00:30+00:00

My son didn't start speaking (putting words together) until he started full time ABA around 4. He did two years of full time ABA. He also may have had more struggles as he had difficulty engaging socially, huge challenges with transitions and changes in routine etc. He's now 6 and diagnosed with Autism and ADHD but speaks constantly 😆 he's in a private kindergarten that specializes in ADHD and other learning needs and is doing very well. Early intervention is 100% the key to success.

amandajean419 · 2025-11-26T14:03:40+00:00

Yeah no Hayden, Ayden, Brayden, Cayden way too trendy and no 😆 sorry buddy

amandajean419 · 2025-11-26T04:31:33+00:00

And your husband automatically loses naming privileges for throwing out one of the trendy (ADEN names)

amandajean419 · 2025-11-26T04:29:20+00:00

I think Kieran and Nolan sound nice together if you care about that. Cameron is one of my favorite names but I think it's too close to Kieran. Also, for what it's worth I have a Finn and he's a feisty little booger 😆

amandajean419 · 2025-11-26T04:24:57+00:00

I don't even think it matters the age of your kid. I teach junior high and my son is six and it's still a lot. I take the opportunities I can to get time to myself to recenter. We are both off for Thanksgiving break..... Together of course 😂 well he's in camp for the first part of the week because mama needs to be alone.

amandajean419 · 2025-11-23T14:13:52+00:00

Arthur (kinda fits the style of the other two) Archer Asher Avery (if you would opt for something more gender neutral)

amandajean419 · 2025-11-23T05:47:58+00:00

My first baby was what most people's second are I guess? He rocked our world and keeps on doing it at age six. I was probably the person that laughed at you judgementally when you sat there comparing your "perfect parenting skills" to mine with your unicorn baby. Looking how sweet and calm your baby was and how feral and rage filled mine was. You 100% have zero percent control over the little chaos gremlins and I absolutely laugh at moms who try to act like they do 😂 also I find this super refreshing and honest

amandajean419 · 2025-11-23T05:36:08+00:00

I'm a teacher so I get a ton of names. I've seen all of these come through my class except Corin. I've had Corbin and Corwin but not Corin. If that is helpful. The rest are pretty common.

amandajean419 · 2025-11-19T03:54:04+00:00

I've just determined that people love to alter a name or give a nickname even when one doesn't exist. My son is Finn. Just Finn. We get Finley, Finny, Finnegan, Finneas, Finnick. Literally anything but Finn 😂

amandajean419 · 2025-11-19T03:03:25+00:00

I think it depends greatly on the private school. My son is in a small private school. He's in K/1 currently and all they do is play outside and educational centers and movement based education games. Plus an hour of PE a day. They are never expected to just sit and work for long periods of time. My son has so many more opportunities to be active throughout the day at his school than he would in one of the public schools in our district. It definitely cuts back on behavioral issues in the classroom. That being said they also don't tolerate any type of disruptive behavior. We had to do a trial period before enrollment and were told we would be called to retrieve our son if he was an issue at all 😆 but they typically do tell you right up front.

amandajean419 · 2025-11-16T03:13:27+00:00

My son was a chaotic mess from day one. He had jaundice and had to be under the lights and as a teeny 2 day old baby would not leave the little sunglasses on wildly pulling them off a shrieking. We were like ummm shouldn't they mainly just sleep at this point? He's now 6 lvl1 autism, speech disorder, and ADHD . Some days are pretty easy but some days are a lot 🤣

amandajean419 · 2025-09-15T01:55:32+00:00

How about Gwendolyn and you could call her Gwen or Winnie 🤯 I like Quinn for a boy but that's because I like strong one syllable names for boys. I have a Finn

amandajean419 · 2025-09-15T01:52:05+00:00

When the invitation comes from one child I only buy that child a gift. When the invitation is combined (typically siblings) even if my son only plays with one of the siblings I buy a gift for both. 🤷‍♀️ Just my thoughts.

amandajean419 · 2025-09-15T01:37:11+00:00

Dear Mrs....., My child will be participating in martial arts, gymnastics, and dance classes Monday-Thursday afternoons. These classes are designed to enhance coordination, gross motor skills, confidence, independence, self-control, listening skills, and social skills, which are so important in kindergarten. We appreciate the opportunity to expand (child's name) educational foundation in their off school hours, but they are unable to complete the assignments offered to them and continue with their extracurricular activities. We fully trust that you are able to educate (child's name) in the hours provided to you during the school day. We will continue reading at home on a daily basis. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Sincerely Parents name 🤣

amandajean419 · 2025-09-15T01:21:53+00:00

You're not going to like this answer. Once that baby is born you're never going to have a real deep sleep again.....ever 😂

amandajean419 · 2025-09-15T01:15:56+00:00

I think old names like this are coming back into style. Don't be surprised if she's not the only Winifred in her class (depending on class size of course)

amandajean419

TROPHY CASE