"Oh No. Not the CDA!"

I have good news!  Yesterday, I officially completed the 120 hours of classroom training needed to obtain my CDA.  Brian always teases me with a reference to Monsters Inc. ("Halt!  This is the Child Detection Agency! . . . Oh no.  Not those guys . . .).

No, it's not that.  It's my Child Development Associate.  Now that I have put in the classroom time, I am working on a resource binder.  It is about halfway complete.  Once that is done, I will be 90% finished with the requirements.  I will have a formal observation while working with kids, take a test and survey the parents I work for.  But, those things will take a lot less time than the classes and the binder.

This is an extra credential you can get if you are a child care provider and I figured since I am licensed now, why not?  Well, and there is a cash incentive.  Once I get my CDA, I am going to cram in another 80 hours of classroom time so I can get another credential and a (bigger) cash bonus when I renew my license in May. 

Some of the classes are kind of fun and yesterday I met a really cool lady who has been doing licensed child care in her home for 30-years.  I could tell from talking to her that she runs a top notch program with daily art projects and a preschool program.  She gave me lots of good ideas.  And, I was encouraged by the rates she charges too (right here in Ogden!).  She is pulling in some cash, but she is working hard for it and is open for longer hours than I am.  It was encouraging because it gave me a vision of what my program can grow into with time and as my own kids get older.

I also got excited because she told me how to open a retirement account.  I've always thought that was one of the greatest drawbacks to being self-employed -- no retirement.  But, I didn't realize I could do it all on my own.  Of course, when I told Brian this, he said he knew that all along.  So, maybe I am the only person who didn't realize this?

Anyways, in other news, Isaac gave me a scare last night.  He came home from school on Friday with a hoarse voice and barking cough.  By bedtime he had a fever.  When he was still coughing and feverish yesterday, we had to make some adjustments to our plans.

Brian's sister and her husband and five kids came in town for the holiday and were planning to spend Saturday night with us.  In addition, we were hosting Sunday dinner for all of Brian's siblings and their families.  I was pretty excited for these plans, but we didn't want to expose everyone to Isaac's sickness, so, to our disappointment, the cousins had to make a new plan for where to sleep Saturday night and the family party was moved to another sibling's house.

We were also planning to take the whole family (along with our out of town guests) to a concert in Logan Saturday night -- to see another one of Brian's sisters perform.  Brian decided to take Sophie and Ian to the concert while I stayed home with Isaac and Katie.  Around 6 p.m., I checked Isaac's fever and discovered it had spiked, so I got him up off his resting place on the couch to see if he could eat a sandwich and take some ibuprofen.  Before we got to the sandwich, he had a coughing fit and was having a very hard time breathing.  It was so scary!  He was obviously struggling a great deal to take in breaths and looking desperately into my eyes squeaking out the words, "My breather isn't working."

It was, of course, croup, an illness that (thankfully) I don't have much experience with.  I knew it was croup, but I also didn't know how severe his breathing was restricted, so I got a little panicked.  I picked up the phone not sure if I should call the after hours doctor or 911, so, of course, I called my mom.  She calmly told me to take him into the bathroom and run the shower.  That reminded me that croup also responds to cold outdoor air.  So, I bundled him in a blanket and sat him on a stool outside while I got the bathroom all steamy.  After he sat outside for 10 minutes and in the bathroom for 15 more, he was breathing well enough for me to look up the urgent care clinic hours.  They were open until 8 p.m. (hooray!) no emergency room visit needed.

I loaded up Katie and Isaac and a couple of PB&J sandwiches and we headed to the clinic.  Illness almost never gets my Isaac down.  He is a man of steel.  But, I could tell he was pretty sick by the way he lay listlessly on the exam table (not at all like the way he usually explores every inch of the room and gets into everything when I take him to the doctor).  He was still having such a hard time breathing that all of the nurses would say, "What are we seeing you for?"  One look at Isaac and then, "Oh, never mind."

They did a strep culture just to be sure he didn't have that too (and they did it so deep and for so long it made him throw up), gave him some steroids and sent us on our way.  By 9 p.m., we were back at home and he was sleeping soundly with much better breathing.  I kept him in my room all night just to be sure.  Today, he seems almost completely better, but I'm keeping him calm and resting so we don't have a relapse.  Whew!  I'm so grateful he is O.K.