Teacher Gifts, Motherhood and a Few Tears

Today you get a bit of practical teacher gift giving advice tempered with a reflection on motherhood. How bittersweet it is.

Crafting and coming up with practical (and inexpensive) teacher gifts has become something of a challenge for me every year.  Between the kids, we have nine teachers and aides. Throughout the year, I’m always on the lookout for something that might make the teacher’s day easier, an interest that isn’t super obvious or a practical gift I know they’ll appreciate. I hope these ideas inspire you to shop from your house, be creative, honor your teachers and not spend a lot of moula doing it.

Personalized Stationery
I found these lovelies from Olliegraphic. Last year, she created the custom colors on the school uniforms and added the teacher’s name. Included are flat and folded cards, letterhead and a notepad. Meg provides the PDF files, I printed on cardstock and copy paper (10 of each one), put it into a $1.99 clear folder from The Container Store and burned a CD with the files so the teacher can reprint when needed. The ribbon just makes it a little more festive. The kids also included a handwritten thank you note to the teacher.

The Pen Flower Pot
This isn’t an original idea, but I do think it’s brilliant. Luke was part of the Fish Class at school, so we used his hand to paint the fish, I added the bubbles and wrote his class name at the top. We added some pinto beans, wrapped pens and flowers with floral tape I got at Michael’s and voila – instant pens for school sign-in. I noticed the teachers were always searching for pens for the sign-in book. Luke and I had a blast making this for them.

Gift Cards
Those are always a hit, especially when you find the “just-right” store for your teacher. We’ve purchased them from various places and you can get as creative or as simple on the presentation. I think Landee created some wonderfully creative, and frugal, presentation ideas on her blog for gift card teacher gifts.

Source

Now, for your reflection.

I’ve never forgotten this quote from a mom I greatly admire, “Motherhood is bittersweet. With every new skill your child acquires, you begin to realize it’s one less thing they rely on you for.” So yes, the pride is always there, always at the forefront. Then comes the bittersweet taste of seeing your children grow into the human beings God intended. It is indeed a beautiful sight.

Last week was Luke’s last one in the two-year-old class. I’m not sure any milestone with him will ever be easy, nor will I ever take one for granted. His first day was beautiful, and hard, in so many ways. While walking away from his room was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done, it was the right thing to do. He has FLOURISHED this year. His eating is better. His speaking is better. His social skills are better (and I didn’t think that was even possible with Mr. Personality!) I’ve seen him bound into the classroom, with a quick hug and kiss, and then turn to the excitement of the day. It has been nothing short of amazing.

I never, ever thought that day would come.

There were days when I would sit in the NICU, rocking him, wondering. “Will this child ever experience the normalcy of life?” Will he be happy? Do I have the strength to endure this journey with him? You don’t want to know my answers back then.

And you know what? At every turn, EVERY TURN, God’s hand has been so incredibly obvious. Our year at Luke’s school was no exception.

The last day has been circled on the calendar for so long. I kept thinking, “Oh, that’s forever away. And, when it does come, I will be a-ok.” And then the last day came and I found myself in disbelief at the beauty of God’s plan for Luke this year. He gifted us with two crazy amazing teachers, Ms. Anne-Marie and Ms. Amber. I told them I was trusting them with my heart. So when they both told me what an honor and a privilege it was to have him, I broke down. You see, when you fight so damn hard for your child to live, you don’t expect the happy moments, the beautiful ones, to bring you back down to your knees in thanksgiving. Y’all, I darn near lost it in that hallway as Luke clutched his backback in one hand and my hand in the other. I managed to make it to the parking lot before completely falling apart.

“Mommy, why you sad?” I heard from the back seat.

“Mommy’s not sad, buddy, these are happy tears,” I replied. “Because you are a rockstar.”

“Yep,” came the voice behind me.

Another milestone is in the preemie book of Luke’s life. I’m the proud mom, standing in the corner with a Kleenex and the entire Aggie student section cheering.