The Outing

Right before we left for our wonderlab field trip yesterday, I snapped and sent a peep to the office and would not let him come with us to the trip. The snapping was far from a random spark, it was the kind of snapping that's resulted from being sawed at all day long relentlessly. Still it was sad. I've never left a child behind before.

The Clash

I liked the movie about Joe Strummer. I love the stories about the squatters and the talk around the campfires. I want to incorporate fire into our friday on the decks some how. And I'm wondering if we should have Sunday Salons rather than FOTD's this coming spring. Please comment on this possibility. A change could do us good.

The Respite

Woohoo. Unexpected day off today. I spent it pleasantly---cleaning up, reading a bit, crocheting, napping. I was ready for this unexpected day off. The peeps were a bit on the wild side yesterday and they are maniacs for our 2 hamsters, Hannah and Hope. At every opportunity, they are holding those creatures. They force them to travel through their sleeves, or they simply smooch them over and over again. Kindly assistant teacher told me that she was freaked out about how much the peeps were manhandling the hamsters. "I'm really afraid they might kill one of them," she told me.
After registering her concern, I responded, "Well, I don't think they'll kill one. I mean, they probably won't. I think they're going to be okay." But even I had to slip in when I saw a peep trying to get the hamster to squeeze into some skinny plastic bag. The hamsters are probably happy about the day off as well. I'll visit them tomorrow and bring them some extra snacks.

The Word

Our kind teaching assistant told me on Thursday that she wanted some advice for dealing with Kid With Many Problems (KWMP). She told me she heard him say "fuck off" to another kid.
"He said the fuck word?" I asked her. I was a little surprised because he has been fairly zoned out of late. But I got my chance to hear KWMP curse with my own ears yesterday morning when he got angry with another kid and did some screaming that I found distracting to the learning environment. I asked him politely to move away from the group to calm down. "Fuck YOU!" he shouted at me. My surprise was such that I started to laugh a little, but I managed to look down and suppress my mirth as I walked over to him and told him that he needed to go to the office. He yelled a bunch of stuff about me going to hell, but somehow he followed me out the door and ended up soon thereafter at the princiPAL's place. Later he apologized and we all continued with our learning.

The Love

Goodpal Menosky brought the party with her today and we all cheered up considerably after a fairly grueling week. GPM provided a veritable buffet line of treats of all varieties. There was no holding back and we all spent our time gleefully basking in the glow of the day of love. After naming her snake Menosky, one peep whispered to a pal nearby, "Professor M reminds me of my grandmother."
"Not me," replied the other. "I hate my grandmother's guts." I suggested she could be more generous with her comments about kin and then moved on to another group of kids, creating valentine's day sticker pictures.
When the party was over, we all carried our snakes to computer lab, and we sometimes couldn't help hissing them at passersby. It was pretty clear everyone in the school was extremely jealous of our snakes. Sorry, Charlies.
Kid-With-Many-Problems returned this week after a few months upriver, but his medication seems to be helping. He hasn't threatened to murder anyone at all. During the party, he looked a little shell shocked. He had his valentine's day pen and notebook hung around his neck, his valentine's day bear stuffed in his pocket, he was munching on a valentine's day cookie and of course had his snake under his arm when he told me, "This is the best freakin valentine's day party I've ever been to."
"Me too!" I exclaimed, swinging my snake over my head. Thanks GPDM.

The Delay

We've had snow and ice and now a brief delay to the school day. I would be happier about this if I were not feeling sad about #1 son's dental situation. He got braces yesterday, but an odd piece of metal called a "cage" was added to the roof of his mouth, making life fairly difficult. Poor guy.
His mouth is bringing me down. Happily, blogging about his mouth is bringing me right back up.

The Movies

The weekend's been busy. Saw 2 grim but great movies: There Will Be Blood and Margot at the Wedding. Also went to an awesome photography exhibit, ellipticalled at the ymca, attended a party in honor of some visitors to our town from the country of Afghanistan and had a lovely brunch at the home of some long lost pals. I wish I had another day to hobnob, but tomorrow it's back to the grindstone. I have a substitute in the morning so that I can attend an undesirable meeting. Teacher meetings get on my last nerve. Last week I spent 6 hours at a textbook adoption committee meeting. It was harrowing. I pray tomorrow will be better.

The Hamster

One baby hamster left and I think it has a home. A sixth grader wanted one and brought his grandfather in to prove adult permission. He wanted to take the hamster home in his hand. I offered a piece of crap cage I bought at corporate pet store that I really should have returned for a refund. Granddad was pleased and assured me he could "fix this up just fine." Sixth grader told me he had a rat for five years and he used to ride his bike with the rat on his shoulder, but the rat kept crawling down his leg and one day the inevitable happened and it fell off his leg and was crushed by the rear wheel of sixth grader's bike.
The kid came back yesterday and wanted another hamster, but I wouldn't turn over another one. Kindergarten teacher has dibs on the last one.

The Dream

Every day I pick up some little kid second graders from their classroom at 12:05 and escort them to the cafeteria. I'm trying to get to know all these little kids because I might teach them next year. One kid at the front of the line launched into a chat today by saying, "You know I'd really rather be home in bed having some dreams."
I said, "Well the in bed part sounds good, but most times I just think dreams are weird."
She answered, "Yes, I keep having a dream about macaroni eating me. You know how you're supposed to eat your macaroni? Well in my dream, my macaroni is eating ME!" I told her that dream sounded somewhat terrifying, but also had a humorous element. She agreed and headed over to the hand sanitizer.

I like this little kid second grader. I hope she's in my room next year.

The Wonderment

4 baby hamsters are now 6, so we have more to share with others. Please sign up as you leave. We're heading to a Pacers game tonight, my first time ever seeing a professional basketball game. Though Husbandman continues his attempts to curb my enthusiasm by reporting negative opinions about the Pacer's record, I am upbeat and fairly certain that tonight will be the best night of my life.