The First Day of Second Grade

Today after school I interviewed my little girl about her first day back. Here's what she said*:


Hedgehog, how did you feel about your long vacation? A bit too long. I really was happy to get back to school.

Did you plan a special outfit for the first day of school? Yes, my blue dress with a butterfly on the corner, a v-neck, and a thing that looks like you have a shirt under it.

Did you go for comfort or style? Both.

What was your first impression of the classroom when the door opened? New, different, good, looked like some good board games and stuff. Really just a lot of things entwined.

What was your first impression of your teachers? The younger one, Ann, was pretty stylish, pretty kind-looking, and Clarissa looked as she is--older, still very stylish, and just like the way most people look.

What did they do to welcome you to the classroom? As everyday, we had free choice for about forty minutes, and that was good, enough time to meet some people, though I only did half group the first day.

What did you do during free choice? Well, I fumbled around with the rubber band peg board, something I really had missed from first grade, with Opal.

You had a new lunchtime this year, right? Yes, it's at noon instead of 11, but today they had it at one o'clock because they had so many things to do, though me and Chloe weren't too happy about that.

Why not? Because our stomachs were not thanking us. How do you feel overall about the change of lunchtime? Good, though it'll be kind of hard to adjust--by 12 o'clock we will be kind of queasy because we'll be so hungry.



What are some of your favorite things about this year? I guess the major one is just being in second grade. How does that make you feel? Good, well this morning when you were walking me to school, I felt a little bit older, and by the end of the day, I felt much older like a full-fledged second-grader.


What do you think about having homework this year? I really can't wait for it! What makes it so exciting? I need some hard math and stuff for me to work on--it'll be something to do--and besides, hearing that I have homework makes me feel older.

So, what did you have for lunch today? Chicken teriyaki and rice, they also had spinach, which I like but I decided not to get it...you know, at the salad bar.

You introduced a classmate to some new food today, right? Yeah, I introduced Sarah, who I was sitting next to and seemed like such a picky eater. I was eating the chicken teriyaki and the rice, and I was saying how good it was, and she decided to get it. Then I was raving about the rice, she got that. What was she eating to begin with? Not really anything.

Were there any boys at your table? Were they being gross? That was one thing I love about this year, and not about last year. The boys are not gross. Do you think it's cause they're older? I think it's cause they REALLY won't allow it in second grade...remember the time that Charles painted his tongue with marker? Was that in first grade? Yes, remember he painted it with a blue streak? They say non-toxic, but they don't mean it in your mouth.

What's the grossest thing a boy did at table last year? I think occasionally...I can't really remember, but I think it was something horrid. Did it involve ketchup? Yes, Achilles liked ketchup on everything. On rice, on pasta, I think he might even have liked it on bagel. When I was a little girl, there was a boy who liked to mix mustard and milk and drink it...wait, for some reason it sounds strangely familiar...from your own life? Yes...

So, did anyone get reprimanded today? Well, today, Chloe, who definitely isn't my type, when they turn off the lights and clap, you're supposed to come over to the rug and sit down, but I think she didn't go over to the rug and sit down, and they finally got her to the rug, they reprimanded her: "you are in second grade. you don't do it in first grade, so you really don't do it in second grade." It was a fairly long speech, and that was the basic premise of it. Did you feel embarassed? Well, I think I felt in my heart a teensy bit of glee.

Which teacher does the reprimanding? It was Clarissa who did the reprimanding, because she is the older. You know how there's one person who's the head teacher and one who is the assistant. Clarissa is the main, so Clarissa's going to do the reprimanding. Believe me, I know.

Are they going to have a time-out chair? No, because on the first day only one person needed to get reprimanded. That is a world record. So they might not even need it. But I still say I like how they had steps in first grade: first the chair, then the outside, then Rose's office. There was one time when four boys were in chairs!

Why do you think you feel a bit gleeful when kids get reprimanded? I guess part of it is I'm glad it's not me, but I guess I don't really like these characters, so I don't care how they get reprimanded. Are you glad that they're getting reprimanded? Sometimes. Have you ever been? No, not once in my lifetime. You do have a reputation as a very well-behaved student! I try. Hey, I try.

Do you tend to be friends more w/ well-behaved kids? Yeah, if there's a not well-behaved kid, he or she is not going to earn my trust. Well, she might, but it'll be pretty hard.

What's your favorite plaything in the classroom? Hard to say, because there's a lot of games, puzzles, decks of cards. But I guess one of them is just how they have so much clean white paper and so many crayons, colored pencils, markers thin and thick, oh it's wonderful--they have the best coloring supplies. They've got two big jars of pencils, two big jars of colored pencils, a small crate of crayons, and a whole rack of white paper. And then they've also got a bin full of scraps of cloth for collages, but that's for a big project with the whole class. But it's still just comforting to look at, you know? Oh I do. Occasionally when I'm by it, I use my side vision and look inside. And there's especially a nice piece of leopard skin. And then you haven't heard all of it. There's a big bookshelf full of books, and two racks of picture books, and a white painted bench as well as a big polished crate full of multi-colored puffy pillows, so you can pick up a book, pick a pillow, find a comfy place to read and boy is it comfortable!

Are you going to have free reading? Yes, we have independent reading or partner reading. I found a nice chapter book that I spied in the chapter book bin and Ann told me one of her students before had highly liked it. That begs the question, what's the book? I think it's called "The Tiger Rising." But anyway, it's kind of good. Do you have to write about it? No, we write about things we're reading at home. At home I'm reading "The Fellowship of the Rings" and I'm going to write about that.

Is there anything else you'd like to tell about? No, that's it!



*Names have been changed to protect both innocent and guilty parties.

Two Blogs I Love

Well this bonbon



came my way via Muralimanohar, who herself has a lovely blog, always full of interesting links and ideas and photos.

I'm passing this along to two other blog proprietresses, Mistress MJ (Warning: quite quite dirty) and Miss Faycat.

The rather mysterious and quite hilarious MJ doesn't strike me as an award-y sort of blogger, but still her surreal place, Infomaniac, is a favorite. I've analyzed it, and I've decided that her genius lies in her ability to be both filthy and dignified at the same time. If you haven't already, I recommend The Infomaniac highly. Don't open it up on Fridays at the office if anyone happens to be in the vicinity, and don't blame me if you're not tough enough to take it, LOL.

On a totally different note*, Faycat has a beautiful, inspiring food blog full of gorgeous mouth-watering pictures, and unusual recipes to go with. She likes to make use of seasonal ingredients, and always does a lovely take on comfort food. Check her out if you need an idea for dinner, or just want to ogle food.

There you have it, ladies, I love your blogs!


*Although the bangers in today's post might look a bit, er, suggestive depending on your mindset. Just teasing you Faycat!

That Mama

I found this the other day when I was sorting random papers, an odd relic from last summer. Well, all I can say is that my family is nothing if not eccentric. I'm not sure which is funnier--Hedgie's use of the antique term "courting," the seeming acceptance of the tedious fact that mama has a crush on a fictional character, or that she wrote it down on paper. To whom is it addressed? Is she trying to warn Sarge of the competition?

We're an odd bunch over here.

Have and Haven't

I've been wanting to post about this list I've seen hither and yon in the blogosphere--all sorts of weird things you've either done or you haven't.  A few of the items gave me pause--for instance, have you said you loved someone and meant it? I mean, come on, at least you said it to your dad or nanny or an aunt or something, or to Mr. Rogers when you were four.  If you're an adult and haven't once in your life said "I love you" and meant it, well, let me come right out and say what we're all thinking: you, sir or madam, are a sociopath.

Another item was "held someone while they had a flashback."  Hmmm...were they a war veteran, or an LSD veteran? I mean, what? Can I count squeezing my own head when the walls started to breathe courtesy of an unfortunate incident when I was 16? No? Well, then, nope, can't say I have.  

Anyway, I went through the list and dutifully boldfaced all the things I'd done, and then I polled Sgt. Pepper to see what he had and hadn't done.  The results got me reminiscing, and also considering how different we are in some fundamental ways.  Also, it reminded me how cool my husband is.  Here are the highlights:

Sgt. Pepper and I visited Paris together (hardly the first time for him), and because he is fluent in French, I was squired around in style.  Very romantic, a happy memory.  We have both hugged a tree, seen the Northern Lights (together from our dock in the Adirondacks, lighting up the enormous bowl  of the sky on a chilly late-summer night), grown and eaten our own vegetables, watched a meteor shower.  We have both milked a cow, and Sarge has held a lamb, although he has also killed and prepared an animal for eating, an activity to which I myself cannot lay claim.  Unless you count squashing a bug, rolling it around, and popping it into my mouth, which I'm sure I did at least once as a toddler.

We have both kissed on a first date, although funnily enough not on our own first date with each other.  For that one, we drove around late into the night listening to cassettes, smoking, and bitching about our exes.  Also sneaking side-long glances at each other, which of course led to the second-"date" smooch.

We have both read the Iliad, although only I in its original Greek.  Funnily, Sarge is the only one of the two of us who can keep the characters straight.  I always tell him that I was too busy worrying about Homeric Greek grammar to pay attention to plot...yeah, yeah, says he.

We've both been a DJ.  We each of us had a show on our college radio station, before we knew each other.  Mine was classical music.  It was on at 6 am in the morning, and my Greek professor was the only one who listened to it.

Sarge has been in a combat zone.  I haven't, unless you count Brooklyn Cosco on a Sunday morning, badum bum.  OY, what a crappy joke.  

We've both buried a parent, and I've put someone I loved in hospice care.

I've caused a car accident, dyed my hair (most memorably, Ziggy Stardust orange in tenth grade), and broken a bone.

Sarge, that lovely man, has seen a lightning storm at sea and saved someone's life.

I'm a F!@#$king A!@#$hole...

Well, I had a slow oil leak in my darling Grand Marquis, which has served me both well and ill over the years.  I knew about it, knew I was supposed to check the oil every second till I could get it in to the shop, knew I was supposed to carry oil in my trunk just in case.  So what do I do? I check it desultorily on Sunday, then proceed to drive hundreds of miles without a second glance.  On my way to drive Hedgie to her day camp today, the car starts going barunkety barunkety barunkety and errrrgh errrgh aroog.  I turn it around and creep back home to the cabin, where it slimpses down to a slow finish right blocking the driveway.  

What happened? Of course, oil is bone dry.  Car is furious.  Sarge is beside himself.  I am hating myself.  I am a lame lame woman, just like the stereotype of the foolish female driver.  I'm in town, lurking with my oil containers, sooo unwilling to go back home again.  Sarge managed to start it up again with a few quarts of mixed oil, but as you all know, one cannot drive a car on no oil without damaging it, oh, just a wee wee tad.  I could just cry, but I know I must man up and face the music.  So folks, back home to face the hell I have wrought, call the tow truck, and spend a gazillion dollars to fix what is now hideously broken.

Once again, I could just kick my own damn ass, that is if I practiced yoga.  Too bad I didn't have that foresight either...

Just Going Along

I usually like to write with an idea in mind, but I'm completely spent. Not in a bad way, mind you, more in an August sort of way. Summer is on the wane already, here in the Adirondacks, and the trees are beginning to lose their lush fulness, some of them even getting a hint of pale orange around the top edges...the nights and mornings are chilly, and I wake up with the dog cuddled so hard against me that I'm almost off the bed...

In past years, this change of season was worrying to me--I'd be dreading the coming year--not so this time around. For the first time in forever, I'm actually excited to begin a new year. Hedgie will be back for second grade at a school she loves, busy with karate and friendships and she'll be starting cello lessons--the students are required to begin a classical instrument by third grade, and we decided cello would round out our family band nicely (I'm only partly kidding there). I think I'll enjoy the squeezy grindings of a beginner string player; there's something funny and hopeful about that.

I'm looking forward to autumn in Brooklyn--the dry dusty leaves rattling in the gutters, sweaters and new mary janes and the High Holy Days, and soups cooking again--I've not cooked up our favorite Senate Bean Soup in months and months. Even an occasional snifflng cold will be okay. And then, maybe, if all goes well, another little one will make its way into our family...

So I'm trying for now to embrace a perhaps ephemeral feeling of peace that's come over me--relative peace, in my case; I won't ever be free of my anxieties completely, but I'm really, really trying not to let them rule me. I thought I'd just sit and jot this feeling down so that I can come back and remind myself, if necessary...

DMV: Worst Post Ever

I'm blogging from the County DMV, yes indeed. It's a regular thrill ride. Hedgie's eating cheez-its, cause that's just the kind of mother I am. We're number 30 and they're up to 19. Sissy peruses the driver's manual. There's a giant license plate on the wall, like an item from that store of yore, Think Big. Remember the giant pencils?

You can't smoke in here, but you can eat Ruffles and drink Coke, so that's something. You have the right to vote and you should drive carefully when school's open. I think that means that you can drive recklessly at all other times.

Signing out,

Yours in mindless errand,

Leah

Cupcakes and Kisses

In the grand tradition of birthdays everywhere, I present Suzanne with cupcakes:



and a virtual swim in an Adirondack lake (let's hope the sun peeks through those clouds):



and a hug and a kiss!

My New Office

We saw a bit of Suzanne's lovely office. Now check out mine!




You might ask, why not go into the library, and sit at the table at a big picture window overlooking Lake George?

Well, first of all, I couldn't suck on my delicious Stewart's iced coffee, the best iced coffee anywhere.



Then, too, sitting at a table surrounded by books, rather than hunched in my car over a computer, like a crazy plotter, would be just too much like actually working on my dissertation.

And that could be really scary.

The Panopticon

I've been seeing these live traffic feeds on blogs all over the place, and, curious, went to procure one of my very own. I must say, they make me feel very uncomfortable. One of the nice things about blogging is that you reveal yourself or not, as the whim takes you. Lurking is perfectly acceptable. Comment or not. I often think of Harry's invisibility cloak.

The stats tools now available to even the most lay of laypeople have taken a bit of this pure anonymity away. You can sort of see who's visiting you, if you know what you're looking at. But the map feeds are another thing entirely--they're graphic and very easy to read. I was sort of startled, and discomfited, at first to see, on someone's blog, "Brooklyn, NY is here." Panopticon indeed. Only in this case, the readers are the privacy-less inmates and the blogger is the chief warden in the circular tower.

So I'm going to leave my little map up for awhile to see what the limits of my comfort are. I don't really approve of them on principle, but so be it. And that said, I secretly hope my one lone dot becomes a cluster or two...


The Next Day...
p.s. true to form, I've gone back on my critique of the map. I freaking love that thing! I love the little wee dots, I love seeing where people come from, love it! I'm going to have it implanted in my retinas!!!